Thomas Allom
Thomas Allom (
13 March 1804 -
21 August 1872) was an
English artist,
topographical illustrator and
architect, and one of the founder members of what eventually became the
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA).
He was born in
Lambeth, south
London, the son of a coachman from
Suffolk. In
1819, he was apprenticed to architect
Francis Goodwin for whom he worked until
1826. He then studied at the
Royal Academy School. His designs for churches shown at exhibitions in 1824 and 1827 aroused considerable interest, and he later designed many buildings in London (including a
workhouse in Marloes Road,
Kensington (1847), the Church of Christ in
Highbury in 1850, the Church of St Peter in
Notting Hill in 1856, and the elegant Ladbroke Estate in west London). Further afield his works included workhouses at
Calne,
Wiltshire (1847) and in
Liverpool, design of the
William Brown Library also in Liverpool, (1857-1860), and the tower of the church of
Basford St Leodegarius, near
Nottingham (1860). He also worked with Sir
Charles Barry on numerous projects, including the
Houses of Parliament and the remodelling of
Highclere Castle.
However, Allom is chiefly known for his numerous topographical works, which were used to illustrate books on travel. From the 1820s onwards, he travelled extensively through the UK and mainland Europe. In 1834 he arrived in
Istanbul,
Turkey, and produced hundreds of drawings during journeys through
Anatolia,
Syria and
Palestine. The results of this expedition were published in 1838 in
Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor published in two volumes with text by Robert Walsh. Emily Reeve's
Character and Costume in Turkey and Italy, published in London in 1840, was also illustrated with engravings by Allom. He is also remembered for numerous illustrations of
China, published in
China Illustrated in 1845.
Allom suffered from a heart condition in his later years, and although he only retired in 1870, his artistic and architectural output slowed during the 1860s. He designed Castelnau church in
Barnes, west London, in
1868 â€" his local church to which he contributed £50 towards the cost of its construction. In 1865 was commissioned to design a
mausoleum for former MP
George Dodd in
West Norwood Cemetery (George Dodd, who died on 15 December 1854, was one of the Gentlemen of Her Majesty's privy chamber from 1844, and MP for
Maidstone from 29 June 1841 to May 1853
[http://www.fownc.org/newsletters/no49.shtml]).
Allom died aged 68 in Barnes, and was buried in
Kensal Green Cemetery.
