Sir William Chambers (1722-96) was a Swedish-British architect with an unusual track record. He designed imaginative castle buildings and luxurious interiors as well as simple and rational utilitarian architecture. After growing up in Sweden, he worked mostly in England, where he became a favorite of King George III. But throughout his life he emphasized his Swedish background and also designed buildings in Sweden. A Treatise on Civil Architecture is a handbook in architecture, where Chambers wanted to explain the basics of the art of building in a pedagogical way. Even today it serves as an excellent guide to the secrets of classical architecture with concise texts and beautiful plates with both details and overviews of different building types and their functions.
