#Augustus Pugin is criminally underrated

[conchshell]

I saw that post you reblogged about being obsessed about something and saw your tags about being obsessed with Victorian architecture and now I'm really curious about it. So, tell me anything and everything you know about it!!

You really don’t know what you’ve unleashed here. I could honestly talk for hours about the subject, so in an effort to rein myself in, I’ll talk about an architect who changed both the appearance and ethos behind architecture today within his short and fantastically bizarre life; Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812 - 1852), who I’ll refer to as ‘Pugin’ in this. Just to warn you, this is long 😂 although I have put some photos in there to break things up!

To first understand him, it is probably best to first delve into his unusual childhood. Born to free-spirited French refugee Auguste Pugin, and wealthy but austere Catherine Welby, his parents were 50 and 43 respectively when he arrived. Auguste was a draftsman, and with Catherine being the brains behind the operation, the two ran a drawing school out of the attic of their London townhouse. Auguste would regularly sneak out into the dead of night and climb up on the rooftops of public buildings, tying ropes around the waists of his students and lowering them through the rafters to study how the building was constructed. At one point they went to France and accidentally left a student behind. Whoops! (don’t worry, they went back to pick him up).

Pugin showed great promise from an early age, creating architectural designs aged 9, and going on to design furniture designs for Windsor Castle aged 12. He then tried to set up his own company, went bankrupt, and then spent time in a debtors' prison. Following his brief stint behind bars, he then tried to become a Sailor but failed miserably, after he was washed up on the Scottish coast and dragged out of the water by an elderly woman. It was there when he met Architect James Gillespie-Graham, who advised him to abandon sailing in favour of architecture.

Aged 19 he got his first professional job, designing the set of Kenilworth for the Royal Opera House (seen above). And it was there where he met the first of his three wives, Anne Garnet, a stage actress. She fell pregnant, they had a swift marriage, but then she died during childbirth. This was swiftly followed by the death of his father, and then his mother within a matter of months; and 19-year-old Pugin, alone with his newborn daughter, chose to devote his life to architecture to change the trajectory of his and his daughters' life.

Only he did more than that, as he also changed the trajectory of architecture, and the many buildings today (across the world) still show his influences. Pugin converted to Catholicism in 1834, a bold move in a society where discrimination against dissenters from the Church of England was rife. But despite his controversial move, people still contacted him to design buildings. At one point he was commissioned a wall and gateway to a college, but the decision was changed at the last minute as they didn’t want to be seen working with a Catholic. Unhappy with this decision, in the middle of the night Pugin and his men built the wall brick by brick under the cover of darkness - like some sort of guerilla building.

Considered one of the biggest advocates for a revival of medieval styles, Pugin threw himself into the lifestyle; he collected medieval books, studied medieval carvings, and he even dressed in medieval styles. His buildings were whimsical and fantastical, with gargoyles and asymmetrical designs, a stark contrast to the symmetrical and simplistic Georgian styles. But he didn’t stop there, he created designs for wallpapers (seen above), for fabrics, for jewellery, for locks and hinges and keys. If something could be designed, he would do it. It was during this period that his eccentricities began to become more apparent; he was prone to “hysterical moments” and would only work with a select few designers. The most famous of these partnerships was with a man called Herbert Minton, with Pugin persuading Minton to make him a particular type of glazed tile appropriate for his buildings. You’ve probably come across these types of tile before;

It was estimated that by 30 Pugin had built 22 churches, 3 cathedrals, 3 convents, 6 houses, several schools, and a Cistercian monastery. And it didn’t end there; alongside fellow architect Charles Barry, he won a competition to redesign and build the Houses of Parliament following its destruction in a fire. The building itself is a Classical base (due to Barry) with applied Gothic detailing, but it is in the interior of the building that showcases Pugin’s expertise. Sadly, due to his Catholicism, and anti Industrial-Revolution and slavery views, Pugin was noted only as a builder and was paid little for his work, with Barry receiving praise for the construction.

Already struggling with anxiety and depression, Pugin then would regularly see and hear things others couldn’t. He would frantically draw gothic designs, and would only eat foods shaped in the medieval pointed arch. Barry, struggling with demands for the Houses of Parliament, reached out to Pugin and managed to persuade him to design the Elizabeth Tower (known as Big Ben, pictured above). He designed it in a state of mania, and then swiftly fell into an episode where he didn’t recognise his own family. Against the wishes of his wife, he was forcibly drugged and restrained, being placed in the infamous Bedlam Royal Hospital under the listing of “mania without psychotic episodes”.

His third wife, Jane Knill, was the biggest advocate for her husband’s architecture. She fought hard to get his achievements recognised, and created a public petition for her husband to be removed from Bedlam and moved back home. Despite all odds she achieved it, but only a few weeks later he slipped into a coma and died. His funeral was attended by only a select few, and his name slipped from the history books. And sadly, he was swiftly forgotten.

Jane (pictured above with the black parasol, with her daughters-in-law) devoted the rest of her life towards recognition of his achievements, publishing his letters and correspondence, alongside his architectural drawings and contributions. Sadly he didn’t achieve recognition for his effects during her lifetime, but publications regarding him started appearing in the 1970’s. His work changed architecture across the world, and as an advocate against the Industrial Revolution and unfair working conditions, many companies changed their viewpoints towards child labour. His ‘Gothic Revival’ gave birth to the Arts and Crafts movement, and his designs for tall church spires were reused in the skyscrapers of the Art Deco periods. His contributions far exceeded architecture, and thankfully now, people are starting to see the importance of his contributions.