He was a pioneer of early Chromolithographic printing and his graphic work has been compared with that of William Morris and John Ruskin[2][3] Initially Colling trained as an engineer and then from 1832 worked in the architectural office of Mathew Habershon (1789–1852)[4] Habershon was talented artist and an early enthusiast for timber-framed houses, publishing in 1836 The Ancient Half Timbered Houses of England.

These pupils included William Eden Nesfield and the future American architect John Hubbard Sturgis.

This provided Colling an opportunity to illustrate the painted Medieval screens or encaustic floor tiles that he had recorded in East Anglian churches.

His first volume of Gothic Ornaments: Being a Series of Examples of Enriched Details and Accessories of the Architecture of Great Britain appeared in 1838 and was an early venture of the publisher George Bell.

Later, when Christian in 1895 designed the west front of the National Portrait Gallery, Colling provided drawings for the detailing.

The Hooton Estate was purchased by Richard Naylor in 1849 from Sir Massy Stanley, who had run up gambling debts.

The central courtyard was originally uncovered, to provide good light for the brokers to examine their cotton samples.

[13][14] Colling's next project in 1857–60, (presumably as the result of the Albany), was the building of Ashwicke Hall in Marshfield, Gloucestershire for the Liverpool Attorney John Orred.

[16] Colling was given a free hand by the wealthy John Naylor when building Garthmyl Hall, as seen by the use of lavish gilding and plasterwork for ceiling decoration, and for the ornamental terracotta on the exterior.