Thomas Cundy (senior)

File:Hawarden Castle Morris edited.jpg

He was the eldest son of Peter Cundy of Restowrick House, St Dennis Cornwall, and his wife Thomasine Wilcocks, and was baptised at St Dennis on 18 February 1765.

After serving an apprenticeship with a builder in Plymouth, he moved to London at the age of 21. At the age of 28 he was employed as clerk of the works at Normanton Park, under Samuel Pepys Cockerell; following Cockerell's retirement he was retained by Sir Gilbert Heathcote to complete the alterations in progress. He then set up in business as an architect and builder, and in 1821 was appointed surveyor to Earl Grosvenor's London estates, in succession to William Porden. He had previously altered two houses on the estate, in Grosvenor Square. During his tenure the basic layout of Belgravia was developed, but he died before much construction had been carried out.{{cite book|pages=127–140|chapter=The Architecture of the Estate: The Reign of the Cundys|title=Survey of London: volume 39: The Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 1 (General History|year=1977|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41847 |accessdate= 17 August 2013}}

Buildings which Cundy built or altered significantly include Middleton Park and Osterley for the Earl of Jersey, Tottenham Park in Wiltshire, Hawarden Castle, Burton Constable, Syon House, Northumberland House in London and Wytham in Oxfordshire. He exhibited several designs for these and other buildings at the Royal Academy.

He died 28 December. 1825.{{cite DNB|wstitle=Cundy, Thomas (1765-1825)|volume=13}} His son, Thomas Cundy the younger, took over his post with the Grosvenor estate.

Cundy married Mary Hubert in 1789. They had six sons: Thomas (1790–1867), also an architect; James (1793–1826, a mason); Samuel (c. 1794-1819); Joseph (1795–1875, an architect and builder); William (c. 1797-1829); and John (c. 1802-28).

Buildings on which Cundy worked included:

• Middleton Park, Oxfordshire. Restored the house for the 5th Earl of Jersey in 1806-10.{{cite web|title=Jersey Mausoleum|url=http://www.mmtrust.org.uk/mausolea/view/174/Jersey_Mausoleum|publisher=Mausolea & Monuments Trust|accessdate=8 September 2013}}
• Osterley Park (for the Earl of Jersey).
• Tottenham Park, Wiltshire.
• Hawarden Castle. Cundy enlarged an existing house for Sir Stephen Richard Glynne, entirely casing the building in ashlar, in a castellated Gothick style in 1809-10.{{cite web|title=Hawarden Castle (New)|url=http://jura.rcahms.gov.uk/cadw/cadw_eng.php%3Fid%3D4&sa=U&ei=z44fUpC2O8r50gWP5ICoBw&ved=0CCgQFjAE&usg=AFQjCNFQ6DhkeWnJ54JC1IPITytJc1zWeg|publisher=Historic Wales|accessdate=27 August 2013}}
• Burton Constable.
• Syon House.
• Northumberland House. Cundy designed a grand marble staircase, built in 1822–3.{{cite web |url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=68267 |title=Northumberland House |author= Gater, G. H. and Wheeler, E. P. (editors) |publisher=Institute of Historical Research |year=1937 |work=Survey of London: volume 18: St Martin-in-the-Fields II: The Strand |accessdate=8 September 2013 }}
• Wytham, Oxfordshire.
• Wassand House, Seaton, Yorkshire, built in 1813-19 for the Rev. Charles Constable.{{NHLE |num=1249398 |accessdate=8 September 2013}}

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{{Reflist}}

• H. M. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 (1997) {{ISBN|0-300-07207-4}}
• L. H. Cust, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/6908 ‘Cundy, Thomas, the elder (1765–1825)’], rev. Annette Peach, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004, accessed 3 January 2008
• A Biographical Dictionary of Civil Engineers in Great Britain and Ireland : 1500-1830 A. W. Skempton

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Category:1765 births

Category:1825 deaths

Category:19th-century English architects

Category:Architects from Cornwall

Category:18th-century English people

Category:Burials at Vineyard Passage Burial Ground