Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Vulliamy, Lewis
VULLIAMY, LEWIS (1791–1871), architect, was the son of Benjamin Vulliamy, clockmaker, and younger brother of Benjamin Lewis Vulliamy [q. v.] He was born in Pall Mall on 15 March 1791, and was articled to Sir Robert Smirke [q. v.] He was admitted to the schools of the Royal Academy on 8 March 1809, obtained the silver medal in 1810 for an architectural drawing, and the gold medal in 1813 for a ‘design for a nobleman's country mansion.’ In 1812 the Society of Arts awarded him a silver medal for a drawing. In 1818 he was elected Royal Academy travelling student, after which he studied abroad for four years, chiefly in Italy, but also visiting Greece and Asia Minor. On his return to England he exhibited designs at the Royal Academy, and, settling in London, obtained an extensive professional connection. He continued to exhibit in the Royal Academy till 1838. Of his numerous and important executed works, the principal are: St. Barnabas Church, Addison Road, 1828; the Law Institution, 1830–6 (front next Chancery Lane, exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1830, and the great hall in 1832); Highgate church, 1830 (in the Royal Academy in 1831, view and description in The Mirror of Literature, &c., 18 May 1833, pp. 305 et seq.); Christ Church, Woburn Square, 1831 (in the Royal Academy in 1833 and 1835); Richmond chapel, Surrey, 1831; Sydenham church, Surrey, 1831; St. James's Church, Park Hill, Clapham, 1832; Friday Hill House, Chingford, Essex, 1840; Clenston church, Dorset, 1840; Lock Hospital, Middlesex, 1842, with chapel, 1846, and asylum, 1848; St. James's Norland, Notting Hill, 1844; Chestall House, Gloucestershire, 1848; Sternfold Park, Sussex, 1853; Dorchester House, Park Lane, 1857 (views and description in the Magazine of Art, 1883, pp. 397 et seq.); and Westonbirt House, Gloucestershire, which he did not live to complete.
He effected alterations and additions to many large buildings both public and private, of which the following are the most important: Ashburnham Park, Sussex, 1829; Leigh Park, Hampshire (with new octagonal library in the Gothic style), 1833; Emo Park, Queen's County, 1836; Downham Hall, Norfolk, 1836; Muckross Abbey, Killarney, 1836–7; Royal Institution, Albemarle Street (with new façade 1838, designs in the Royal Academy in 1837 and 1838); Tregothnan House, Cornwall (with new lodge and muniment-room, 1845–8); Newton House, near Bedale, Yorkshire, 1846. Dorchester House and Westonbirt House are the works on which his fame must mainly rest. The former in the Italian renaissance, the latter in the Jacobean style, exhibit the range of his powers. As a Gothic architect his early churches prove him to have been far in advance of his contemporaries at a period when Gothic was but little known. He was a highly skilled and economical master of construction. Of Vulliamy's pupils, the principal were Owen Jones (1809–1874) [q. v.] and Frederick William Porter.
Vulliamy died at his residence, Clapham Common, on 4 Jan. 1871. He married, on 16 Jan. 1838, Elizabeth Anne, only child of Frederick Henry Papendiek, vicar of Morden, Surrey, by whom he had four sons and one daughter.
He published: 1. ‘The Bridge of the SSa. Trinita, over the Arno at Florence,’ London, 1822. 2. ‘Examples of Ornamental Sculpture in Architecture,’ London, 1823 (?). These were engravings from the original drawings made between 1818 and 1821 while abroad. They were exhibited in the Royal Academy in 1824. He drew the plans, elevations, and sections of the castle of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, which were published by the Society of Antiquaries in ‘Vetusta Monumenta,’ 1835 (vol. v. plates x–xviii).
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; Dict. of Architecture; Royal Academy Exhibition Catalogues; Builder, 1871, xxix. 142 (which contains a complete list of executed works drawn up by himself); Royal Academy Register, per C. McLean, esq.; private information.]