Gandon, James (1742–1823). London-born English architect. He was apprenticed to Chambers and established his own practice c.1765. With John Woolfe (d. 1793) he produced the fourth and fifth volumes of Vitruvius Britannicus (1767 and 1771), and also published Six Designs of Frizes (1767) and two volumes on ornament (1778). He designed Nottingham County Hall (1770), and went to Dublin in 1781 to oversee the erection of his Custom House, the design of which owes much to Chambers's Somerset House in London. His excellent contacts ensured he had plenty of work, including the Four Courts (1786–1802) and the new portico and screen-wall for the Parliament House (1785–9), Dublin. His architecture was influenced by French Neo-Classicism (through Chambers), but he also admired Wren. He created some of Ireland's most outstanding buildings.

Bibliography

Colvin (1995);
M. Craig (1969, 1982);
H. Duffy 1999);
Gandon (1969);
McParland (1985);
Mulvany (1969);
Summerson (ed.) (1993)

Gandon, James (1742–1823). Best known for the embellishment of Georgian Dublin in the late 18th cent. Born in London of a Huguenot family, he studied architecture under Sir William chambers and was awarded the first prize in architecture by the new Royal Academy in 1769. His career took off when he was invited to Dublin in 1781. His first work was the grand Custom House, not completed until 1791. The east and west porticoes of the Parliament House (now the Bank of Ireland) were finished by 1785 and he designed and built Carlisle bridge (now O'Connell bridge). His Four Courts building was opened in 1795. Gandon bought an estate at Lucan near Dublin and spent much of his later years planting and improving. He is buried at Drumcondra near Dublin.

J. A. Cannon