Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin
| Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| Born |
1 March 1812 Keppel Street, Bloomsbury, London |
| Died | 14 September 1852 (aged 40) Ramsgate, Kent, England |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Palace of Westminster |
| Design | many Victorian churches |
Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1 March 1812 – 14 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic, chiefly remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival style; his work culminated in the interior design of the Palace of Westminster. Pugin designed many churches in England, and some in Ireland and Australia. Pugin was the son of Auguste Pugin, and the father of E.W. and Peter Paul Pugin, who continued his architectural firm as Pugin & Pugin.
Pugin was the son of a French draughtsman, Auguste Pugin, who had come to England as a result of the French Revolution and had married Catherine Welby of the Denton, Lincolnshire Welby family. Augustus was born at his parents' house in Bloomsbury. Between 1821 and 1838 Pugin's father had published a series of volumes of architectural drawings, the first two entitled, Specimens of Gothic Architecture, and the following three, Examples of Gothic Architecture, that were to remain both in print and the standard references for Gothic architecture for at least the next century.
As a child he was taken each Sunday by his mother to the services of the fashionable Scottish Presbyterian preacher Edward Irving (later founder of the Holy Catholic Apostolic Church), at his chapel in Cross Street, Hatton Garden. He soon rebelled against this version of Christianity: according to Benjamin Ferrey, Pugin "always expressed unmitigated disgust at the cold and sterile forms of the Scotch church; and the moment he broke free from the trammels imposed on him by his mother, he rushed into the arms of a church which, pompous by its ceremonies, was attractive to his imaginative mind".
Pugin learned drawing from his father, and for a while attended Christ's Hospital. After leaving school he worked in his father's office, and in 1825 and 1827 accompanied him on visits to France. His first commissions independent of his father were for designs for the goldsmiths Rundell and Bridge, and for designs for furniture at Windsor Castle, from the upholsterers Morrel and Seddon. Through a contact made while working at Windsor, he became interested in the design of theatre scenery, and in 1831 obtained a commission to design the sets for the production of a new opera called Kenilworth at Covent Garden. He also developed an interest in sailing, and briefly commanded a small merchant schooner trading between Britain and Holland, which allowed him to import examples of furniture and carving from Flanders,with which he later furnished his house at Ramsgate. During one voyage in 1830 he was wrecked on the Scottish coast near Leith, as a result of which he came into contact with Edinburgh architect James Gillespie Graham, who advised him to abandon seafaring for architecture. He then set up a business supplying historically accurate carved wood and stone details for the increasing number of buildings being constructed in the Gothic style, but the enterprise soon failed.
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