Background
He was born at Dartford, Kent, and was educated at Rawes"s academy at Bromley in the same county.
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Edward Cresy
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He became a pupil of Mr. James T. Parkinson, architect, of Ely Place, who, in addition to a moderate private practice, was entrusted at that time with the laying out of the Portman estate. The next three years found Cresy and his friend engaged in similar pursuits on the continent.
Chiefly on foot, they journeyed through France, Switzerland, Italy, and Greece, to Malta and Sicily, and back again by Italy and France home.
The chief aim of their studies was to present the dimensions of each building in English measurements, and the foliage and ornaments one quarter of the real size. fol., London, 1821-1822 (new edition, including the more recent discoveries, fol, London, 1874). And a few years afterwards ‘Architecture of the Middle Ages in Italy illustrated by views … of the Cathedral, &c. of Pisa,’ fol., London, 1829.
A third work on the architecture of the Renaissance was to have followed, but after the publication of two parts, was abandoned from want of encouragement. Cresy hastily accepted an engagement in Paris, which although successful interfered with his professional prospects at home.
His practice was almost exclusively private, as he considered the system of open competition to be injurious to art
In his capacity of a superintending inspector under the general board of health Cresy did good work in a branch of engineering then all but unknown. He gave evidence before the Health of Towns and Metropolitan Sanitary Commission, furnished materials for the ‘Appendix to Report on Drainage of Potteries,’ 1849, &c., and wrote the ‘Report as to the Fall of the Extension of the Main Sewer from the Ravensbourne to the Outlet,’ 1855, both of which were embodied in the reports of the Metropolitan Commission of Sewers. Among his other works are:
A Practical Treatise on Bridge Building, fol., London, 1839.
Illustrations of Stone Church, Kent, with an historical account, published for the London Topographical Society, London, 1840.
An Encyclopædia of Civil Engineering, Octavo, London, 1847 (2nd ed Octavo, London, 1856). (With Cuthbert William Johnson) On the Cottages of Agricultural Labourers, London.
He died at South Darenth, Kent, on 12 November 1858 (Gent Magazine 1858, v 654). He died at Alleyn Road, Dulwich, on 13 October 1870, in his forty-seventh year (Times, 14 October 1870.
Obituary). Mistress Cresy is known by her translation, with Notes and Additional Lives, of Milizia"s Memorie degli Architetti antichi e moderni, 2 volumes
Octavo, London, 1826.
Membership
Cresy became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1820, and was also a member of the British Archaeological Association.
