Webb, John( 1611 – 1672 )
Pavilion addition sketch, RIBA, JOI, WEJ [ 166 ], 20 32.5cm, Pen and brown inkJohn Webb’s early architectural experience began when he left Merchant Taylor’s School in 1628 and
went to study/work with Inigo Jones at the time of the rebuilding of old St. Paul’s (Bold, 1989 ).
During the period of restoration Webb turned his attention to domestic architecture, finding com-
missions from both royalists and members of parliament. He designed Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire
in 1655 , Gunnersbury House in the late 1650 s and Amesbury Abbey (Bold, 1989 ). Despite his years
of experience, Webb was not awarded the position of Surveyor-General of the Office of the Works,
but instead was presented with commissions for two very important buildings for the monarchy:
Somerset House, 1661 , for the Queen Mother and a new Royal Place at Greenwich, 1664 (Worsley,
1995 ). One of his final projects was a royal palace for Charles II at Greenwich. In this building Webb
was able to refine his relationship to classical baroque with elements such as rusticated windows and
walls.
Although Webb likely never traveled to the continent like his predecessors, he was educated in
European architecture through treatises, engravings, and pattern books. Interestingly, his influence is
also at least partially a legacy of drawings. When Inigo Jones died he left his books and drawings to
Webb as well as a collection of Palladio’s drawings.
The drawings and treatises in Webb’s possession became part of his personal repertoire, as he was
able to analyze their contents as they pertained to antiquity. This meant he was an architect who
approached classicism not from firsthand archeological experience but from the ideal work of
Vitruvius, Palladio, Jones, and to some extent Scamozzi. Giles Worsley writes that Webb studied
Vitruvius and drew reconstructions of Roman antiquity, which ‘could have been practical exercises
to assist Webb to establish appropriate classical solutions to modern building types’ ( 1995 , p. 47 ).
This sketch by Webb (Figure 2.3) now in the collection of the RIBA, shows a plan and elevation
delineated primarily with single lines. The simple organization consists of a central block and four
hesitantly connected square ‘wings,’ supposedly an early proposal for the Queen’s House at Greenwich
(Harris, 1982 ; Bold, 1989 ). Webb seems able to comprehend the proportions, spatial relationships,
and overall perception of this project using very few lines. However brief, the sketch appears not to
be a search for form but a contemplative exploration, an assembly of building parts. Completed with
pen and ink, this sketch was drawn in a minimal amount of time and with little concern for its
appearance. The single weight lines were not meant to communicate construction but rather provide
an outline of spatial relationships. The elevation’s direct relationship to the plan shows that he was
thinking about both simultaneously. With remarkably good proportions, it reveals elements distinct-
ive of Webb’s former constructions, forms from his palette or repertoire.
Relying on his memory of successful spaces he was able to view the organization in diagram form.
The plan organization resembles Gunnersbury House, consisting of a square with wide bisecting hall-
ways. The center portico elevation mimics the four-columned porch on Amesbury Abbey, with its
rusticated base and heavy band between the first floor and the second. The sketch also displays similar
vertical proportions to the façade at Amesbury Abbey, complete with cupola. A large forecourt organ-
izationally connects this project to the finished Greenwich Palace. Similarly, in the design of Belvoir
Castle, Webb configures the center block as an elongated rectangle, where the corners are suites of
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