Pratt, Sir Roger

Pratt, Sir Roger (1620–85). English gentleman-architect. He was one of the C17 pioneers of Classicism in England, having studied Continental architecture during extended tours and a period of residence in Rome, and was one of the Commissioners appointed to supervise the rebuilding of the City of London after the fire of 1666. He seems to have intended to write an architectural treatise, for his notebooks contain some rules for the guidance of architects as well as on the building of country-houses. He designed four astylar country-houses: Coleshill, Berks. (c.1650–62—demolished 1952), Kingston Lacy, Dorset (1663–5—altered by Barry 1835–9), Horseheath Hall, Cambs. (1663–5—demolished 1792), and Ryston Hall, Norfolk (1669–72—altered by Soane 1786–8). The first truly Classical house in London, Clarendon House, Piccadilly (1664—destroyed), was also by him. All his houses were planned on the double-pile system with a hall and saloon on the central axis. His work influenced later designs, notably Belton House, Lincs. (1685), and Denham Place, Bucks. (1688).

Bibliography

Colvin (1995);
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (1917);
Gunther (ed.) (1928);
Mowl & and Earnshaw (1995);
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004);
Placzek (ed.) (1982);
Summerson (ed.) (1993);
Jane Turner (1996)