ABSTRACT
William Chambers was one of the leading architects in late 18th-century Britain. His own style, scholarly and restrained, was rooted in English Palladianism, refreshed and augmented by his knowledge of Continental Neoclassicism and eschewing both the decorative innovations associated with the Adam brothers and the Grecian discoveries of Stuart and Revett. The exteriors of his buildings are marked and distinguished by a bold and masculine style, neither ponderous on the one hand, nor too meagre on the other. In one circumstance he may be said to have been peculiarly fortunate, and especially in his great work at Somerset House: the people allude to the excellent and superior manner in which his designs were carried into execution. Greece, almost constantly the theatre of war, abounded not like Italy, in magnificent villas, where the richest productions of art were displayed. In the constructive part of architecture, the ancients do not seem to have been great proficients.
