John Donowell was an architect active in England in the mid- to late-18th century. He worked as an architectural draughtsman as well as surveyor.
He is particularly noted for his drawings of Chiswick and other gardens, including Marylebone, which were engraved, and for the work he and his men carried out for Sir Francis Dashwood at West Wycombe Park, Buckinghamshire. The plan and elevation of the latter, signed 'J. Donowell Archt', appears in volume 5 of Vitruvius Britannicus (1771).
Bibliography
Colvin, Howard, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects 1600-1840, 3rd edition (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1995), pp. 316-317.
National Archives, National Register of Archives, 'Will of John Donowell, Architect of Kensington, Middlesex', PROB 11/1240 <http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?queryType=1&resultcount=1&Edoc_Id=335828> [accessed 31 January 2008]
Symes, Michael, 'John Donowell's Views of Chiswick and other Gardens', Journal of Garden History, 7, 1987, pp. 43-57.