Eighteenth Century Architecture

Architecture in Eighteenth Century England

The Bakers Home Page Return to the Home Page of the Bakers Family part of the website

The Bakers of Highfields Story The Story of the Dods and Bakers and of Highfields, Fenton House and Hasfield Court. A journey through the history of Cheshire and Staffordshire, an Anglo-Saxon nobleman who retained his lands after the Conquest, pottery at Stoke on Trent, an encounter with Elgar, and the history of an Elizabethan manor house at Audlem

The Bakers of Highfields The family tree of the Bakers of Highfields

The Dod Family The Family Tree of the Dods, predecessors to the Bakers of Highfields

The Bakers of Fenton House and Hasfield Court The Family Tree of the pottery Bakers of Stoke on Trent

The Bellyse Family The Family Tree of the Bellyse Family

The Farndale Story The main part of this website tells the story of the Farndale family from Yorkshire Descendants of Arthur Baker, the story of the Farndale ancestry is told through the main part of this website You can also return to the Farndale website home page

The Hall Family The genealogy of the family of James Hall, linked to the Baker family through marriage to Arthur Baker

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Eighteenth-century English architecture moved from heavy Baroque styles to clean Palladian forms, and finally to playful Gothic and classical Revival designs. Three major styles defined this period: English Baroque, Palladianism, and Neoclassicism, shaped by famous architects like Christopher Wren, John Vanbrugh, William Kent, and Robert Adam.

Eighteenth-century architecture in Cheshire shifted from vernacular timber-framing toward refined Georgian classicism. Wealthy landowners rebuilt or refaced medieval and Tudor manor houses into symmetrical Palladian and neoclassical villas designed by prominent national architects, emphasizing geometry, calm red-brick or stone facades, and landscaped parklands.

The late eighteenth century brought strict Roman and Greek revival principles. Master architects like Samuel Wyatt designed imposing neoclassical seats such as Doddington Hall (1777–1790) and Tatton Hall.

Toward the close of the century, architect Thomas Harrison transformed Chester Castle with monumental Greek Revival public buildings and courts, alongside rare industrial structures like the 1799 Chester Shot Tower.

William Baker of Audlem (1705–1771) was a British architect, surveyor, and builder active in the mid eighteenth century across Shropshire, Staffordshire, and neighbouring counties. He trained as a joiner under Francis Smith of Warwick. His architectural style combined practical construction skills with Palladian and Neoclassical influences derived largely from the pattern books of James Gibbs. He acted simultaneously as designer, building contractor, and clerk of works, overseeing material sourcing, brick production, and structural execution.

He was heavily adapted designs from pattern books, particularly James Gibbs’s Book of Architecture (1728). He employed symmetrical facades, round-headed openings, low pedimented porticos, and characteristic Diocletian or lunette windows. He specialised in functional public structures like multi-use town halls and market crosses that doubled as corporation meeting rooms. He also handled church restorations and tower re-facings, often blending classical fenestration with subtle Gothic Revival details like crocketed pinnacles.