Barry, Sir Charles (1795-1860). Victorian architect. After travel in 1817-20 through France, Italy, Greece, Turkey, Egypt, and Syria, he returned to London and built several churches in a Gothic idiom. Turning to the Greek revival, he designed first the Royal Institution of Fine Arts (1824-35) and then the Athenaeum (1837-9), both in Manchester. By this time he was using Italian palazzi as models for the Travellers' (1830-2) and Reform Clubs (1838-41) in Pall Mall. His magnum opus, the Houses of Parliament, won in competition in 1836, was in the required ‘Gothic or Elizabethan’ style, but its construction took its toll on Barry's health and hastened his death in 1860.

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