Charles Cameron (architect)

Details of Cameron’s origins are uncertain. He was probably the son of Walter Cameron, a London carpenter. However, he claimed descent from the Camerons of Lochiel, a Scottish clan deeply involved in the Jacobite rising of 1745. Researchers also disagree on the exact year of Cameron's birth, which may be either 1743, 1745 or 1746. == Early career ==

Cameron trained in London with his father and with the architect Isaac Ware. After Ware's death in 1766 Cameron settled on continuing his late master's work on a new edition of Lord Burlington's Fabbriche Antiche, a project that required personal studies and surveys of ancient Roman architecture. He spent 1767 in London, preparing prints of works by Andrea Palladio, and arrived in Rome in 1768. In 1791, when Cameron applied for a membership in the Architect's Club of London, he was barred admission due to this and other episodes that had stained his reputation in England. ==Arrival in Russia==

Empress Catherine's tastes in architecture evolved from Rococo and Gothic Revival architecture in the first decade of her reign to emerging Neoclassicism in the 1780s. She leaned to French variety of neoclassicism (Clerisseau, Ledoux) mixed with ancient Roman motifs. Catherine, perhaps the first of European monarchs, realized that the emerging style had the potential to become a definitive form of imperial art. She spared no expense in hiring foreign architects and craftsmen trained in the neoclassical manner. She instructed Baron Melchior Grimm, her European agent in matters of art and antiques, to hire Italian architects because "the Frenchmen we have here know too much and build dreadful houses – because they know too much." These Italians, Giacomo Quarenghi and the relatively unknown , arrived in Russia after Cameron. Catherine also wrote that Cameron was raised at the Roman court of James Francis Edward Stuart ("James III and VIII") and that he was a nephew of Jean Cameron of Glendessary. Peter Hayden suggested that Cameron learned the trade from his father-in-law, John Busch (anglicised Bush), who worked in Tsarskoye Selo since 1771. ==Tsarskoye Selo==

Cameron's undisputed additions are the living quarters of the Village and the Chinese Bridges over the canal. In 1780–1784 he redecorated the formerly Rococo halls of the main Catherine Palace built by Bartolomeo Rastrelli in the 1750s; Catherine had another specific task for Cameron: she envisaged a new, relatively modest Neoclassical building in Tsarskoye Selo near the older Rococo Catherine Palace. Clerisseau, Catherine's first choice, produced drafts for a gigantic and expensive Roman structure based on the Baths of Diocletian, that were rejected out of hand but later influenced Quarenghi and Cameron. In 1782 Cameron started his first standalone building, the Cold Baths, a two-story bathhouse in mixed Italian-Greek classicism with luxurious interiors (notably the Agate Pavilion). it was expanded with a two-story gallery (''Cameron's Gallery''), mixing natural stone Roman ground floor with a lightweight, snow-white upper floor gallery marked with unusually wide spacing between columns. The gallery, adorned with statues of foreign poets and philosophers, became Catherine's favourite promenade for years. It was flanked with a formal garden on one side and an English landscape park on the other. In the beginning of the Gallery project Cameron himself acted as Catherine's recruiter, hiring fellow Scotsmen to work in Tsarskoye Selo. 73 craftsmen, including William Heste and Adam Menelaws, The number was too high for Cameron, and the Scots eventually dispersed to other projects; Menelaws became assistant to Nikolay Lvov. ==Sophia==

near Tsarskoye Selo was built as an allegory of Hagia Sophia. It is attributed jointly to Cameron and Ivan Starov. Sophia, a model town, was built near Tsarskoye Selo to Cameron's plan. It was designed to be viewed from the walkways of Cameron's Gallery and represent Constantinople, the coveted target of Catherine's Greek project; the name of the town and its cathedral clearly alluded to Hagia Sophia. The streets were brightly lit at night when Catherine was present at Tsarskoye. More historical allegories were scattered in the park: the lake with Rinaldi's rostral column represented the Black Sea; These follies, scattered along the road to Catherine Palace, doubled as the setting for triumphant procession for visiting dignitaries. Another direct quote from Stowe is the Pyramid Tomb over the grave of Catherine's three Italian greyhounds; it survived to date but the Temple of Memory was razed by Paul of Russia in 1797. ==Pavlovsk==

Pavlovsk, the largest landscape park in 18th century Russia (1,500 acres), is attributed to a succession of architects, starting with Cameron and ending with Carlo Rossi. The Temple of Friendship was the first building in Pavlovsk, followed by the main palace. Conflicts between Cameron and Paul and Maria date back to the couple's Grand Tour of Europe (1781–1782). Maria complained about Cameron's delays since 1782. Constrained financially, Paul and Maria closely watched Cameron's progress and regularly curbed his far-reaching, expensive plans. Cameron also displayed signs of aversion to their management since 1782, but court intermediaries downplayed the conflict for a while. By 1785 it became public: Cameron quarreled with Paul over costs of Pavlovsk Between 1786 and 1789 Cameron's duties in Pavlovsk passed to an Italian, Vincenzo Brenna, hired by Paul in 1782. Dismissed by Paul, Cameron continued working on Catherine's own projects until her death in 1796. ==Retirement==

Upon ascension to power in 1796, Paul fired Cameron from all his contracts and deprived him of his house in Tsarskoye. Cameron experienced financial difficulties and had to sell his collection of books to Pavel Argunov. His activities during Paul's reign are largely unknown. Georgy Lukomsky wrote than in 1799 Cameron redesigned the Baturyn Palace of count Kirill Razumovsky; according to contemporary researchers, Baturyn was a collaborative effort led by Nikolay Lvov and Cameron's involvement cannot be reliably measured. Lukomsky also wrote that in 1800–1801 Cameron temporarily left Russia for England; according to Colvin, this opinion is unsubstantiated: in 1800–1801 Cameron worked in Pavlovsk, then owned by Maria Fyodorovna, where he built the Ionic Pavilion of Three Graces. Alexander, who succeeded Paul in March 1801, appointed Cameron the chief architect of the Russian Admiralty During this brief (1802–1805) employment Cameron designed the Naval Hospital in Oranienbaum and two unrealized drafts for the Naval Cathedral in Kronstadt. He also worked in Pavlovsk, restoring the palace after a fire. In 1805 Cameron finally retired; his tenure at the Admiralty passed to Andreyan Zakharov. Lukomsky noted that Cameron, who once executed Catherine's soaring dreams, was hardly interested in building barracks and repairing gateways. ==Private life==

Cameron's personality remains a "shadowy figure": being "proud, aloof and difficult", In 1784 Cameron married Catherine Busch, daughter of the imperial gardener John Busch. They had a daughter, Mary, however, her birth has not been evidenced by church records. By 1839 the Granges had seven surviving children. Cameron died in 1812, before Napoleon's invasion of Russia; his widow secured a pension from the Russian Government, sold Cameron's library and either returned to England or died in Saint Petersburg. ==References and notes==