English architect also known as George Gwilt the Elder. He is particularly associated with buildings in and around London. He was architect surveyor for the county of Surrey.
His sons George the Younger and Joseph were also architects, training in his office in Southwark. The warehouses at West India Docks in London was a joint project with his son, George.
As in industrialization generally, Britain pioneered the use of the new building materials of iron and glass. The first multilevel buildings, factories and warehouses, with an internal iron frame, where the supports, beams, and even the window frames are made of iron, were built in Britain. These buildings are mostly on five floors, with sparingly articulated building masses of impressive gravity. Examples are the warehouses in London’s West India Docks, shown on the present photo.
