James Thomas Knowles (1806–1884)

James Thomas Knowles (1806–1884)[1] was an English architect with an extensive practice, who designed upper-class houses in an Italianate manner more familiar in the work of Sir Charles Barry.

In London, Knowles built in 1854 the confident and technically assured palazzo at 15 Kensington Palace Gardens, which is today the official residence of the Ambassador of Finland.

[2] Knowles provided a vast Italianate mansion at Silverton Park, Devon, for George Wyndham, 4th Earl of Egremont, who had inherited the title but not the family seat of Petworth House, Sussex, and was determined to build a rival.

Over a century later, a brief, unillustrated catalogue description in the 1892 sale inspired the creation of a forgery of an ancient Egyptian portrait head, known as Amarna Princess.

Chosen by Sir Francis Cook to rebuild the Monserrate Palace in Sintra, Portugal, Knowles added to the previous Neo-Gothic construction exotic decoration of mixed neo-Indian and neo-Moorish styles.