Aldrich, Henry

Aldrich, Henry (1648–1710). Canon and Dean of Christ Church, Oxford, Aldrich was a polymath, virtuoso, and architect, one of the forerunners of Palladianism, architect of several Oxford buildings, and author of a Vitruvian-Palladian book on architecture, Elementa Architecturae Civilis (not published until 1789). He designed Peckwater Quadrangle at Christ Church (1707–14), built by William Townesend (which anticipates Wood's Queen Square, Bath, by two decades, and is the first Palladian palace-fronted composition in England), probably designed the Fellows' Building (1706–12) at Corpus Christi College (which shows certain affinities with Peckwater Quad), and may have been the architect of All Saints' Church (1701–10), although the steeple was a compromise between Aldrich's original design and an alternative by Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Bibliography

H. Aldrich (1789);
Colvin (1995);
Hiscock (1960);
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)