Charles Barry

Charles Barry was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London He was born on 23rd May 1795 in Westminster, London and died there on 12th May 1860 aged 65.

Reform Club, London, England (1836)
Highclere Castle (1842)
Dunrobin Castle, Scotland (1845)
Palace of Westminster (or Houses of Parliament), London, England (Largely completed by 1860)

1795: Charles Barry was born on 23rd May at Bridge Street, Westminster, London, England. He was the son and ninth child of Walter Edward Barry, a stationer and bookbinder who supplied the government and was educated at home and then at Aspley Guise. His mother was Frances Barry (née Mayban) who dies in 1798 and so he was brought up by his stepmother Sarah.

1810: He is apprenticed to Middleton & Bailey a firm of architects and surveyors in Lambeth, London.

1817: His father dies and he inherits enough money to travel around Europe and the Middle East. His journeys through Italy inspire him to become an architect.

1820: He returns to England.

1822: He marries Sarah Rowsell.

1824: He wins a competition to design the Royal Manchester Institution for the Promotion of Literature, Science and the Art. (This now forms part of Manchester Art gallery).

1825: He begins work on Buile House in Salford, Greater Manchester and also a number of churches in the Manchester area. He realises that the Church Commisoners preferred the gothic style so worked in that style.

1826: He designs St Peter’s Church in Brighton which is one of the first good examples of the Gothic Revival style in Britain.

1832: He designs the Traveler’s Club in Pall Mall, London using the Italianate style.

1834: The old Houses of Parliament burn down in a fire on 16th October as old tally sticks are being burnt in the basement and the fire gets put of control. Parliament had sat in the building since 1547. The only part of the Medieval Structure to survive (which still stands today) is Westminster Hall whose roof was built during the reign of King Richard the Second.

1836: He wins the commission to rebuild the Houses of Parliament (sometimes known as the Palace of Westminster) and sets to work jointly with Augustus Pugin on the designs.

1840: The foundation stone of the Houses of Parliament is laid on 27th April by Charles Barry’s wife Sarah. He is elected an Associate of the Royal Academy.

1841: He is elected as a Full Member of the Royal Academy.

1842: He works on Highclere Castle in Hampshire to restore and extend the Elizabethan House.

1846: He designs the Italianate Bridgewater House in London and works on the Treasury Building in Whitehall.

1847: The House of Lords section of the Palace of Westminster is now complete. He also begins to work on ideas for the Great Exhibition of 1851.

1849: He becomes a Fellow of the Royal Society.

1850: He is awarded the Royal Gold Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects.

1852: Completion of the House of Commons section. The project was late and over budget although he was knighted for his efforts. The Victoria Tower at the House of Lords end stands at 336 feet and was the tallest tower in the world at the time. The tower at the other end has a clock and inside a bell known as “The Big Ben” which chimes the hours. Many people call the tower “Big Ben incorrectly but it is called the Elizabeth tower.

1859: He designs Cliveden House in Buckinghamshire.

Charles Barry died on 12th May 1860, at his home “The Elms”, in Clapham Common, London of a myocardial infarction. His ashes were interred in Westminster Abbey in London.

Sir Charles Barry exhibited his drawings at the Royal Academy annually aged seventeen in 1812 until 1815 but his major influence was the Grand Tour of Europe which he took between 1817 and 1820 that included France, Italy, Greece and the Middle East. He was particularly impressed by the grandeur of Italian Renaissance palaces such as the Palazzo Farnese in Rome and the Palazzo Strozzi in Florence. His friendship with architect John Lewis Wolfe, whom he met in Rome, increased his passion for the Italian Renaissance and he was also heavily influenced by the architecture of Vicenza, Venice, and Verona and the Hagia Sophia in Turkiye.

His designs for the Travellers’ Club and the Reform Club in London show an Italianate style with symmetrical facades and classical detailing. His early apprenticeship with a London firm of surveyors and architects provided him with the necessary foundation in practical architectural work. Early successes in competitions like for the Royal Manchester Institution, show his ability to adapt to the architectural styles of the time. He then began to study the Gothic Revival style especially for his work on churches.

His collaboration with Augustus Pugin on the Houses of Parliament in London is a fine example of his synthesis of classical and Gothic styles and he paid Pugin £400 for assisting him with these drawings. He consequently influenced the Victorian period’s fascination with historical styles intertwined with functional needs. Sadly the Palace of Westminster was not completed until ten years after his death. Besides the world famous Houses of Parliament, Barry designed the Athenaeum in Manchester, and contributed to the Trafalgar Square Precinct and the Cabinet Office in London. 

His renovation of Highclere Castle in the nineteenth century was inspired by both Italianate and Jacobean styles. He also designed several churches, including Holy Trinity, St. John’s, and St. Paul’s in Islington, which are examples of his early Gothic Revival style and formed the public’s view on what a church should look like.

He not only forged his own style in architecture but was well known for designing the Italianate gardens for many of the stately homes he worked on and became the most famous architect of his generation and was buried in Westminster Abbey with great ceremony, attended by the major members of his profession and national dignitaries.

Many architects of the time were influenced by him and particularly his sons Charles Barry Junior and Edward Middleton Barry. Charles designed Dulwich College in London and Edward the Royal Opera House in London and the Opera House in Valletta, Malta.

List of major works by Barry.