CHAPTER V

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MINOR GOTHIC WORKS.

Progress of the Gothic revival--Birmingham Grammar School--First acquaintance with Mr. Pugin and Mr. Thomas--Alterations at Dulwich College--Unitarian chapel at Manchester--Additions to University College, Oxford--Hurstpierpoint church--Canford Manor--Gawthorpe Hall--Designs for Dunrobin Castle.

While Mr. Barry was thus engaged almost incessantly on Italian buildings, he did not neglect the mediæval style, which was every day becoming better understood and more popular. In this style his works (after 1829) were comparatively few, until he engaged in the competition for the New Palace at Westminster. But the interest and study, which he at this time bestowed on Gothic architecture, must not be measured by the number of works which he actually carried out. He could not but be aware of the increasing power of the “Gothic Revival,” and, though he never wavered in his allegiance to the Italian, though to the last he maintained, against the pure Gothicists, its intrinsic beauty and peculiar appropriateness for certain classes of buildings, yet he viewed the Gothic movement with the greatest sympathy. With his early Gothic designs he had already learnt to be greatly dissatisfied; and, before he ventured on any further attempts in the same style, he not only gave much attention to the writings of the Gothic School, but studied carefully every English example of the style, which could be quoted as an authority.

BIRMINGHAM GRAMMAR SCHOOL.--The effect of this thought and study was seen in the design for the Birmingham Grammar School in 1833. Greatly admired at the time of its production, it did not, of course, escape criticism in after days from its author as well as from others. But it certainly indicated an extraordinary advance in knowledge of Gothic, and in power of handling the style, both as to principles and as to details, and proved that its author was at least keeping pace with the architectural taste and knowledge of the time.

The site was such as to allow only of a street-front, and this fact had great effect on the design. The building was to contain, not only the Great Schools and Class Rooms, but also two residences, which of course needed the advantage of street frontage. The elevation adopted was regular and symmetrical. Simple as it is, it was the result of considerable study. The central portion was of course devoted to the Great Schools (placed on the first floor,[57] with an entrance cloister and class rooms on the ground floor), and the residences were made to form the wings of the building. Their two-storied oriels ranged with the great windows of the school; the parapet was unbroken, except by raised battlements over the centre of the wings.

Mr. Barry was inclined to raise these wings into towers, and would have done so, had the building been isolated; but in its confined position he thought that towers would be ineffective, or perhaps even detrimental. Still he desired greater variety. He proposed a clock tower at one end of the front, which would also have had the additional advantage of giving greater importance to the building as seen down the street. A lantern was also designed, to rise from the centre of the roof, and relieve the flatness of the skyline. But these could not be carried out, the expense already incurred being very great, and the design remained without the relief proposed.

Another variation was at one time thought of with a view to giving more prominence to the main entrance. To a mere porch Mr. Barry had always an objection. It appeared to him a mere excrescence. Accordingly he tried the effect of advancing the centre, inserting a bay window over the entrance, and raising the centre of the parapet into a gable. But he never could make up his mind to advance the centre of an architectural composition. He maintained that the advanced portion must destroy, by its effect in perspective, the apparent size of the building, and this he considered an unpardonable artistic fault. At Birmingham this feeling was increased by his consciousness that the frontage was already somewhat small, and accordingly he felt compelled to leave the entrance as it now appears. He

[Illustration: KING EDWARD VI.’S SCHOOL, BIRMINGHAM.

VIEW OF THE FRONT TO NEW STREET.]

[Illustration: BIRMINGHAM FREE GRAMMAR SCHOOL.

PLAN OF ONE PAIR FLOOR.]

was not altogether satisfied with its effect; but nothing would have compensated him for the loss of breadth and unity in composition.

The plan of the interior is perfectly simple. Almost the whole of the centre is occupied by two grand school-rooms, which are probably almost unequalled in magnificence of size and proportion. Few class-rooms were required by the original instructions, but some have been recently added by Mr. E. M. Barry.

Of the two principles of school arrangement, the architect will naturally prefer that, which throws most of the space into great school-rooms, and so gives greater scope for artistic effect. In practice the two systems may claim a certain balance of advantages. But in a grammar-school, where from the nature of the case many of the assistant masters are likely to be young and inexperienced, the preponderance of advantage seems to incline in the same direction which architectural taste would suggest. For in this case the advantage, both in guidance and support, to be derived from the presence of the head, and the “swing” of the great machine, probably outweighs all considerations on the other side of greater quiet and convenience. How far the plan at Birmingham was due to the architect, and how far determined by the instructions which he received, I do not know.

