This eminent English architect, and munificent public benefactor, was
the son of a poor bricklayer, and was born at Reading in 1753. He showed
early indications of talent and a predilection for architecture; and, at
the age of fifteen, his father placed him with Mr. George Dance (then
considered one of the most accomplished of the English architects),
probably in the capacity of a servant. At all events he was not
regularly articled, but he soon attracted notice by his industry,
activity, and talents. Mr. Donaldson says, "his sister was a servant in
Mr. Dance's family, which proves that the strength of Soane's character
enabled him to rise to so distinguished a rank merely by his own
exertions." He afterwards studied under Holland, and in the Royal
Academy, where he first attracted public notice by a design for a
triumphal bridge, which drew the gold medal of that institution, and
entitled him to go to Italy for three years on the pension of the
Academy. During a residence of six years in Italy, he studied the
remains of antiquity and the finest modern edifices with great
assiduity, and made several original designs, which attracted
considerable attention; among them were one for a British Senate House,
and another for a Royal Palace. In 1780 he returned to England, and soon
distinguished himself by several elegant palaces, which he was
commissioned to erect for the nobility in different parts of the
kingdom, the plans and elevations of which he published in a folio
volume in 1788. In the same year, in a competition with nineteen other
architects, he obtained the lucrative office of Surveyor and Architect
to the Bank of England, which laid the foundation of the splendid
fortune he afterwards acquired. Other advantageous appointments
followed; that of Clerk of the Woods of St. James' Palace, in 1791;
Architect of the Woods and Forests, in 1795; Professor of Architecture
in the Royal Academy in 1806; and Surveyor of Chelsea Hospital in 1807.
In addition to his public employments, he received many commissions for
private buildings. He led a life of indefatigable industry in the
practice of his profession till 1833, when he reached his eightieth
year. He died in 1837.