Henry Holland

Henry Holland was born in Fulham in 1745. His father was a successful builder who often worked together with Lancelot Brown. Henry probably trained in his father's yard, and from 1771 entered an informal partnership with Brown. Their first project was Claremont House, Esher, a large Palladian house. In 1773, Henry Holland married Bridget, the eldest daughter of Lancelot Brown.

After Brown's death in 1783, Holland continued to undertake independent commissions, including re-building Carlton House, the London residence of the Prince of Wales. This was widely regarded as a phenomenal success, but was sadly demolished in 1826-7. Holland was commissioned to make changes at Althorp, Southill and Woburn Abbey, all residences of the powerful whig elite. Southill was his last major domestic commission.

He later worked on the Covent Garden Theatre and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and also on the re-modelling of Melbourne House into residential apartments. Holland was also a collector of antiquities, sending his draughtsman Charles Heathcote Tatham to Rome from 1794 to collect a range of decorative pieces. He became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in December 1796. Holland became clerk of the works at the Royal Mews at Charing Cross (1775-82) and surveyor at Bethlem and Bridewell hospitals (1782-93). He also became the surveyor to the East India Company in 1799. He died in London in 1806.

Bibliography

Watkin, David 'Holland, Henry (1745-1806)' Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Oxford: Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, Oct 2006) [ accessed 23 June 2009]

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