Thomas Cubitt
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Thomas Cubitt (born Dorking 1788–1855) was the leading master builder in London in the second quarter of the 19th century, and also carried out several projects in other parts of England.
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[edit] Background
The son of a Norfolk farmer, he journeyed to India as ship's carpenter from which he earned sufficient funds to start his own building firm in Gray's Inn Road, London where he was the first builder to have a 'modern' system of employing all the types of sub-contractors internally, on permanent wages, instead of outsourcing the tradeswork as had been done previously.
[edit] Work
Cubitt's first major building was the London Institute in Finsbury Circus, built in 1815. After this he worked primarily on speculative housing at Camden Town, Islington, and especially at Highbury Park, Stoke Newington (now part of Islington).
His development of areas of Bloomsbury, including Gordon Square and Tavistock Square, began in 1820, for a group of landowners including the Duke of Bedford.
He was commissioned in 1824 by Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, to create a great swathe of building in Belgravia centred around Belgrave Square and Pimlico, in what was to become his greatest achievement in London. Notable amongst this development are the north and west sides of Eaton Square, which exemplify Cubitt's style of building and design. His work in Belgrave Square was helped by the architect Philip Hardwick (1792-1870) who designed Sefton House.
Cubitt was also responsible for the east front of Buckingham Palace. He also built and personally funded nearly a kilometre of the Thames Embankment. He was employed in the large development of Kemp Town in Brighton, and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, completed in 1851. Cubitt's public works included the provision of public parks, including being an organiser of the Battersea Park Scheme and a guarantor of the Great Exhibition of 1851, and contributing to the Metropolitan Building Act 1855.
[edit] Trivia
His son by his wife Mary Anne Warner, George, was created Baron Ashcombe in 1892, the great-grandfather of Camilla Parker Bowles.
After his death, Queen Victoria said "In his sphere of life, with the immense business he had in hand, he is a real national loss. A better, kindhearted or more simple, unassuming man never breathed."
Cubitt's younger brother Lewis was an architect, and designed many of the houses built by his elder brother.
Another Statue of Cubitt Can Be Seen in Dorking, opposite the Dorking baths As he was favoured there for his architecture on his Denbies estate.
