Robert Abraham (1773–1850) was an English building surveyor and later architect in London. He was the son of a builder and was educated as a surveyor as a pupil of James Bowen. He turned to architecture after 1818, and was chiefly employed by the leading Roman Catholic families in England, including the Duke of Norfolk and the Earl of Shrewsbury.
He was respected by his patrons principally for his reliability, but he was competent in the various styles fashionable at the period. He was married to Eliza Brown (died 1818), an accomplished flower-painter, and their son H. R. Abraham succeeded to his practice when he died on 11 December 1850. His eldest daughter (Ellinor Mary) married Richard Bethell, Lord Westbury, who served as Lord Chancellor in 1861-1865, their daughter was the writer Augusta Bethell. Another daughter (Louisa Sarah) married John Bethell.
Among Abraham's students was the architect James Lockyer who went on to form his own successful London practice."The Late Mr James Lockyer", The Builder, 19 June 1875, p. 544.
List of works Wealdstone (Middlesex): Kenton Lane Farm, new buildings for William Loudon, ca. 1808; demolished Pinner (Middlesex): Woodhall Farm, remodelling for William Loudon, ca. 1808-1809 Arundel Castle (Sussex): completed rebuilding of east wing (begun by James Teasdale) for Charles Howard, the 11th Duke of Norfolk, ca. 1810-1815 Rise Hall (Yorkshire): attributed alterations, 1815–1820 Westminster (Middlesex): County Fire Office, Regent Street, 1819; demolished 1924 Westminster (Middlesex): 176-186 Regent Street, for J. Carbonell, wine merchant, 1820; demolished Westminster (Middlesex): Norfolk House, St. James's Square, alterations for Bernard Howard, the 12th Duke of Norfolk, 1819–1820; demolished 1938 Westminster (Middlesex): Craven Chapel, Foubert's Place, 1821–1822 Mildenhall (Wiltshire): School, 1823–1824 Fornham Hall (Suffolk): alterations for Bernard Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk, ca. 1824; demolished ca. 1951 Alton Towers (Staffordshire): garden buildings for Charles Talbot, the 15th Earl of Shrewsbury, ca. 1825-1827 Hayling Island (Hampshire): building development for William Padwick, after 1825 Westminster (Middlesex): Western Synagogue, St. Alban's Place, 1827–1828 Tooting (Surrey): National Schools, 1829–1830 Worksop Manor (Nottinghamshire): works and gardener's cottage for the Earl of Surrey (who was Henry Howard, the 13th Duke of Norfolk), ca. 1830 Tothill Fields Bridewell, Westminster (Middlesex), 1830–1834; demolished 1885 Hull (Yorkshire): School of Medicine, Kingston Square, 1833 Harlow (Essex): Fawbert and Barnard's School, 1836 Westminster (Middlesex): Oxford Street, houses on the Berners estate, 1836 Thame Park (Oxfordshire): restoration of medieval chapel for Baroness Wenman, 1836 Arundel (Sussex): Town Hall, for Bernard Howard, the 12th Duke of Norfolk, 1836 Arundel (Sussex): Trinity Congregational Church, Tarrant Street, 1836–1838 London: College of Arms, Queen Victoria Street, interior of the Record Room, 1842–1844 Cheltenham (Gloucestershire): Unitarian Church, Bayshill Road, 1844
References
Colvin, Sir H. A biographical dictionary of British architects, 1995, pp. 47–48