Hawksmoor, Nicholas (1661-1736)

English architect. He was assistant to Christopher Wren in designing various London churches and St Paul's Cathedral, and joint architect of Castle Howard and Blenheim Palace with John Vanbrugh. His genius is displayed in a quirky and uncompromising style incorporating elements from both Gothic and classical sources.

After 1712 Hawksmoor completed six of the 50 new churches planned for London under the provisions made by the Fifty New Churches Act of 1711: St Alphege, Greenwich (1712-14); St Anne, Limehouse (1712-24); St George-in-the-East (1714-34); St Mary Woolnoth (1716-27); St George, Bloomsbury (1720-30); and Christ Church, Spitalfields (1714-29).