A.W.N. Pugin's life was divided between two obsessions: his design and his religion. The first he inherited from his father, an architectural draftsman; the second from life's hard experience, which led him to convert to Catholicism at age 22. The two...
[more]A.W.N. Pugin's life was divided between two obsessions: his design and his religion. The first he inherited from his father, an architectural draftsman; the second from life's hard experience, which led him to convert to Catholicism at age 22. The two obsessions combined in Pugin's moralistic approach to architecture and the Gothic Revival he spearheaded.
England had experienced a decline in architectural grandeur during the nineteenth century. When Pugin discovered the great Gothic buildings of Europe on a series of trips to the continent, he found a mode of architecture befitting the solidity of Britain's empire and the strong ethical precepts that grounded British society. On a personal level, Pugin viewed Gothic as the only style that matched the integrity of his religious faith. In the mid-1830s he began designing structures with an explicitly religious function, such as St. Mary's, Oscott (one of the leading Catholic colleges in England).
This early commission led to many church designs in Kent, Birmingham, Staffordshire, and Lancashire, each an imposing example of the Gothic. Accomplished in metalwork, furniture design, and stained glass, Pugin extended his stylistic control into the minute details of each building. His obsession for consistency of design was the result of his deep faith. "Contrasts," a work he published in 1836, argues that architecture reflects the society it comes from and that only a morally advanced (and Catholic) society could produce the perfect rendition of Gothic forms.
For Pugin, Gothic architecture was "the only true ecclesiastic architecture" and a representation of God's power. Nonetheless, Pugin's influence extended into the secular realm. Through his collaboration with Sir Charles Barry on the new Houses of Parliament, he left a patently Gothic stamp on this major civic structure at the heart of London. Though Barry was a classical architect, he adopted many of Pugin's suggestions. The building that resulted is a strange mixture of both men, based on classical designs by Barry but enhanced by the vocabulary of Pugin's Gothic fixation.
Pugin's gift to England still conveys the grandeur of the Victorian-era empire at the height of its power. Whether he designed private homes, churches, or seats of government, he used the Gothic style to imbue his work with a sense of solemnity and stolid values combined with gracefulness. When Pugin died at 40, the movement he had started had attracted many followers, including John Ruskin. Through them, the Gothic Revival shaped modern England.
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