George Townsend Andrews was born in Herristree, Devon, England on 19 December 1804. He attended the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1825 and for a period worked as an assistant to the architect Peter Frederick Robinson (1776-1858) in London.
In 1825 Robinson won a contract to design York Country Gaol. He subsequently formed a partnership with Andrews and sent him to York to supervise work on the project. Andrews was to remain in York for the rest of his career as an architect. The partnership with Robinson was dissolved in July 1837 and thereafter he practised alone.
Andrews specialised in the design of railway buildings and was responsible for designing all the buildings for the York and North Midland Railway (Y&NM) from 1839 to 1849. He also designed buildings for the the Great North of England Railway (GNER), the Newcastle and Darlington Junction Railway and the York, Newcastle and Berwick Railway.
His non-railway work included his own office at 32 Castlegate, York (1826-30); Remodelling of 32 Castlegate, York, the house of George Hudson (1827); Supervision of the restoration of Bootham Bar in York (1834); St. Catherine’s Hospital, Holgate Road, York (1834-35); 1 St Leonard’s Place, York Subscription Library (1834-35); 2-4 and 8 St Leonard’s Place and Blanshard’s House, York (1834-35); Alterations to Assize Courts at York Castle (1835); National School for Boys, Queen Street, York (1835); Widening of Castle Mills Bridge, York (1835-36); York City & County Bank, Parliament Street, York (1836); Crescent at St. Leonard's Place, York, with Peter Frederick Robinson (1844); York Diocesan Training School (1845-46); Head office of Yorkshire Insurance, St. Helen's Square, York (1846-47); York Yeoman School (1846-47); All Saints Church, Newton-upon-Ouse, Yorkshire (1849); Richmond School in Richmond, Yorkshire (1849); Chapel, York Diocesan Training School (1850-51); St. Lawrence's Church, Flaxton-on-the-Moor, Yorkshire (1853); 1-3 The Crescent, Blossom Street, York (1853-54); Calvert Villa, The Mount, York (1853-54); and Winn’s George Hotel, Tanner Row, York (1854-55).
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Minette, M. J. ‘The railway stations of George Townsend Andrews’. The Journal of Transport History vol. 7, no. 1, 1 May 1965 pp. 44-53