Decimus Burton was born in the parish of St Pancras, London. England on 30 September 1800. Both his paternal grandfather, William Halibuton (1731-1785) and his father, James Burton (1761-1837), were London property developers. His first training in the architectural profession was with his father, supplemented by lessons in drawing and draughtsmanship from George Maddox (1760-1843). In November 1817, he entered the Royal Academy Schools in London where he attended lectures given by John Soane (1753-1837), professor of architecture.
Between 1817 and 1823 he designed or assisted in the design of a number of properties in Regent's Park in London, including his father's villa. He set up his own independent practice in London in April 1823 and was active as an an architect until his retirement in 1869, after which he partly lived in St. Leonards, East Sussex. His practice was continued by his nephew, Henry Marley Burton (1813-1880).
Burton was architect to the Royal Botanic Society from 1840. He became a Fellow of the Institute of British Architects (FIBA) [later Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA)] in 1834, the year it was founded. He was also a Fellow of the Royal Society and of the Society of Antiquaries. He died in Kensington, London on on 14 December 1881.
Holwood House, Keston, Kent (1823-26); Buildings and gardens, Zoological Society, Regent's Park, London (1826-41); Holy Trinity church, Tunbridge Wells, Kent (1827-29); Cornwall Terrace, Regent's Park, London (1831-23); Clarenve Terrace, Regent's Park, London (1822-23); Grove House, Regent's Park, London (1822-24); The Colusseum, Regent's Park, London (1823-27); Entrance archway, Hyde Park, london (1825); Hertford Villa, Regent's Park, London (1825); Athenaeum Club, London (1827-30); Calverley Estate, Tunbridge Wells, Kent (1827-1840); The Royal Navy Club, 160 Bond Street, London (1828-31); Baulah Spa, Upper Norwood (1828-31); Great Culverdon House, Tunbridge Wells, Kent (1829-30); Queen Adelaide Crescen, Brighton, Sussex (1830-34); Burrswood House, Speldhurst, Kent (1831-38); Great Conservatory, Chatsworth, Derbyshire (1836-40); Holy Trinity, Eastbourne, Sussex (1837-39); Scheme for Fleetwood, a new town in Lancashire (1836-43); Palm Stove, Royal Botenic Gardens, Kew (1844-48); Winter Garden Conservatory, Regent's Park, London, with Richard Turner (1845-46); Tempeate House Conservatory, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (1859-62).
For a more detailed list of Decimus Burton's architectural projects including public buildings, churches, building estates, and domestic commissions see Colvin, 4th edition pp. 198-203 [Bibliography below]
See also:
British Listed Buildings [link below]
Historic England [link below]
Wikipedia [link below]
Adshead, S. D. ‘The Decimus Burton Arch’. The Town Planning Review, vol. 3, no. 2, 1912 pp. 94-96
Arnold, Dana. ‘The arch at Constitution Hill: a new axis for London’, Apollo vol. 138, 1993 pp. 129–33
Arnold, Dana. ‘Decimus Burton and the urban picturesque’ in Picturesque in Late Georgian England: Papers Given at the Georgian Group Symposium, edited by Dana Arnold. London : Georgian Group, 1995 pp. 51-56
Arnold, Dana. ‘Decimus Burton's work in the Phoenix Park, 1832–49’, Bulletin of the Irish Georgian Society vol. 37, 1995 pp. 57–75
Arnold, Dana Rebecca. The Architect and the Metropolis: the work of James and Decimus Burton in London and in Dublin c.1800-1840. Ph. D., University of London, 1998
Avery, Derek. Victorian and Edwardian Architecture. London: Chaucer Press, 2003
Bohan, Peter J. ‘Decimus Burton’. in Macmillan Encyclopedia of Architects Volume 1. Edited by Adolf K. Plakzek. New York and London: Macmillan and Free Press, 1982 pp.356-358
Bohan, Peter John. James and Decimus Burton architectural trends in England exemplified by their work, 1790-1860 1 Text. Ph.D. thesis, Yale University, 1961
Bolton, A. T. ‘Grove House’. Country Life. vol. 22, March. 1913 pp. 11-16, London [The author], 1832
Britton, John. Descriptive Sketches of Tunbridge Wells and the Calverley Estate.
Colvin, Howard, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840. New Haven, Connecticut and London: Yale University Press, 4th edition, 2008
Crook,.J. Mordaunt, ‘The villas in Regent's Park part 1’, Country Life, vol. 144. 4 July 1968 pp. 22–25
Crook,.J. Mordaunt, ‘The villas in Regent's Park part 2’, Country Life, vol. 144. 11 July 1968 pp. 84–87
Decimus Burton centenary exhibition : 28th November-19th December 1981 : an exhibition arranged jointly by the Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society and the Tunbridge Wells Borough Council to mark the centenary of the death in 1881 of the noted architect Decimus Burton, F.R.S., F.S.A., F.R.I.B.A. Tunbridge Wells, Kent: Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society, 1981
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
Ferriday, Peter. ‘Palm House at Kew’. Architectural Review vol. 121, February 1957 pp. 127-128 [The Palm House was designed by Richard Turner (c.1798-1881); Decimus Burton supervised its construction]
Funnell, Barry. Burton's St. Leonards : the contribution of Decimus Burton. St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex, A. Hanson/Burton's St. Leonard Society, 1982.
