Vol 13 No 18 Thomas Ripley

Non-Hampton & Richmond Borough related posts.
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Les1949
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HAMPTON, AROUND AND ABOUT

Things you may not know, or didn’t know you knew!

No 18 THOMAS RIPLEY
Architect to the Establishment

It is commonly said that Thomas Ripley (1682- 1758) walked all the way from Yorkshire to London in search of his fortune. Whether that is true or not, Ripley certainly came from humble beginnings to become amongst other things a coffee shop owner, a Master Carpenter of the Carpenter’s Company, Architect and Surveyor to royalty. Due to his connection with Hampton he was buried in St Marys.

Coffee Shops in the early 1700s were a new phenonom and were places to discuss politics, business and a place to network – don’t confuse them with the modern ‘Starbucks’ – this was a place to meet and be seen. Ripley was fortunate to make the aquaintance of Sir Rober Walpole (1676-1745), First Lord of the Treasury; regarded as the first British Prime Minister. Ripley’s Coffee Shop was just off Cheapside. In 1705, Ripley was admitted to the Carpenter’s Company, one of the Livery Companies in the City of London, in existence since 1277 and based in London Wall – adjacent to Cheapside, handy!

Ripley rose to be an architect and was a senior officer in the Board of Works – responsible for the design, building and maintenance of Government and Royal buildings.

In 1726 he designed what could be said to be the first office building in London – the ‘Old Admiralty Building’ – still known as the ‘Ripley Building’ – it is recorded that the costs ‘greatly exceeded the estimate’. In the same year, Ripley was made Comptroller of the King’s Works, in succession to Sir John Vanbrugh – who became one of Ripley’s harshest critics.


In 1739 Ripley collaborated with William Kent on designs for the ‘new’ Houses of Parliament.
Ripley was married twice, his first wife died in 1737. In 1742 he married Miss Bucknall of Hampton, an heiress said to be worth £40,000 (worth £11m now, not a bad ‘investment’). Ripley died at his house at Old Scotland Yard on 10th February, 1758 and was survived by three sons and four daughters, his second wife having pre-deceased him and he was buried in St Marys, however, no memorial survives.

Ripley was not universally respected as an architect, especially by some of his contemporaries, no doubt partially due to his designs – described as ‘dull - but also his contacts in high places would have encouraged envy. Despite that many of his works still exist and are in use to this day.

The Old Historian
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