Term introduced by John Summerson to identify an architectural and decorative style, largely derived from north European MANNERISM, adopted by English artisans in the mid-17th century. Lugged architraves, broken pediments, grand and ornate gables, hipped roofs, heavy eaves-cornices and strongly demarcated string courses are among the idiosyncracies and embellishments that typify the style. More through available pattern books and the work of immigrant craftsmen than through travel abroad, English artisans, particularly in London, became increasingly aware during the 1620s and 1630s of recent developments in architectural design on the Continent. They took their ideas from such books as Jacques Francart’s Premier livre d’architecture (Brussels, 1616), Rubens’s Palazzi di Genova (Antwerp, 1622) and Salomon de Bray’s Architectura moderna (Amsterdam, 1631)—which illustrates the work of Hendrik de Keyser—but did not treat them as authoritative, although precise borrowings can be traced. Instead, individual workshops developed their own versions, regional differences grew and persisted, and early sources of design, such as the engraved books of Jacques Du Cerceau the elder, continued to be influential. Nicholas Stone, at his Goldsmiths’ Hall in London (1635–8; destr.), was also among those who followed their own inclinations. The giant pilasters of several buildings in Kent, for example Sir George Sondes’s Lees Court (begun c. 1640), near Faversham, the hipped roof of Sir John Harris’s Balls Park (c. 1640), Herts, and the tall rectangular façade and mullioned windows of Thorpe Hall (1653–6), Cambs, built by PETER MILLS for Oliver St John, are examples of the coarse classicism that characterizes the style. The period overlaps with the career of Inigo Jones, who had produced far purer forms of Renaissance architecture for more sophisticated courtly patrons.

• Artisan Mannerism
  • Livery hall