Gervase Wheeler (1815–1889) was a British architect, writer, and illustrator who designed homes in the United States.
Gervase Wheeler | |
---|---|
Born | Circa 1815 |
Died | January 1st, 1889 |
Occupation | Architect |
Wheeler is best known for publishing influential architectural pattern books Rural Homes (1851) and Homes for the People in Suburb and Country (1855).[1][2][3][4] These books include house plans as illustrations, while the prose focuses on architectural best practices and Wheeler's personal opinions about American culture and aesthetics. He promoted Italianate style[5] as well as Carpenter Gothic.[6]
Wheeler moved to the U.S. in 1846 or 1847 and stayed until the 1860s, after which he returned to London.[1]
Wheeler's father, who was also named Gervase, worked as a manufacturer of gold, silver and gilded jewelry from 1832 to 1844. London directories indicate he worked at 28 Bartlett's Buildings in Holborn, then just outside London.[1]
In 1855, he stated that "the desire to build, to have a home of one's own is implanted in the breast of every American, and I fancy statistics would show that the number of those who own homesteads in this country far exceeds England."[7]
Renée Tribert and James F. O’Gorman, Gervase Wheeler: A British Architect in America, 1847–1860 (Middletown, CT: Wesleyan University Press, 2012).