James Savage

James Savage (1779–1852) was a British architect, based in London. His works included the Richmond Bridge (now the O'Donovan Rossa Bridge) in Dublin, and St Luke's Church, Chelsea, a pioneering work of the Gothic Revival. He was architect to the Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, and carried out restoration work at Lincoln Cathedral and St Mary-le-Bow. In 1836 he published a pamphlet in which he attacked the slavish imitation of historical styles. Life Savage was born in Hoxton, London, on 10 April 1779. He was educated at a private school in Stockwell and then articled to Daniel Asher Alexander, architect of the London Docks, for whom he worked for several years as clerk of the works. He became a student at the Royal Academy in 1796. In 1800, he won second prize in a competition for a scheme of improvements to the city of Aberdeen and five years later came first in a competition to rebuild the Ormond Bridge over the Liffey in Dublin, which had been swept away by a storm. The project was delayed, and it was decided instead to build the new bridge about 50 metres west of the destroyed one. Savage exhibited his design for the new location as Richmond Bridge forming the approach to the Four Courts, Dublin at the Royal Academy in 1809. A three-arched bridge built of granite, with cast-iron balustrades, it was constructed in 1813–16. Originally named after the Duke of Richmond, it is now known as the O'Donovan Rossa Bridge. In 1815 Savage won a competition to design a river-crossing at Tempsford in Bedfordshire with another three arched bridge.