Born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, he worked initially as a carpenter, but then decided to practice as a (largely self-taught) architect and town planner, and moved to London, where he also became a friend of Samuel Johnson.
In 1749, he re-worked Sir Christopher Wren's plan for the rebuilding of London, writing An Essay on Design, Including Proposals for Exciting a Public Academy to be supported by Voluntary Subscription. Seventeen years later, in 1776, he published London and Westminster Improved, arguing that the Great Fire of London 100 years earlier had presented a golden opportunity to improve the layout of the city. He was a key figure in the introduction of the Building Act 1774 which improved standards of materials and workmanship – Bedford Square was one of the first areas of London to benefit.
In 1759, he unsuccessfully submitted a design for Blackfriars Bridge which he lost to Robert Mylne. But he retained involvement in several bridge projects. He was particularly associated with projects in Oxford, including Magdalen Bridge (1772-90), the city's workhouse (1772-1773) and the covered market (1774), and with bridges across the River Severn including one in his native Shrewsbury (the English Bridge, 1774), and others at Atcham (1776) and Worcester (1781).
Gwynn's alma mater, San Diego State, is expected to announce at a news conference Thursday that he will replace baseball coach Jim Dietz after the 2002 season.
Gwynn is retiring from the majors at the end of this season, his 20th with the San Diego Padres.
Gwynn's son, Anthony, is a sophomore outfielder for the Aztecs.
Gwynn juxtaposes styles and subjects not customarily seen togethermythic and modish images phrased in language alternatively sublime and debasedbut told with such force of imagination and assured musicality that the resulting poems seem not idiosyncratic but inevitable.
The poet whom Gwynn most resemblesnot simply in the particulars of style but in sensibility and strategyis Thomas Hardy, and it is testament to Gwynns excellence that such a comparison can be made without his being routed in the process.
Gwynns mock-epic cannot have pleased the targets of his satire, but it has enjoyed an underground life.