Thomas Allom was born in Lambeth, Surrey [now Borough of Lambeth, London], England on 13 March 1804. He was articled to Francis Goodwin (1784-1835) in 1819 and remained with him as his assistant until 1826. From 1828 he attended the Royal Academy Schools in London. By the early 1830s he was in private practice in London and in 1834 formed a partnership with Henry Francis Lockwood (1811-1878) in Hull. The partnership was dissolved by mutual consent in December 1843. Allom subsequently practised independently in London.
Allom's later architectural work included workhouses in Calne, Wiltishe (1847) and Kensington (1847-48); a number of churches including Christchurch in Highbury (1847–48) and Holy Trinity in Barnes, London (1868); and the William Brown Library in Liverpool, (1857–1860).
While pursuing a career as an architect, Allum was also an topographical artist and draughtsman. Between the late 1820s and the early 1840s this was his principal source of income. During these years he made numerous sketching tours of Britain, Europe and further afield. He is calculated to have produced some 1,500 designs for albums of topographical steel-engravings, mainly for the publisher H. Fisher & Son. He was also a skilled lithographer and produced book illustrations in this medium. His perspective drawing and drawings were in considerable demand by fellow architects and in 1844 he was commissioned by Charles Barry to paint two large watercolours of the new Houses of Parliament, to be presented to Czar Nicholas I during his visit to London.
Between 1824 and 1871 Allom exhibited at the Royal Academy, the Society [later Royal Society] of British Artists and Suffolk Street Gallery in London.
In 1834 Allom was a founder member of the Institute of British Architects [later Royal Institute of British Architects] and was elected an Associate of the Institute of British Architects (ABIA) in 1835 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1860.
Allom lived at 1 Barnes Villas, Surrey [now London]. He died in Barnes on 21 October 1872
With Henry Francis Lockwood (1834-43): Hull Trinity House (1839); extensions to Hull Royal Infirmary (1840); and the expansion of the Brownlow Hill workhouse in Liverpool (1842-1843). From 1844: Workhouses in Calne, Wiltishe (1847) and Kensington (1847-48); a number of churches including Christchurch in Highbury (1847–48) St. Peter's Church, Kensington Park Road, London (1855; the William Brown Library in Liverpool, (1857–1860); the Great Eastern Hotel in Harwick, Essex (1864); and Holy Trinity church in Barnes, London (1868)
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See also:
Historic England [link below]
British Listed Buildings [link below]
Wikimedia Commons [link below]
Brooks, Diana. Thomas Allom (1804-1872). London : British Architectural Library, RIBA , 1998 [Catalogue is published to accompany an exhibition at the RIBA Heinz Gallery, London, 26 March - 9 May 1998]
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Hyde, Ralph. ‘Review: Thomas Allom’. Print Quarterly vol. 16, no. 4, December 1999 pp. 400-403 [Review of Thomas Allom (1804-1872) by Diana Brooks]
‘Obituary’. The Builder vol. 30, 26 October 1872 p.840
‘Obituary’. Royal Institute of British Architects Proceedings vol. 1872-73 p.10