WILD, James William
(b. 1814 Lincoln, d. 1892 London)
English architect. Initially working in the Gothic style, he later employed round-arched forms. In 1840, he was commissioned to build a new church at Streatham on a limited budget. He abandoned the medieval English styles he had used for his earlier churches, for a design in a spare, round-arched style, based on an eclectic range of sources from around the Mediterranean.
He spent several years in Egypt. He acted as decorative architect to the Great Exhibition of 1851, and designed the Grimsby Dock Tower, completed in 1852. After a considerable break in his career he worked on designs for the South Kensington Museum, and designed the British embassy in Tehran. He was curator of the Sir John Soane’s Museum from 1878 until his death in 1892.
