James Paine (architect)


James Paine was an English architect. He worked on number of country houses such as Chatsworth House, Thorndon Hall and Kedleston Hall.

Early life

James Paine was probably baptised 9 October 1717 at Andover, Hampshire, the youngest of the five children of John Paine, carpenter, of Andover, and his wife, Jane Head.
Whilst facts about Paine's early life are sparse, it is thought that he studied at the St Martin's Lane Academy, London, founded by William Hogarth in 1735 to allow artists to practise life drawing. Here he came into contact with many innovative architects, artists designers, including architect Isaac Ware.

Career

It is thought that Ware introduced him to Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington and his circle of friends. Paine’s first professional job, aged only nineteen, was as the Clerk of Works supervising the building of Nostell Priory, Yorkshire, designed by Colonel James Moyser, a friend of Lord Burlington. Essentially a Palladian, Paine was to work on many other projects in the area including Heath House in the village of Heath in between Nostell Priory and Wakefield.
Paine lived in Pontefract whilst working at Nostell Priory, and whilst working on that project, he was also commissioned to design the Mansion House, Doncaster, Yorkshire between 1745 and 1748.
From the 1750s, he had his own practice, and designed many villas, usually consisting of a central building, often with a fine staircase, and two symmetrical wings. The most important house which he was involved with was Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire where he succeeded Matthew Brettingham from 1759 to 1760 and suggested the colonnaded hall, but he was himself displaced by Robert Adam, who altered his designs.
At around the same time, he designed the very grand stables at Chatsworth House in the same county. He was a favourite architect of the powerful Catholic families of the time. In the 1760s he was commissioned to rebuild Worksop Manor for Edward Howard, 9th Duke of Norfolk as well as the new Thorndon Hall in Essex for Robert Petre, 9th Baron Petre and his house on Park Lane, London. From 1770 to 1776, he built New Wardour Castle in Wiltshire.
Paine held various posts, some sinecures, in the Office of Works culminating in appointment as one of the two Architects of the Works in 1780 but lost the post in a reorganisation in 1782. He was appointed High Sheriff of Surrey for 1783.
His practice declined in his later years as he refused to participate in the Neoclassical fashions established by the Adam brothers. He published much of his own work in his two volumes of Plans, elevations and sections of Noblemen and Gentlemen's Houses.
In 1789, Paine retired to France, where he died in the autumn.

Personal life

Paine married twice. His first wife was Sarah Jennings, daughter and coheir of George Jennings of Pontefract. They married in March 1741 and had a son, the architect, sculptor, and topographical watercolourist James Paine.
After Sarah's death, Paine married Charlotte Beaumont, youngest daughter of Richard Beaumont of Whitley Beaumont, near Huddersfield. They were married by June 1748 and had two daughters, Charlotte and Mary, known as 'Polly'. Charlotte married St John Charlton on 22 December 1781, who later became High Sheriff of Shropshire in 1790 and the couple lived at Apley Castle. Mary married artist Tilly Kettle, with a dowry of £5,000.
In 1773 Paine bought the lease to Sayes Court, a country estate near Chertsey in Surrey. He became a justice of the peace for Middlesex in December 1776 and for Surrey in June 1777, and served as High Sheriff of Surrey in 1785.

Portraits by Joshua Reynolds

Paine was a friend of artist Joshua Reynolds and had designed a large gallery and painting room, with an elaborate chimney piece, for Reynolds’ home in Leicester Fields, now Leicester Square, London. In 1764, Reynolds painted a joint portrait of James Paine father and son pictured above was exhibited twice in Yorkshire in late nineteenth century, and copies were made. It was eventually acquired by the art dealer C.J Wertheimer but when it was shown at Burlington House in 1908, it was catalogued as Portraits of the Misses Paine, their mother Charlotte having been painted out to increase its sale value. William Hesketh Lever paid £4520. 5s for in 1918. In 1935, the Lady Lever Art Gallery Trustees took the decision to remove the over painting and restored Mrs Paine to her rightful place.

Legacy

In 2017, the Friends of Mansion House, Doncaster led on the James Paine Festival, celebrating his life and work on the 300th anniversary of his birth.

List of architectural works