Graig, Gordon. ‘Before his time: Mr Decimus Burton’. Apollo vol. 4, 1926 pp. 140-144
Honour, Hiugh. ‘The Regent’s Park Colosseum’. Country Life vol. 113, 2 January 1953 pp. 22-24
Hussey, Christopher. ‘Calverley Park, Tunbridge Wells’. Country Life vol. 145, 1 May 1969 pp. 1080-1093 [Part one of a two-part article on Calverley Park designed by Decimus Burton between and 1827 and 1850]
Hussey, Christopher. ‘Calverley Park, Tunbridge Wells’. Country Life vol. 145, 8 May 1969 pp. 1166-1169 [Part two of a two-part article on Calverley Park designed by Decimus Burton between and 1827 and 1850]
Hussey, Christopher. ‘Country homes, gardens, old and new: Grimston Park, Yorkshire’. Country Life vol. 87, 9 March 1940 pp. 252-256 [Part one of a two-part article. Discusses the rebuilding of Grimston Park near Tadcaster, Yorkshire by Decimus Burton in 1839-40; William Nesfield (1793-1881) design
Hussey, Christopher. ‘Country homes, gardens, old and new: Grimston Park, Yorkshire’. Country Life vol. 87, 16 March 1940 pp. 276-280 [Part two of a two-part article. Discusses the rebuilding of Grimston Park near Tadcaster, Yorkshire by Decimus Burton in 1839-40; William Nesfield (1793-1881) designed the gardens]
Jones, Christopher. Picturesque Urban Plannimg - Tunbridge Wells and the Suburban Ideal: the Development of Calverley Estate 1825-1855. Ph.D. thesis, Department of Continuing Education, University of Oxford, 2017
Jones, Ronald P. ‘The life and work of Decimus Burton’. Architectural Review vol. 17, March 1905 pp. 108-118 [Part one of a two-part article]
Jones, Ronald P. ‘The life and work of Decimus Burton’. Architectural Review vol. 17, April 1905 pp. 154-164 [Part two of a two-part article]
McCullen, John and Arnold, Brian. Decimus Burton 1800-1881 exhibition : Royal Hospital Kilmainham, July 1st to August 1st 1988 : a Millennium exhibition promoted by the Institute of Landscape Horticulture of Ireland and the Office of Public Works. Dublin : Institute of Landscape Horticulture of Ireland, 1988.
MacDougall, Tristan. The sculptural history of Decimus Burton's arches at Hyde Park Corner, c. 1825-1912. M.A. thesis, University of York, 2010
McRae, J. F. ‘Burton’s Tunbridge Wells’. Architects’ Journal vol. 65, 9 February 1927 pp. 214-216 [Part one of a two-part article on Decimus Burton’s work in Tunbridge Wells, Kent]
McRae, J. F. ‘Burton’s Tunbridge Wells’. Architects’ Journal vol. 65, 16 February 1927 pp. 249-250 [Part two of a two-part article on Decimus Burton’s work in Tunbridge Wells, Kent]
Meynell, G. ‘The Royal Botanic Society's garden, Regent's Park’, London Journal, 6 (1980), 135–46
Miller, Philip. Decimus Burton, 1800-1881 : a guide to the exhibition of his work. London: Building Centre Trust, 1981.
Monkhouse, C. ‘Fleetwood, Lancashire’. Country Life vol. 158, 1975 pp. 126-128, 290-290
Murphy, Douglas ‘His garden work was long considered a curious sideshow Douglas Murphy on Decimus Burton’. Apollo, April 2018 pp. 26-27
Nares, Gordon. ‘The Athenaeum Club, London’. Country Life vol. 109, 6 April 1951 pp. 1018-1022 [Discusses the fittings designed by Decimus Burton for the Athenaeum Club between 1827 and 1830]
Nathaniels, Elizabeth. ‘James and Decimus Burton’s Regency New Town, 1827–37’, The Georgian Group Journal, Vol. 20, 2012, pp. 151–170
‘Obituary: Mr. Decimus Burton, F. R. S.’ Proceedings of the Royal Geographical Society and Monthly Record of Geography vol. 4, no. 2, 1882 p. 102
Pierpoint, Robert. ‘Decimus Burton's arch’. Notes and Queries vol. 150, no. 23, 1926 p. 412
Rabbitts, Paul A. Decimus Burton, Gentleman Architect. London: Lund Humphries, 2021
Ramsey, Stanley C. ‘London Clubs: The Athenaeum Club, London’. Architectural Review vol. 34, September 1913 pp. 54-58 [Discusses the fittings designed by Decimus Burton for the Athenaeum Club between 1827 and 1830]
Service, Alastair. The Architects of London and their buildings from 1066 to the present. London: The Architectural Press, 1979
Taylor, G. C. Country homes, gardens, old and new: ‘Holme House, Regent’s Park’. Country Life vol. 86, 18 October 1939 pp. 444-448
Taylor, G. C. ‘A house in Regent’s Park’. Country Life vol. 87, 1940 pp. 416-418
Whitbourn, Philip. Decimus Burton, Esquire : architect and gentleman (1800-1881). Tunbridge Wells, Kent: : Royal Tunbridge Wells Civic Society, 2006.
Williams, Guy. Augustus Pugin versus Decimus Burton : a Victorian architectural duel. London : Cassell, 1990.