The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography identifies him as the most successful property-developer of Regency and of Georgian London, in which he built over 3000 properties in 250 acres.

He could have put up an imposing and beautifully proportioned building, correct in every constructional detail, from the roughest of sketches tossed patronizingly at him by a "gentleman architect"".

He could have put up an imposing and beautifully proportioned building, correct in every constructional detail, from the roughest of sketches tossed patronizingly at him by a "gentleman architect"".

[1] Between 1790 and 1792, he asked the Governors of the Foundling Hospital for a permission to exclusively build the whole of Brunswick Square, but they declined to waive their rule of prohibition of any one speculator to develop more than a small proportion of the ground, and granted Burton only land on the south side of Brunswick Square and part of Guilford Street.

Subsequently, however, Burton expanded that holding by further purchases until he became the most extensive builder on the Hospital's Estate,[2] and owned most of its western property.

[33] Samuel Pepys Cockerell, advisor to the Governors of the Foundling Hospital, commended Burton's excellence: "Without such a man [James Burton], possessed of very considerable talents, unwearied industry, and a capital of his own, the extraordinary success of the improvement of the Foundling Estate could not have taken place... By his own peculiar resources of mind, he has succeeded in disposing of his buildings and rents, under all disadvantages of war, and of an unjust clamour which has repeatedly been raised against him.

[2] "James Burton became adept at relieving the monotony of long residential terraces by allowing their central blocks to project slightly from the surfaces to each side, and by bringing forward, too, the houses at each end.

Williams also records that "the ironwork in a classical style in James Burton's Bloomsbury terraces was, and often still is, particularly fine, though mass produced".

[14] In 1970, John Lehmann predicted that Burton's Bloomsbury would soon disappear "except for a few isolated rows... to remind us of man-sized architecture in a vanished age of taste".

1752), and Nash himself during his childhood, lived in Southwark,[37] where Burton worked as an 'Architect and Builder' and developed a positive reputation for prescient speculative building between 1785 and 1792.

[32] However, whereas Burton was vigorously industrious, and quickly became 'most gratifyingly rich',[30] Nash's early years in private practice, and his first speculative developments, which failed either to sell or let, were unsuccessful, and Nash's consequent financial shortage was exacerbated by the 'crazily extravagant' wife, whom he had married before he had completed his training, until he was declared bankrupt in 1783.

[39] James Burton was responsible for the social and financial patronage of the majority of Nash's London designs,[25] in addition to for their construction.

[40] Architectural scholar Guy Williams has written, 'John Nash relied on James Burton for moral and financial support in his great enterprises.

Decimus had showed precocious talent as a draughtsman and as an exponent of the classical style... John Nash needed the son's aid, as well as the father's'.

[43] James Burton's historically underestimated imperative contribution to the West End of London has been acknowledged since the 20th century: including by Baines, John Summerson, Olsen, and Dana Arnold.

[50] Decimus Burton advised against this prospective project of his father, which limited his supply of capital for his own development of the Calverley Estate,[50] but James ignored him, bought it, and proceeded to build St Leonards-on-Sea as a pleasure resort for the gentry.

[2] James Burton designed the town 'on the twin principles of classical formality and picturesque irregularity', to rival Brighton.

[2] During 1800, in which his tenth child Decimus was born, James Burton Senior resided at the 'very comfortable and well staffed' North House in the newly built Southampton Terrace at Bloomsbury.

Subsequent to the birth of his twelfth child, Jessy, in 1804, Burton purchased a site on a hill about one mile to the south of Tonbridge in Kent, where he constructed, to the designs of the architect Joseph T. Parkinson, in 1805,[31] a large mansion which he named Mabledon House,[51][2] which was described in 1810 by the local authority as 'an elegant imitation of an ancient castellated mansion'.

[53] From 1818, Burton resided at The Holme, Regent's Park, which has been described as 'one of the most desirable private homes in London',[28] which was designed by James's son Decimus, and built by his own company.

[54] The Burton family had residences and offices at 10, 12, and 14 Spring Gardens, St. James's Park, at the east end of The Mall, that were constructed by Decimus.

[2] In 1804, in response to the possibility of invasion by France, Burton recruited from his workforce 1600 volunteers, whom he named the Loyal British Artificers,[30][2] of which he became Lieutenant-Colonel Commandant.

[61] During 1820, Burton, his wife, and his children dined and attended the opera with George Bellas Greenough[62] to finalise Greenhough and Decimus's designs.

[64] James is buried in a pyramidal tomb in the churchyard of St Leonards-on-Sea, the town that he had designed and created, where a commemorative monument was erected.