The school was completed in 1836. It attracted great attention and considerable admiration from the public and from the critics. The architect himself felt that the study of Gothic principles and details, for which it was the occasion, had been of the greatest service to him, especially in the competition for the New Palace, on which he was even then preparing to enter.

There was also another reason which made him look back with pleasure to this work. It was in connection with it that he first made the acquaintance of Mr. Pugin, whose assistance he secured in making out some of the drawings for details. The acquaintance ripened into friendship, a friendship unclouded by a single misunderstanding, and closed only by the death of his gifted coadjutor. Here, also, it was his good fortune to discover Mr. Thomas (afterwards so well known for his work at the New Palace of Westminster) working as an ordinary stone-carver. Mr. Barry at once saw his remarkable talent, and resolved to give it a more worthy sphere for development.

ALTERATIONS AT DULWICH COLLEGE.--His other Gothic works were of minor scale and importance. In March 27th, 1830, he was appointed to the surveyorship of Dulwich College, an office then less important than it has now become by the extraordinary increase of the value of the college property, but one in which he always took great pleasure, and experienced great kindness from the Master and Fellows of the old foundation. In the next year, 1831, he was called upon to design and carry out the erection of a new wing to the College, and of a small school for the education of the twelve foundation boys and others. The wing then erected has been since so much altered and enlarged as altogether to change its character. For the new constitution given to the College in 1858, by which the small school contemplated in the original foundation has been expanded into a large public school, absorbing the greater part of the endowment, has necessitated changes and enlargements on every side. Sir C. Barry’s own office expired with the old constitution, but the new Board of Governors elected from a number of candidates his eldest son Charles, who had for several years previously assisted him at Dulwich. He has been called upon, not only to erect the new schools on a scale of considerable grandeur, but also to remodel the whole existing College buildings for the accommodation of additional almspeople. In the course of this process it has been necessary greatly to alter the wing built by Sir Charles, which in itself was simple, and presented no marked features of design.

UNITARIAN CHAPEL AT MANCHESTER.--In 1837 Mr. Barry designed and erected an Unitarian chapel in Manchester. The scale of the building was small, and the design accordingly simple enough. The only notable point in it is that its chief front is almost occupied by a lofty arch, behind which the great window is recessed. The object was probably to obtain depth, and as much vigour of design as the size admitted. The effect is certainly successful.

ADDITIONS TO UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, OXFORD.--In 1839 he was called upon to carry out some work at Oxford. He added a wing looking on the High Street, and containing only living-rooms, to University College. It was, of course, necessary that this should harmonize with the old building, of which it forms a part. But it is distinguished by the careful attention to refinement of detail, which marks all his works, giving evidence of the study which he thought it worth while to bestow, even on buildings comparatively insignificant in scale. He naturally took a more than usual interest in this work, for it was the only one he ever did in an university town (some designs for Worcester College in 1837 having led to no result), and it stood in a prominent position in the High Street, which he always regarded as in some respects the finest street in Europe.

HURSTPIERPOINT CHURCH.--At a much later period (1843) he erected a church of considerable scale at Hurstpierpoint, in Sussex, standing in a position of some importance, as being visible both from the high ground of the Devil’s Dyke and the rich plain country which opens out below. The old church was inadequate for the increasing population, enlargement was difficult and expensive, and a new church was resolved upon, the parish granting a comparatively small portion of the sum required, and the landed proprietors, Mr. Borrer and Mr. Campion, and the rector, the Rev. C. H. Borrer (on whose exertions, as usual, the main work depended) guaranteeing the rest.

The first design made was on a scale too magnificent for their means, and in the Perpendicular style. This was perforce put aside, and the church actually erected in the Early Pointed style.

The whole design shows the remarkable progress of church architecture, since the time when his hand was formerly employed in its service. The plan is cruciform, with nave, aisles, transepts and chancel, the latter being thoroughly spacious, and open to the body of the church, though well raised above it. The scale is considerable, for it provides for a thousand people, without galleries. The details and ornaments are simple, but (a point on which he always laid great stress) carried out with consistency and harmony of style throughout the whole design.[58] The materials are all of the best and most durable kind, and there is no instance of false pretension in any quarter. Externally the effect depends, as usual with his buildings, very greatly on beauty of proportion, and here, for the first time, he was able to carry out his predilection for a handsome spire in stone--in this case specially needed, as the church rises out of the level plain, and its spire is a prominent object for twenty miles round. Yet the cost (about 10,000_l._) was not so great as that of each of his Islington churches in former days.

