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Thomas Cubitt (25 February 1788 – 20 December 1855) was a British master builder, notable for his employment in developing many of the historic streets and squares of London, especially in Belgravia, Pimlico and Bloomsbury.
His development of areas of Bloomsbury, including Gordon Square and Tavistock Square, began in 1820, for a group of landowners including the Duke of Bedford. Holland & Hannen and Cubitts – The Inception and Development of a Great Building Firm, published 1920, Page 27
He was commissioned in 1824 by Richard Grosvenor, 2nd Marquess of Westminster, to create a great swathe of building in Belgravia centred on Belgrave Square and Pimlico, in what was to become his greatest achievement in London. Holland & Hannen and Cubitts – The Inception and Development of a Great Building Firm, published 1920, Page 29 Notable amongst this development are the north and west sides of Eaton Square, which exemplify Cubitt's style of building and design.
After Cubitt's workshops in Thames Bank were destroyed by fire, he remarked "Tell the men they shall be at work within a week, and I will subscribe £600 towards buying them new tools."
Cubitt was also responsible for the east front of Buckingham Palace. Holland & Hannen and Cubitts – The Inception and Development of a Great Building Firm, published 1920, Page 35 He also built and personally funded nearly a kilometre of the Thames Embankment. Holland & Hannen and Cubitts – The Inception and Development of a Great Building Firm, published 1920, Page 31 He was employed in the large development of Kemp Town in Brighton, and Osborne House on the Isle of Wight, completed in 1851. Cubitt's public works included the provision of public parks, including being an organiser of the Battersea Park Scheme. Holland & Hannen and Cubitts – The Inception and Development of a Great Building Firm, published 1920, Page 33 His work outside London includes the country house Polesden Lacey, near Dorking, Surrey, which he rebuilt to largely its present form in the early 1820s.
In 1827 he withdrew from the management of his Gray's Inn Road concern leaving this to his brother William Cubitt; the firm of Cubitts still carried out the work of Thomas Cubitt and the change robbed neither partner of the credit for their work.
Cubitt married Mary Anne Warner (1802–1880), on 25 March 1821 in the church of St Marylebone and they had at least twelve children – Anne (1820), Mary (1821), Emily (1823), George (1828), Sophia (1830), Fanny (1832), William (1834), Lucy (1835), Caroline (1837), Arthur (1840), and twins Thomas and Charles (1842), although five children predeceased their father. George became a politician, created Baron Ashcombe in 1892. Mary, later Mrs Parker, was a botanist whose botanical specimens are held at the Royal Botanica Gardens, Kew.
Thomas through his son, George, is a great-great-great-grandfather of Queen Camilla.
After his death, Queen Victoria said, "In his sphere of life, with the immense business he had in hand, he is a real national loss. A better, kindhearted or more simple, unassuming man never breathed." London By Stephen Halliday
As well as the statue in Denbigh Street, London, another of Cubitt can be seen in Dorking, opposite the Dorking Halls, as he was favoured there for his architecture on his Denbies.
In 1883 the business was acquired by Holland & Hannen, a leading competitor, which combination became known as Holland & Hannen and Cubitts, later Holland, Hannen & Cubitts. Cubitts 1810 – 1975, published 1975
Restaurants, pubs and other places have been named in his honour.
Family
Cubitt had two brothers, the contractor and politician William and the civil engineer Lewis Cubitt who designed many houses built by Thomas.
Legacy
Cubitt died in 1855 and was taken from Dorking for burial at West Norwood Cemetery on 27 December 1855.
References and footnotes
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