Background
He was the son of John Etty of York (cā1634 ā 1708), also an architect and craftsman, to whom there is a monument in All Saints North Street.
He was the son of John Etty of York (cā1634 ā 1708), also an architect and craftsman, to whom there is a monument in All Saints North Street.
William Etty"s first known building was the Moot Hall, Leeds (1710, demolished in 1825). Holy Trinity, Sunderland, followed in 1719 and Holy Trinity Church, Leeds, in 1722-1727 (the steeple is a later addition by R Doctorate Chantrell). He also worked at John Vanbrugh"s Castle Howard from 1701 onwards and at Seaton Delaval Hall from 1719.
In York, he designed the reredos in Street Michael le Belfrey in 1712, and may have been responsible for the Red House, Duncombe Place, and the frontage of the Mansion House.
Etty also contributed work to a number of country houses and estates, notably Temple Newsam House, Barrowby Hall (Austhorpe), Whixley Hall, Brocklesby Park, Holme Hall at Holme-on-Spalding-Moor, Scriven Park (Knaresborough), and Aldby Park. In later life, he was clerk of works at Colen Campbell"s Newby Park (Baldersby) in 1720-1721, and, from 1729 until his death, on the mausoleum at Castle Howard designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor.
In 1727, he built the stone bridge across the River Derwent at Stamford Bridge. John, the last of the Etty dynasty, died in 1738.