John Pitt was a MP, Lord of Trade and Surveyor General of Woods and Forests and an amateur architect active, especially in Encombe, Dorset, England, in the 18th century.
Pitt was born around 1706, the second son of George Pitt of Stratfield Saye, Hampshire, England and cousin of William Pitt 1st Earl of Chatham. He was a member of the Society of Dilettanti and is most noted architecturally for his work carried out on his own house at Encombe in 1735 as well as for his many garden buildings including two at Hagley, Worcestershire, England, built around 1748-9, for the 1st Lord Lyttleton. A combination of Palladian and Vanbrughian elements mark his personal style. Pitt died in February 1787.
Bibliography
Colvin, Howard, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, 3rd edition (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995), pp. 757-758.
Marsden, Edward, 'John Pitt of Encombe: An 18th Century Dilettante Architect', Country Life, 9 September 1976.
National Archives, National Register of Archives, Person Details, 'Pitt, John (1706-1787) MP Surveyor General of Woods and Forests, GB/NNAF/P136735'<http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/nra/searches/subjectView.asp?ID=P22967> [accessed 28 April 2008]
Symes, Michael, 'William Pitt the Elder: The Grand Mago of Landscape Gardening', Garden History, Vol. 24, No. 1 (Summer, 1996), pp. 126-136