The work gave him great pleasure, though it came in the very busiest time of the New Palace at Westminster, and though (as has been said) church architecture was not the work to which his professional life was devoted. With greater care for Gothic detail, with a far more thorough grasp of the principles of the old Gothic architects, he did not, however, lose sight of the fundamental ideas of the Church of England’s Service, and secured the effect of space, openness, and unity, which he conceived to be its paramount requirements.[59]

CANFORD MANOR.--In Gothic, as in Italian, he was called upon to exercise his remarkable power of modification and reconstruction.

Canford Manor, the house of Sir John Guest, was one of the examples of this process.

In 1826 Lord de Mauley, who then owned the house, consulted Mr. Blore as to some necessary alterations, and the house was almost rebuilt from his designs between 1826 and 1836, with the exception of the old kitchen, which is named by tradition after John of Gaunt. Of the old house therefore very little remains. Of Mr. Blore’s building there remain, with many modifications, the dining-room and rooms over it on the east front, and the whole of the south front. The rest is the work of Sir C. Barry, who was consulted in 1848 by Sir John Guest. The plan will show clearly the extent of his operations.[60] Alterations had been already begun, and the removal of the principal staircase, entrance hall,

[Illustration: CANFORD MANOR HOUSE, DORSET.

GENERAL PLAN, SHEWING THE IMPROVEMENTS AS EXECUTED. ALTERATIONS ARE ETCHED IN LIGHT TINT.]

[Illustration: CANFORD MANOR HOUSE, DORSET.

GENERAL VIEW OF THE HOUSE, AS ALTERED.]

and billiard room had cleared the space which the great hall now occupies.

The main object which Mr. Barry had in view was to give unity, and therefore grandeur, to a building, the effect of which was hardly commensurate with its size. It will be seen by the plan that he built the great entrance tower and corridor, completed the great hall, built the conservatory, and the Nineveh porch for the reception of some Assyrian marbles, presented by Mr. Layard to Sir John and Lady Charlotte Guest. The old kitchen he restored, uniting it to the main building, and remodelled or rebuilt the whole of the offices of the house. Besides this, he carried out several external works. The gardens were laid out with his usual care and interest, and with the objects which in such work he invariably sought. He also added lodges and other external works, besides the arch under the railway embankment for the main approach, which was executed after the death of Sir John Guest.

As the extent of his work on the main building is given by the plan, so its effect externally may be appreciated from the other illustration, which represents the south front, and so contains both old and new work. There can be no doubt that here, as elsewhere, that effect amounts to a re-creation. It is interesting, as being the best example of his treatment of a large Gothic house, and a proof that he could, on what seemed to him the proper occasions, value the variety and picturesqueness of grouping, on which so many authorities insist as the one thing needful.

Internally the plan shows, as in other cases, how perfectly real comfort and convenience can be united with much architectural grandeur. It should be observed that, unfortunately for the effect of the interior, the decorative portions of the work have not been fully carried out; and there is, therefore, observable in them some want of that beauty of finish and careful attention to minute detail, which is everywhere characteristic in his designs. With the exception of this drawback, he felt satisfied with a work, which he had carried out with great pleasure, and which is ordinarily considered as exemplifying most successfully his power to remodel existing buildings, with all the vigour and effect which belong to original designs.

GAWTHORPE HALL.--The only other Gothic house of any importance, which Sir C. Barry had the opportunity of restoring and remodelling, was Gawthorpe Hall, near Burnley. The nature of the work here was different. He had to deal with a fine old house of the Elizabethan period, built about the year 1600, on the site of an older building, probably of the “Peel” or border-castle character, and presenting considerable variety of style in its different fronts. On one side it retained some of the stern and bare simplicity of the old border Peel; on another, the irregularity in position and size of the characteristic mullioned windows produced a quaint and picturesque effect; the principal front on the other side had greater regularity of fenestration, but was broken by two polygonal bays at the angles and one square bay

[Illustration: GAWTHORPE HALL, LANCASHIRE.

VIEW OF ENTRANCE FRONT AS ALTERED.]

projecting from the centre front, in which a low-arched porch gave entrance to the house.

