Nicholas Hawksmoor

Nicholas Hawksmoor (1661-1736), English baroque architect. His style combined the influences of ancient Roman and Gothic architecture with that of Christopher Wren, in whose office he began to work at the age of 18. His works, starting with his contributions to the design of John Vanbrugh's Castle Howard (begun 1699), favor massive and dramatic effects. His principal output consisted of six London churches built under the 1711 Act for Building Fifty New Churches—grandiose, somber edifices that represent an idiosyncratic combination of neoclassical and Gothic styles. Of his late works, the austere circular Mausoleum (1729) of Castle Howard is perhaps the purest expression of English baroque.