Isaac Ware. He assisted Wren in the erection of St. Paul's Cathedral soon after its commencement (21 June 1675), and was connected with the work till its completion (1710). He finished (1713) the mansion of Easton Neston in Northamptonshire, probably under Wren, who, about 1680, erected the wings, which have since been pulled down (plan and elevation in Campbell, Vitruvius Britannicus, i. 98–100). He assisted Sir J. Vanbrugh (1702–14) at Castle Howard, Yorkshire, and was at the time of his death engaged in constructing the mausoleum there from his own designs. This was the ‘earliest instance of sepulchral splendour’ in England unconnected with an ecclesiastical building (Walpole, Anecdotes, ed. Wornum and Dallaway, p. 688; engraving by H. Moses, 1812). He was also assistant-surveyor under Sir John Vanbrugh at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire (6 June 1710–15). His salary was 200l. per annum, and 100l. for riding charges (Addit. MS. 19603, with statements of irregular payments, p. 116). In the British Museum (ib. 19607) is a series of letters between Hawksmoor and Henry Joynes, ‘resident controller or clerk of the works’ at Blenheim, interesting as one of the many examples of Hawksmoor's zealous attention to details (ib. 19607, pp. 18, 26; see abstract of the letters by Wyatt Papworth in Roy. Inst. Brit. Architects' Journal, 1889–90, vi. 12–14, 44–6, 60–3). Up to June 1710 Hawksmoor, who had been ‘long out of money and at great expenses,’ had received 800l. (manuscript Account of the Money issued and expended, 13 Feb. 1704–5–2 June 1710, p. 26, in Sir John Soane's Museum).
At Oxford Hawksmoor was busily employed from an early period. In 1692 he designed the library of Queen's College, Oxford (plan and elevation in Nouveau Théâtre de la Grande Bretagne, 1724, iii. 47), the fittings for it (put up 1700–14), and the first or south quadrangle with street façade (6 Feb. 1710–59). The work is sometimes ascribed to Wren, and sometimes to the provost, Dr. Lancaster, and is said to bear a faint resemblance to the Luxembourg (engravings by Burghers and by Vertue, 1727, Skelton, Oxonia, 2 vol. edit., pl. xl.; south front in Oxford Almanack, by E. and M. Rooker, 1775, Skelton, pl. xli., Williams, Oxonia Depicta, pl. xxii. xxiii.) At Queen's College is a portfolio containing many rough drawings of suggested designs for the buildings, some of which bear considerable resemblance to the work as executed. Fourteen views were engraved by Burghers and issued with an appeal for funds, entitled ‘The present State of the new Buildings of Queen's College in Oxford,’ December 1730. The pamphlet had previously appeared in February 1718 without illustrations. Hawksmoor was the architect of the north quadrangle (except the library) at All Souls' College, erected between 1720 and 1734. The two towers have been attributed, on account of their beauty, to Wren (cf. Fergusson, Hist. of Architecture, iv. 314), but Hawksmoor seems to have designed them, and they are among the earliest examples of modern Gothic work. The exterior of the towers was restored in 1838 (plate in Oxford Almanack, 1728, by Vertue, reproduced in Skelton, pl. xlix.; plan and elevation, signed ‘N. H.,’ 1721, of the ‘Cloyster of All Souls next Radcliffe's Area in ye North Court,’ by Van der Gucht. Several copper-plates of Hawksmoor's designs by Van der Gucht, Hulsburgh, &c., apparently prepared for the ‘Oxford Almanack,’ some signed ‘N. H.’ 1717 and 1721, are in the muniment room of All Souls' College). Hawksmoor had been consulted as early as 1714 (see manuscript explanations of his designs at All Souls), when it had been the intention to pull down the whole of the old buildings. But he pleaded for the retention of all that was ‘strong and durable … in respect to antiquity as well as our present advantage’ (Letter attached to ‘explanations,’ 17 Feb. 1714–15). He also prepared for All Souls a design for a new front, next the High Street, in which were two gateways, but this was never executed (elevation in Williams, Oxonia, pl. xxxi.) About 1720 he made designs for the rebuilding of Brasenose College (plates in Williams, xxxviii.; Oxford Almanack, 1723, by Vertue and Burghers; Skelton, pl. lxv.). The drawings are still in the college, together with others for a partial rebuilding, apparently by the same hand, dated 1734. He prepared designs for the Radcliffe Library, but they were not executed, those of Gibbs being preferred. (About seventy of Hawksmoor's drawings are preserved in the Radcliffe Library Museum.). His part in the designing of the Old Clarendon Buildings (usually attributed to Vanbrugh) was no doubt considerable, and 100l. was granted by the university to ‘gratify’ Hawksmoor for the work.
In 1713 Hawksmoor surveyed and reported on Beverley Minster, then in a ruinous condition, and directed the repairs, including the screwing up of the north front of the north transept, which had inclined forward four feet beyond its base. The invention of the machinery used has sometimes been attributed to Hawksmoor (Read's Weekly Journal, or British Gazetteer, 27 March 1736; Gent. Mag. 1807, ii. 621). But it was really due to William Thornton, ‘joiner and architect,’ of York (engraving by Van der
