author
T. Roger (Thomas Roger) Smith
1830–1903
An English architect and teacher, he wrote practical books that helped generations of readers understand historic building styles. He is also remembered for outspoken ideas about architecture in the British Empire and for his interest in how public buildings should sound as well as look.
2 Audiobooks
Architecture: Classic and Early Christian
by T. Roger (Thomas Roger) Smith, John Slater
Architecture: Gothic and Renaissance
by T. Roger (Thomas Roger) Smith
About the author
Born in Sheffield in 1830, Thomas Roger Smith trained in the office of architect Philip Hardwick, traveled abroad, and opened his own London practice in 1855. He later worked in partnership with Arthur John Gale and, from the late 1880s, with his son Ravenscroft Elsey Smith. Alongside practice, he built a strong reputation as an architectural teacher and writer.
Smith wrote widely on architecture, including books on Gothic, Renaissance, and Greek architecture, as well as an early treatise on the acoustics of public buildings. His writing aimed to explain architecture clearly and practically, which helped make it useful to students and general readers as well as professionals.
Today he is often remembered less for a single famous building than for his influence on architectural debate. His views on style, public design, and imperial architecture made him a notable voice in late Victorian architectural culture. He died in 1903.