There was so much in the exterior of picturesque variety and quaintness, that, when Mr. Barry was consulted by Sir James P. K. Shuttleworth, in 1849, he felt unwilling to make any considerable alterations. All he thought needful was to give importance to the tower and chimneys, by raising them so as to produce greater boldness in the sky-line, and to surround the building with a pierced parapet of the characteristic Elizabethan style. The old grass terraces round the house had disappeared; these he carefully restored, and carried out the same principle of architectural gardening, which he had so often exemplified in his Italian buildings, by surrounding the house with a formal garden, designed according to the geometrical patterns of the Elizabethan period. The changes were not great, but they all tended to perfect and render more striking the original character of the building; and the work was carried on _con amore_, for he was a great admirer of the Elizabethan style for domestic purposes, and inclined to prefer it for such purposes to the purer Gothic forms.

In the interior he had somewhat greater scope. It had been modernized by successive owners, yet so that it still retained, almost untouched, the dining-hall and the richly decorated ceiling and carved panellings of the drawing-room. The problem therefore was simply to preserve and carry out the old style of decoration, to sweep away modern excrescences, and at the same time to give that greater convenience and adaptation to present requirements, which these additions had been intended to supply. It was not one likely to cause him much difficulty, and, though all his suggestions have not been carried out, it was certainly solved very successfully, and the house is now a picturesque and beautiful specimen of its peculiar style.

DUNROBIN CASTLE.--A work of considerable importance, for which Sir Charles Barry was consulted, although his designs were to a great degree modified, and were carried out by others, was Dunrobin Castle.[61] The castle, belonging to the Duke of Sutherland, overlooks the Dornoch Firth, and has the advantage of a fine position. It was a very old building, with some points of interest, but little pretensions to grandeur. Alterations were begun upon it in 1845, growing, as usual, in scale and magnificence, especially when the prospect of a royal visit stimulated the owner’s interest in it, and increased his requirements.

In 1844 designs were furnished by Mr. Barry at the request of the Duke; but it was found by Mr. Leslie that the information, on which they were based, had been inaccurate, and that the designs could not be carried out, without greatly enlarging the plateau on which the house stands, at an enormous expense, and without more alteration of the old castle, than the Duke was prepared to sanction. Some necessary alterations were therefore suggested, and the designs returned for further consideration. It would appear also that ideas of a design of totally different character were entertained by the Duke. These would have altered the building from the chateau-like treatment suggested by Mr. Barry to a regular “castellated” style, with flat roofs and embrasured towers. Subsequently however this design was altogether set aside, and a set of drawings prepared by Mr. Leslie, with the characteristic high roofs of Scotch castle-architecture, returning in great measure to Mr. Barry’s original design as a basis. These were submitted to him for his approval, and some alterations made by his suggestion.

The work was then begun. In the course of it Mr. Barry was frequently consulted on points both of principle and of detail, and furnished drawings of ornaments and internal arrangements, as well as of external design. In 1848 he visited Dunrobin, when the work was nearly complete. He then advised some considerable alteration of the great tower, and designed a terrace garden, both of which were carried out.

It will be seen therefore that the work is partly Sir C. Barry’s and

## partly Mr. Leslie’s. The original designs of Sir Charles were made the

basis of the work, and several alterations of principle and detail were made by him, as “consulting architect,” during its progress. But, of course, plans made at a distance must require much alteration, and the work, growing as it proceeds in capabilities and requirements, calls for much, of which the actual superintendent of the work must have the credit and the responsibility.

On the whole, the north or entrance front is very much like Sir Charles’s original design, except that this design had no attics nor basement story. The southern and eastern fronts have far less resemblance to what was at first proposed by him, as it was here that the inaccuracy of the information supplied to him did the greatest mischief.

It was the only work of any size, with which he was connected in Scotland. He had given designs for an alteration of Drummond Castle in 1827, and for alterations of Drumlanrig Castle in 1840. But in neither case were his ideas carried out.

It will be seen from this enumeration, that his Gothic works, though not numerous, were varied in character, embracing buildings of collegiate, ecclesiastical, and domestic style. After 1837 his Gothic study was devoted to, and almost absorbed by, the works at the New Palace at Westminster. The progress visible in these lesser buildings, both in detail and in power of treatment, was partly introductory to the greater work, and partly derived from it. In it mainly his Gothic architecture must be tested. The other works merely show that his studies in Gothic were not confined to that one style, or to those principles of arrangement and composition, which he there considered to be rendered necessary by the circumstances of the case.

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