'A master draughtsman with tremendous experience and empathy for the neo-Classical tradition'

- Country Life

Francis Terry has carved a unique place in twenty-first British architecture, with an encyclopedic knowledge of classical architecture and a genuine desire to mould this to his clients many and varied requirements. He was described recently in Country Life, as “A leading light among the new generation of Classical architects”.

Francis’ pursuit of architecture grew out of his passion for drawing and his love of historic buildings. As a child he would go on sketching holidays with his father, the eminent classicist Quinlan Terry, which formed the foundation of his ability to draw and appreciate classical architecture.

This interest developed at his school, Stowe in Buckinghamshire, a public school housed in one of the greatest Georgian mansions and with an equally renowned landscape garden, littered with classical temples. From this, he was exposed to the architecture of Vanbrugh, Kent, Gibbs and Leoni which started Francis on a lifelong love of Georgian architecture, a passion he continues to transmit into his own work.

After leaving school he studied architecture at the University of Cambridge, where he was educated in the modernist style under Eric Parry, Peter Carl and Dalibor Vesely. This education gave him an understanding of contemporary design which has proved invaluable for his diverse range of clients and projects.

During his time at Cambridge, Francis worked for Allan Greenburg Architects in Washington DC, and the interior designer Alec Cobbe with whom he has recently collaborated at Castle Howard.

Following university, Francis spent 20 years working with Quinlan Terry with whom he became a partner in 2004. Together they worked on a series of great country house projects, including Ferne Park in Wiltshire, for Viscount and Viscountes Rothermere and Kilboy in Ireland for the Ryan family. David Watkin wrote of their work at Kilboy that it ‘is surely the greatest work so far of Quinlan and Francis Terry… [and] one of the finest classical houses of any period’; they also worked on notable public projects in this period including Queen Mother Square in Poundbury, Dorset for King Charles III when he was the Prince of Wales and the Duke of Cornwall. They also designed the New Infirmary to the Chelsea Hospital which opened in 2009, which provides more up to date facilities for the pensioners, in a style which honoured the great Wren tradition.

In 2016, Francis left his father’s practice to form his own office with his wife Miranda, also a qualified architect and a member of the University of Cambridge’s department of architecture. He continues to work on major country house projects, securing a series of significant ‘Gummer Law’ permissions (see link for details).

As well as these, Francis’ recently completed the Tapestry Drawing Room at Castle Howard. This was a new architectural treatment for a room that had been guttered by fire in 1940. Here Francis was commissioned to reimagine a room in the style of Sir John Vanbrugh, his favourite architect.

Aside from his practice, from 2017 to 2022, Francis was elected chair of the RIBA’s Traditional Architecture Group (TAG). During his tenure he started the TAG awards which remain a significant event in the calendar of all British traditional architects. In 2025, he has added to this by sponsoring a new prize for the best drawing of classical architecture.

Central to Francis’ practice is his ability as an artist. His proposals are always accompanied by highly accurate but evocative watercolour or pencil presentations, which help capture the imagination of client and planner alike. Few architects can visualise their work in this fashion in the modern age, but it also reveals the artistic way in which Terry’s designs have evolved in his mind’s eye.