Mason Croft, Stratford-on-Avon

Image: © Stephen Richards Taken: 14 Jul 2002

A charming early Georgian house, probably designed by the ever-reliable Francis Smith of Warwick. The storeys are delineated by a platband, the elevation is framed by alternating quoins and topped by a modillion cornice and dormers in the hipped roof. Built 1724 for a lawyer, Nathaniel Mason. Grade II listed. It now houses the University of Birmingham's Shakespeare Institute. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- In the C18th architectural hierarchy, Smith (1672-1738) lay somewhere between the London elite and the breed of skilled, provincial builder-architects who created substantial parts of the built fabric of the country that we see today. It's likely that brick dust ran in his veins - his father, also Francis, and his brother, William, were bricklayers, his elder brother Richard was also in the trade, and Francis's son, William, inherited his practice. Centred around Warwick, Francis built up a substantial practice, designing numerous country houses for the Midlands gentry, covering every county in the region except Nottinghamshire, as well as churches and the odd public building. After the catastrophic fire of 1694 in Warwick, he and William were contracted to supervise rebuilding and rebuilt parts of the town themselves. Francis assembled a small band of talented craftsmen to whom he returned time and time again. Whilst not particularly innovative, his commissions were secured on the back of building attractive houses to high standards of craftsmanship, his trustworthiness and reliability. Two members of the London elite, James Gibbs and Thomas Archer, entrusted Francis to execute several of their designs, and it seems likely that in at least one of these cases he modified the building to his own designs.

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