English Baroque under John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His own work was influenced by both Jones' work, and by Dutch architecture. Although May's only surviving works are Eltham Lodge, and the east front, stables and chapel at Cornbury House, his designs were influential. Together with his contemporary, Sir Roger Pratt, May was responsible for introducing and popularising an Anglo-Dutch type of house, which was widely imitated.[1]
Biography
Hugh May was the seventh son of John May of Rawmere, in
draughtsmen instead. He died at the age of 63, and was buried in the church at Mid Lavant.[2]
Houses
At the Restoration of Charles II, May was rewarded for his loyalty by being appointed Paymaster of the
Berkeley House, on Piccadilly, London (1664–1666, demolished 1733), for Lord Berkeley.[3] It was again in the same style, but with the addition of quadrant colonnades, a feature derived from Palladio, and which was again much imitated. At Cassiobury, Hertfordshire (1674, demolished 1922), May added wings to the home of the Earl of Essex, and redesigned some of the interiors, giving the woodcarver Grinling Gibbons his first major commission. It is possible that May was the architect of the first Burlington House, for Sir John Denham, and he certainly advised the Earl of Burlington after he purchased the house in 1667. He was also involved in construction or alterations at Chilton Lodge, Berkshire (1666, rebuilt), Holme Lacy, Herefordshire (1673–1674), and Moor Park, Hertfordshire (1679–1684, rebuilt).[2]
May's houses drew on contemporary Dutch classicism, as exemplified by the
Sir Christopher Wren, and spread to Scotland in the work of Sir William Bruce.[4]
St George's Hall, Windsor Castle, in 1819Royal Chapel, Windsor Castle, in 1819
Rebuilding London
Following the Great Fire of London, in September 1666, May was one of the three "Commissioners for Rebuilding the City of London", appointed by Charles II. The others were Roger Pratt and Christopher Wren, and along with three representatives of the City of London, Robert Hooke, Edward Jerman and Peter Mills, they were charged with surveying the damage, and promoting methods of rebuilding. The commissioners' work led to two Parliamentary acts for rebuilding, in 1666 and 1670, although May's role in the reconstruction work was limited.[5]
Windsor Castle
In June 1668, May was promoted to Comptroller of the King's Works, and was also appointed Clerk to the
King George IV, although the Queen's Audience Chamber and Presence Chamber survive in altered form.[1]
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