Decimus Burton, English architect, designed the Pharos Lighthouse (d. 1881)
Decimus Burton (30 September 1800 – 14 December 1881) was one of the foremost English architects and urban designers of the 19th century. He was the foremost Victorian architect in the Roman revival, Greek revival, Georgian neoclassical and Regency styles. He was accomplished also in the cottage orné, picturesque and neogothic styles. He was a founding fellow and, later, vice-president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and architect to the Royal Botanic Society from 1840 and an early member of the Athenaeum Club, London, whose club premises he designed and which the company of father, James Burton, the pre-eminent property developer of Georgian London, built. Modern architectural historians Guy Williams (1990) and Dana Arnold (2004) contend that Burton's contribution to architecture has been underestimated: as a consequence of the misattribution to John Nash of many of his works; of his vituperation by his neo-gothic rival, Augustus Pugin; and of the consequent retention of his archives by his family.
Burton's projects include Hyde Park, London (including the gate or screen at Hyde Park Corner, Wellington Arch, Cumberland Gate, Stanhope Gate, Grosvenor Gate, and the Prince of Wales's Gate, Knightsbridge); Green Park and St James's Park; Regent's Park, London (including Cornwall Terrace, York Terrace, Clarence Terrace, Chester Terrace, and the villas of the Inner Circle (which included his own mansion, The Holme, and the original Winfield House); the enclosure of the forecourt of Buckingham Palace, from which he had Nash's Marble Arch facing the Palace moved to its present site; the clubhouse of the Athenaeum Club; Carlton House Terrace; Spring Gardens in St. James's; and the Palm House and the Temperate House at Kew Gardens. Outside London, Burton planned, and designed the architecture of, the seaside towns of St Leonards-on-Sea Fleetwood, Folkestone with the Leas promenade and the spa town Tunbridge Wells. His development of the Calverley Estate, of which only a small proportion survives, that contained elements of the neoclassical, the Old English and the neogothic styles, was highly commended: it has been described as "a landmark in English domestic architecture". For two decades he was engaged on a vast landscaping project to renovate Phoenix Park in Dublin. He was the architect of Dublin Zoo, and of the renewal of the sea-side resort of Queenstown.
Decimus was the tenth child of James Burton. He was taught by his father, Sir John Soane and John Nash. Decimus's siblings included James Burton, the Egyptologist, and Henry Burton, the physician, and he was a cousin of the Canadian author, Thomas Chandler Haliburton, and of the British civil servant Lord Haliburton.
Burton was a leading member of London society during the late Georgian and Regency eras. He has been described by Williams as "rich, cool, well-dressed, apparently celibate, the designer and prime member of the Athenaeum, one of London's grandest gentlemens' clubs", and as one who was treated by the aristocracy "more as a friend than as a professional advisor". He had close friendships with Princess Victoria (the future Queen Victoria); the Duchess of Kent; William Cavendish, 6th Duke of Devonshire, John Wilson Croker, Sir John Soane, John Nash and Sir Humphry Davy.