Editing George Basevi (section)

==Life==
[[File:St. Thomas' Church, Stockport 03.jpg|thumb|[[St Thomas' Church, Stockport]]]]

He was the youngest son of a City of London merchant, also named George Basevi.<ref name=annual/> The family were of Sephardic Jewish origin, and Basevi's father remained a member of the congregation of the [[Bevis Marks Synagogue]] until 1817.<ref name=jamilly>{{cite web|author=Jamilly, Edward |title=Anglo-Jewish Architects and Architecture in the 18th and 19th Centuries |type=Paper read before the Jewish Historical Society of England on 8 March 1954 |url=http://www.jhse.org/book/export/article/16344 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20131030095354/http://www.jhse.org/book/export/article/16344 |url-status=dead |archive-date=2013-10-30 }} Jamilly says "there is little doubt that formal conversion to Christianity subsequently took place."</ref>  Basevi was educated at the [[Charles Burney (scholar)|Reverend Dr Burney]]'s school at Greenwich, and then trained professionally with John Soane, after which he spent three years studying in Greece and Rome. In 1821 he became the first surveyor of the [[Guardian Assurance Company]], a post he held until his death. His work for the company involved personally inspecting and reporting on buildings where there was a great risk, or which were insured for large amounts. He also remodelled their premises in [[Lombard Street, London|Lombard Street]].<ref name=annual/>

In 1822 he designed [[St Thomas' Church, Stockport]] and the next year, St Mary's, Greenwich. Both were for the [[Commissioners' church|Commissioners of the Church Building Act]], and were in the neo-classical style.<ref name=annual/> Basevi was unhappy with the modifications to the designs of the steeples imposed by the Commissioners, and he did no further work for them.<ref name=annual/> St Mary's was demolished in 1936 after 17 years of closure.<ref name="VCK105">{{cite book|last=Homan|first=Roger|title=The Victorian Churches of Kent|year=1984|publisher=Phillimore & Co. Ltd|location=Chichester|isbn=0-85033-466-7|page=105}}</ref>

He designed [[Belgrave Square]] for the developers William and George Haldimand; it was built between 1825 and 1841. Success there led to his appointment as Surveyor to the Trustees of Smith's Charity at [[Brompton, London|Brompton]], and to the adjoining Thurloe estate. At first his duties for the Smith's Charity estate were utilitarian, but in 1832 the bankruptcy of some tenant nurserymen freed eight acres for development, and between 1833 and 1845 he worked with the builder [[James Bonnin]] to develop Pelham Crescent, Pelham Place, part of Pelham Street and Egerton Crescent.<ref>{{cite book|title=Survey of London: volume 41: Brompton |year=1983|pages=91–101|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50011|accessdate=19 May 2011}}</ref> He also designed the houses in Thurloe Square, off the Brompton Road, for the Thurloe estate.<ref>{{cite book|title=Survey of London: volume 41: Brompton|year=1983|pages=58–86|url= http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=50009}}</ref>

[[File:FitzwilliamMuseum.jpg|thumb|left|The main front of the [[Fitzwilliam Museum]]]] 
In 1835 he won the competition to design a museum for Cambridge University, funded by a bequest from Viscount Fitzwilliam,<ref name=annual/> with an imposing design in the Corinthian style. Work on the [[Fitzwilliam Museum]] was continued after Basevi's death by [[Charles Robert Cockerell|C. R. Cockerell]].

