Person    | Male  Born 26/10/1803  Died 29/6/1882

Joseph Aloysius Hansom

Categories: Architecture, Transport

Architect, founder/editor of The Builder and inventor of the Hansom cab. Born York as Josephus Aloysius Handsom(e) into a Roman Catholic family. Made a habit of snatching failure from the jaws of success.

Trained as an architect and one of his early buildings, with Edward Welch, was Birmingham Town Hall, but since they had underwritten the construction firm this bankrupted the architects.

In 1834 he registered his design for a horse-drawn carriage and sold the patent for £10,000 but never received the payment, even though his vehicle, the Hansom cab, became ubiquitous in BBC costume dramas.

In 1843 he created the architectural journal 'The Builder', another successful enterprise from which he did not profit financially since it ran out of capital. He returned to practicing architecture, designing more RC churches working with his brother Charles and his sons Henry and Joseph, and briefly with E. W. Pugin. His London work includes the 1875 Our Lady of Dolours Servite Church in Fulham Road.

Died at home, 399 Fulham Road.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Joseph Aloysius Hansom

Commemorated ati

Joseph Hansom

Joseph Aloysius Hansom, 1803 - 1882, architect, founder-editor of The Builder...

Read More

Other Subjects

Sir Aston Webb

Sir Aston Webb

Also designed the eastern façade of Buckingham Palace, the entrance façade to the V&A Museum, Admiralty Arch and the French Huguenot Church in Soho Square.

Person, Architecture

6 memorials
Samuel Bridgman Russell

Samuel Bridgman Russell

Architect. Father of Robert Tor Russell who designed some notable buildings in the development of New Delhi. Despite the information contained on his Wikipedia page (2021) that he was a Scottish a...

Person, Architecture

2 memorials
Royal Opera Arcade

Royal Opera Arcade

Designed by John Nash, completed in 1816-18, considered to be London's oldest existing arcade having survived a fire, dereliction and the blitz. See Her Majesty's Theatre for the history of the bui...

Building, Architecture, Commerce

1 memorial
Robert Keirle

Robert Keirle

Was the architect of the Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association. He designed two magnificent Maharajah fountains in London parks: For Readymoney and for the Maharajah of Vijia...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial
Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson, C.H., K.C.V.O., P.R.A., R.D.I.

Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson, C.H., K.C.V.O., P.R.A., R.D.I.

Architect, notably for the 1951 Festival of Britain and the London Zoo Elephant House. President of  the Royal Academy(PRA) from 1976 to 1984.  He was also president of The Friends of Holland Park ...

Person, Architecture

1 memorial