Inigo Jones was the first significant architect in England in the early modern period, and the first to employ Vitruvian rules of proportion and symmetry in his buildings.
As the most notable architect in England, Jones was the first person to introduce the classical architecture of Rome and the Italian Renaissance to Britain. He left his mark on London by his design of single buildings, such as the Queen's House which is the first building in England designed in a pure classical style, and the Banqueting House, Whitehall, as well as the layout for Covent Garden square which became a model for future developments in the West End. He made major contributions to stage design by his work as a theatrical designer for several dozen masques, most by royal command and many in collaboration with Ben Jonson.
Portrait of Jones painted by William Hogarth in 1758 from a 1636 painting by Sir Anthony van Dyck
Bust of Inigo Jones by John Michael Rysbrack, 1725
A masque costume for a knight, designed by Inigo Jones
The Queen's House at Greenwich, facing the River Thames
The architecture of England is the architecture of modern England and in the historic Kingdom of England. It often includes buildings created under English influence or by English architects in other parts of the world, particularly in the English and later British colonies and Empire, which developed into the Commonwealth of Nations.
Norman Foster's 'Gherkin' (2004) rises above the sixteenth century St Andrew Undershaft in the City of London
Stonehenge
All Saints' Church, Earls Barton
Norwich Castle: round arches are characteristic of the Romanesque style