Charles Barry

The Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster, Barry's most famous building.

Sir Charles Barry FRS (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was an English architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in his home city of London during the mid 19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens.

Training

Born in Bridge Street, Westminster, he was the son of Walter Edward Barry.^[1] He was educated at private schools in Homerton and then Aspley Guise,^[1] before being apprenticed to a Lambeth surveyor at the age of 15. Upon the death of his father (a stationer), Barry inherited a sum of money that allowed him to travel extensively around the Mediterranean and Middle-East (1817-20). His travels in Italy exposed him to Renaissance architecture and apparently inspired him to become an architect.

Early career

Gawthorpe Hall is an Elizabethan house situated southeast of the small town of Padiham, in the borough of Burnley, Lancashire, England. It was originally a pele tower, a strong square structure built in the 14th century as a defence against the invading Scots. Around 1600 a Jacobean mansion was dovetailed around the pele but todays hall was a result of the 1850 re-design of the house.

His first major civil commission came in 1824 when he won a competition to design the new Royal Manchester Institution for the promotion of Literature, Science & Arts (now part of the Manchester Art Gallery). Also in north-west England, he designed Buile Hill House in Salford (1825-27) and several churches in Manchester including The Church of All Saints' Stand, Whitefield and Ringley Church, 1827, partially demolished in 1854. He began designing churches for the church commissioners, and he found out that they preferred designs in Gothic and Greek styles, so he put efforts in building those kinds of churches. In those many church works, the marked preference for Italian architecture, which he acquired during his travels showed itself in various important undertakings of his earlier years. One of the first works by which his abilities became generally known was the 1826 St Peter's Church, Brighton, one of the first examples of the Gothic revival in England. Another noted early work was the Travellers Club, in Pall Mall, built in 1832 in the Italianate style.

His church designs also include one in Hove, East Sussex (St Andrew's in Waterloo Street, Brunswick, 1828). Hurstpierpoint church. Barry's neglected Welsh Baptist Chapel, on Upper Brook Street in Manchester (and owned by the City Council), is currently open to the elements and at serious risk after its roof was removed in late 2005.

Houses of Parliament

Following the destruction by fire of the existing Houses of Parliament on 16 October 1834, Barry won the commission in 1836 to design the new Palace of Westminster, working with Pugin on the Gothic-influenced building. Work on site began with the laying of a foundation stone on 27 April 1840 by Barry’s wife Sarah. The House of Lords was completed in 1847 and the House of Commons finished in 1852, whereafter he was created a Knight Bachelor. In the meantime, Barry also served on the learned committee developing plans for the Great Exhibition of 1851. Although Parliament gave Barry a prestigious name in architecture, it near enough finished him off. The building was overdue in its construction and was well over budget making Barry tired and stressed. The brass plaque marking Barry's tomb in Westminster Abbey shows the parts of the Palace of Westminster Barry had strongest claim to, and this is seen by some as Barry's cry for recognition from the grave.[1]

Awards and recognition

• Barry was elected Associate of the Royal Academy in 1840, and to full membership in the following year.
• He was recognized by the main artistic bodies of many European countries, and was enrolled as a member of the academies of art in Rome, Saint Petersburg, Brussels and Stockholm.
• Fellow of the Royal Society in 1849.
• Awarded the RIBA Royal Gold Medal in 1850.

Sir Charles lived and died at a house, "The Elms", in Clapham Common North Side, London SW4 (blue plaque), and his ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey.

Other major projects

Cliveden as seen from its lawn.

Barry also designed:

• the Royal Sussex County Hospital, Brighton (1828)
• Thomas Attree's villa and the Pepper Pot, Queen's Park, Brighton (1830)
• the Royal College of Surgeons, London (1834-36)
• the Manchester Athenaeum (1836 – now also part of the Manchester Art Gallery)
• Stand All Saints Church, Whitefield, Manchester.
• the Reform Club, London (1837 – next door to the Travellers)
• King Edward's School, New Street, Birmingham (1838)
• remodelling of Kingston Lacy, Dorset
• the Trafalgar Square precinct (1840)
• remodelling of Trentham Hall and creation of its Italianate gardens, north Staffordshire (1842)
• remodelling of Highclere Castle, Hampshire (1842)
• remodelling of Harewood House, Yorkshire (1844)
• HM Treasury building in Whitehall (1846-47)
• Bridgwater House, London (1846)
• Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire (1849)
• remodelling of Dunrobin Castle near Golspie, Scotland (1850)
• Shrubland Hall gardens, Suffolk (1850)
• Barristers' chambers at 1 Temple Gardens in Inner Temple
• restoration of Gawthorpe Hall, near Burnley, Lancashire
• Halifax Town Hall, West Yorkshire (designed 1860; completed by Edward Middleton Barry, 1863)

The next generation

Three of Sir Charles Barry's four sons followed in his career footsteps. Eldest son Charles Barry (junior) designed Dulwich College and park in south London and rebuilt Burlington House (home of the Royal Academy) in central London’s Piccadilly; Edward Middleton Barry completed the Parliament buildings and designed the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden; Sir John Wolfe-Barry was the engineer for Tower Bridge and Blackfriars Railway Bridge. Edward and Charles also collaborated on the design of the Great Eastern Hotel at London’s Liverpool Street station.

His second son, Rev. Alfred Barry, became a noted clergyman. He was headmaster of Leeds Grammar School from 1854 to 1862 and of Cheltenham College from 1862 to 1868. He later became the third Bishop of Sydney, Australia.

Sir Charles’ nephew Charles Hayward designed several buildings at Pembroke College, Oxford.

References

•  "Barry, Sir Charles". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911. 

External links

• Biography - Britain Express
• The History of St Peter's Church, Brighton
• Palace of Westminster
• Works by or about Charles Barry in libraries (WorldCat catalog)
• Papers of Charles Barry at the UK Parliamentary Archives