Searles, Michael

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Searles, Michael (1751–1813). English architect and surveyor. He had a large London practice devoted mostly to the design and building of residential developments south of the River Thames, where he was Surveyor to the Rolls Estate from 1783. His architecture was in a late-Georgian style, distinguished by his originality of massing and simplicity of detail. His masterpiece is The Paragon, Blackheath (c.1793–1807), a series of semi-detached dwellings linked by colonnades and set out on a crescent. He also designed Clare House, East Malling, Kent (1793), with a complex series of circular, elliptical, and octagonal rooms. He was responsible for Surrey Square, Southwark, London (1792–3), and The Circus, Greenwich, London (1790–3).

Bibliography

Bonwitt (1987);
Colvin (1995);
Cruickshank (ed.) (1985);
Summerson (ed.) (2003)