{{Short description|English architect and surveyor}} {{Use British English|date=September 2014}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2026}} thumb|St Pancras New Church '''William Inwood''' ({{circa|1771}} – 16 March 1843) was an English architect and surveyor, whose most important works, including St Pancras New Church and Westminster Hospital, were done in collaboration with his sons.
== Life == Inwood was born in about 1771. His father, Daniel Inwood, was bailiff to Lord Mansfield, at Kenwood, Highgate, then just north of London. He was steward to Charles Abbot,<ref name=cyclo>{{cite book| url=https://archive.org/details/supplementtopen00britgoog|page=[https://archive.org/details/supplementtopen00britgoog/page/n113 106]|title=The Supplement to the Penny Cyclopædia of the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge: Habenaria-Zingiber|first= George|last= Long|publisher=C. Knight|location=London|year=1846}}</ref> (speaker of the House of Commons until 1817, then created Lord Colchester)<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.parliament.uk/worksofart/artwork/thomas-lawrence/charles-abbot-esqre-speaker-1802-17--baron-colchester-1757-1829-/2715|title=Charles Abbot|publisher=Houses of Parliament|access-date=13 May 2012}}</ref> and clerk of the works to the scheme of improvements around the Palace of Westminster.<ref>{{cite book|title=Further Reports and Memorials of the Commissioners for Executing the Several Acts for Improvement of Streets and Places near to Westminster-Hall and the two Houses of Parliament|year= 1814|page=140|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ky9bAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA140}}</ref> He was also the architect of the new buildings, completed in 1814, for the Westminster National Free School, of which Abbot was the vice-president. Inwood waived his fee for the commission.<ref>{{cite book|title=Fourth Annual Report of the Westminster National Free School| date=14 May 1816|location=London|pages= 5–16}}</ref>
His most notable works are the four churches built in the parish of St Pancras, all designed in collaboration with his eldest son, Henry William Inwood (1794–1843). Three were Neoclassical: St Pancras New Church (1819–22), All Saints, Camden Town (1822–24), and St Peter's, Regent Square (1822–5, demolished). The other, St Mary's Chapel, Somers Town (1824–27) is in a simplistic Gothic style.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Summerson |first1=John |title= Georgian London|year=1962 |edition=revised|publisher=Penguin Books |location= Harmondsworth |page=219}} Summerson calls St Mary's "one of the most pitiful performances in the way of Gothic Revivalism ever perpetrated."</ref> The commission to design the parish church was won in a competition, held in 1818. It was a prestigious project, often said to have been the most expensive church constructed in London since the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral. The design draws heavily on the Erechtheum and the Tower of the Winds, both in Athens, for inspiration.<ref name=survey>{{cite book |title=The parish of St Pancras part 4: King's Cross Neighbourhood |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=65559 |series= Survey of London|volume=24 |year= 1952 |location=London |pages=1–4 }}</ref> The extent of Inwood's contribution to it has been questioned, John Summerson believing it to be substantially by Henry William Inwood,<ref name=georgian>{{cite book |last1=Summerson |first1=John |title= Georgian London|year=1962|edition=revised |publisher=Penguin Books |location= Harmondsworth |page=217}}</ref> who visited Athens in 1819 (after the initial plans for the New Church had been drawn up)<ref name=survey/> and later published a book on the Erechtheum.<ref name=cyclo/>
In 1823 Inwood repaired the roof at St Anne's, Soho,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41107 |title=St. Anne's Church |author=F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1966 |work=Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho |access-date=12 May 2012 }}</ref> and in 1825 carried out substantial alterations to Thomas Archer's church of St John in Smith Square, Westminster, intended to increase its capacity and improve lighting, in the course of which he rebuilt the galleries, created new doorways and altered the fenestration.<ref>{{cite journal|journal=The Gentleman's Magazine|title=Improvements at St John's Church, Westminster|pages=19–22|volume=06|year=1826}}</ref>
In 1832 Inwood's designs for the new Westminster Hospital in Broad Sanctuary, made in collaboration with another son, Charles Frederick Inwood (1799–1840), were chosen from a number of invited submissions . The specifications had stipulated a Tudor-Gothic style, in sympathy with the nearby Westminster Abbey. The ''Lancet'' described the design for the 200-bed hospital as being in the "collegiate style", and praised the practicality of its arrangement, and its provision of light and ventilation.<ref name=cyclo/><ref name=lancet>{{cite journal|journal=The Lancet|date=18 August 1832|title=Rebuilding of Westminster Hospital|volume=18|issue=468|page=631|doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(02)82474-6 }}</ref>
Inwood exhibited at the Royal Academy between 1813 and 1817, showing two works entitled "Design for a Public Building" one for "a National building", and in 1817, a picture of East Grinstead church. Between 1819 and 1824 he showed, jointly with Henry William Inwood, drawings for St Pancras New Church and the chapels at Regent Square and Camden Town, and in 1838 a design for an Ionic garden temple at Clandon Park, then under construction. In 1832-3 he showed drawings for Westminster Hospital jointly with Charles Inwood. His address is given with various street numbers as Southampton Place or Euston Square.<ref name=graves>{{cite book |last1=Graves|first1=Algernon |title=The Royal Academy: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904 |year= 1905 |publisher= Henry Graves|location=London| volume=4|page=219}}</ref>
He was the author of the ''Tables for the Purchasing of Estates, Freehold, Copyhold, or Leasehold, Annuities, &c'', a work based on the tables of Baily and Smart, first published in 1811 and frequently revised and reprinted.<ref name=cyclo/>
William Railton, the architect of Nelson's Column, was his pupil.<ref>{{cite DNB|wstitle=Railton, William|last= Marius O'Donoghue|first=Freeman|volume=47|no-icon=1}}</ref>
Inwood died on 16 March 1843; his eldest son died only four days later in a shipwreck.
== References == {{Reflist}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Inwood, William}} Category:1771 births Category:1843 deaths Category:19th-century English architects Category:Greek Revival architects Category:Architects from London Category:English surveyors