Kay, Joseph

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Kay, Joseph (1775–1847). English architect. A pupil of S. P. Cockerell, he later travelled on the Continent (for part of the time with Robert Smirke), and in 1807 married the eldest daughter of Porden, for whom he acted as assistant during the building of the Gothic Revival Eaton Hall, Cheshire (1804–12—demolished). He designed the handsome range of houses on the east side of Mecklenburgh Square, London (1810–21), the Post Office, Waterloo Place, Edinburgh (1818–19), and Nelson Street and the Market, Greenwich, London (1829). His masterpiece is the elegant Pelham Crescent with the Church of St Mary-in-the-Castle in the centre, in Hastings, Sussex (1824–8). The church is top-lit and has an Ionic prostyle portico, while beneath the terrace in front of the whole composition is an ingenious structure intended for shops and services. His eldest son, William Porden Kay (1809–97) emigrated to Australia in 1842 where he was Director of Public Works.

Bibliography

Colvin (1995)

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