Bryan Browning

Bryan Browning
Camera Obscura House, Stamford
Born	1773 Thurlby, Lincolnshire
Died	1 October 1856 Stamford
Nationality	English
Occupation	Architect
Practice	First in partnership in London with George Woolcott, then by himself in Stamford and from 1847 in partnership with his son Edward Browning.

Bryan Browning (1773–1856) was an English architect working in Stamford.

Life

Lancaster House by Benjamin Wyatt and built by Browning and Woolcot

Bryan Browning was born at Thurlby in Lincolnshire in 1773. Nothing is known about his architectural training but in 1817 he made designs for the re-building of Ringwood vicarage in Hampshire. Between about 1820 and 1830 he worked in partnership with George Woolcott in Doughty Street as Builders and Surveyors. In this period Browning and Woolcott worked as contractors for a number of major building projects in London. This included the building of Lancaster House. They also built Strensham Court in Worcestershire, probably to designs by George Maddox. In 1821 Bryan Browning designed the Sessions House at Bourne, in Lincolnshire and in 1824 he was the architect for the House of Correction at Folkingham. By 1834 he had returned to Lincolnshire and was living at Northorpe near Bourne. He had moved to Stamford by 1838 where he was retained by the Marquess of Exeter and was being paid £180. In 1847, his son, Edward Browning, who had trained under George Maddox, joined the practice. The practice worked from Broad Street, Stamford. Bryan Browning died on 1 October 1856 and is buried in the cemetery there.

Works

Public buildings

Bourne Sessions House

House of Correction, Folkingham

• 1821. Town Hall, Bourne, Lincolnshire
• 1824-5. House of Correction at Folkingham
• 1835. Stamford Workhouse
• 1842. Stamford Institution (Camera Obscura House)

School

• 1840-1 National School, Titchmarsh, Northamptonshire

Houses

• 1843. Barn Hill House, Stamford. Remodelled for Lord Exeter.
• 1846-48. Alterations to Apethorpe, Northants.

Rectories and vicarages

• 1833. Alwalton, Northamptonshire.
• 1835 Fletton, Hunts.
• 1838 Greatford, Lincolnshire.
• 1839 Deeping St James, Lincolnshire.
• 1840 Stoke Dry Rectory, Rutland

Miscellaneous

Gate Arch to Blashfield's works, Wharf Road Stamford

• 1845. Grant's Iron Foundry, Wharf Road, Stamford. Built for Lord Exeter. Only the monumental arch now survives. This was built in 1845 as the entrance to Grant's iron foundry and was designed by Bryan Browning. The site became Blashfield's Terracotta Works in 1858. In 1937 the Stamford architect John Charles Traylen rebuilt the arch several feet to the south and parallel with the road.

Literature

• Antram N (revised), Pevsner, N. & Harris J, (1989), The Buildings of England: Lincolnshire, Yale University Press.
• Antonia Brodie (ed), Directory of British Architects, 1834–1914: 2 Vols, British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects, 2001, Vol 1, pg. 280.
• Colvin H. A (1995), Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600–1840. Yale University Press, 3rd edition London, pg.172.