Basevi built two Gothic churches in Chelsea, St Jude and St Saviour, and another, [[Holy Trinity Twickenham|Holy Trinity]] at Twickenham Green. In 1834–6, he largely rebuilt the church of [[St Andrew's Church, Church Road, Hove|St Andrew, Hove]], which had been in ruins since the collapse of its tower some years earlier.<ref>{{NHLE |num=1205303 |desc=Church of St Andrew |accessdate=29 May 2010}}</ref> The church at [[Eye, Cambridgeshire|Eye]] in Northamptonshire was also rebuilt to Basevi's designs; it was opened in 1847, two years after his death; a steeple was added in 1857.<ref>The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 27, 1847, p.646</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Church Plans Online |url=http://www.churchplansonline.org/retrieve_results.asp?search_args=A%3DBASEVI%2C+George%3A+b.+1794+-+d.+1845+of+London%7ca%3D2888 |accessdate=21 May 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120313185320/http://www.churchplansonline.org/retrieve_results.asp?search_args=A%3DBASEVI%2C+George%3A+b.+1794+-+d.+1845+of+London%7Ca%3D2888 |archivedate=13 March 2012 |df=dmy }}</ref> He also used the Gothic style at almshouses in Stamford and Ely, and at Coulsdon rectory, Surrey. He carried out some work for [[Balliol College, Oxford]] including a Gothic ceiling for the chapel, and was invited to design a whole new frontage for the college, but the plans were never carried out, due to the intervention of a faction amongst the fellows who commissioned an alternative set of plans from [[Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin|Pugin]].<ref name=annual>{{cite book|year= 1845|title=The Annual Register |volume=87  |pages=304–5 |publisher=J. Dodsley|location=London |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q21dAAAAIAAJ&pg=RA1-PA305 |accessdate=14 December 2011}}</ref>

Other work included the stables at [[Bretton Hall, West Yorkshire|Bretton Hall]] in Yorkshire, [[Bywell Bridge]] in Northumberland, the Entrance Hall and Dining Room at [[Painswick House]] for his brother-in-law [[William Henry Hyett]], and the remodelling of [[Gatcombe Park]] for the economist [[David Ricardo]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-133037-gatcombe-park-minchinhampton|title=Gatcombe Park|publisher=British Listed Buildings| accessdate=16 August 2016}}</ref> In 1834 he made extensive alterations and additions to the [[Middlesex Hospital]] and later built a new medical school and operating theatre there.<ref name=annual/> In 1834 he designed [[Beechwood House, Highgate|Beechwood House]] in Hampstead for his brother, Nathanial.<ref name="CherryPevsner1998">{{cite book|author1=Bridget Cherry|author2=Nikolaus Pevsner|title=London: North|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rVHqBvtuLyMC|date=January 1998|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-09653-8}}</ref> He enlarged the prison at Ely and built a new one at [[Wisbech]],<ref name=annual/> In collaboration with [[Sidney Smirke]] he designed premises for the [[Conservative Club]] (1842–45), and the two architects were chosen to design a new building for the [[Carlton Club]], but the scheme was delayed due to financial considerations.<ref name=annual/>

Basevi became a Fellow of the [[Royal Society]] in 1843.

He died on 15 October 1845, aged 51, after falling through an opening in the floor of the old bell chamber of the west tower of [[Ely Cathedral]] while inspecting repairs. He was buried in the North Choir Aisle towards the east end of the cathedral under a monumental brass.{{cn|date=January 2017}}
[[File:Memorial to George Basevi in Ely Cathedral.jpg|thumb|right|Grave of Basevi in [[Ely Cathedral]]]]

A [[London County Council]] [[blue plaque]] commemorates Basevi at 17 [[Savile Row]] in Mayfair.<ref name='EngHet'>{{cite web| url=http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/discover/blue-plaques/search/basevi-george-1794-1845|title=BASEVI, GEORGE (1794–1845)|publisher=English Heritage| accessdate=20 October 2012}}</ref>

Basevi's sons became army engineers. The older son George Henry became a colonel and later took an interest in microscopy. The younger, [[J. P. Basevi|James Palladio Basevi]] became an army engineer who died in the Himalayas while conducting gravitational surveys.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Stevenson|first=Brian|date=2016|title=Colonel George Henry Basevi, 1830 - 1882|url=http://microscopist.net/BaseviGH.html}}</ref>