More than any other individual, A.W. Pugin can be credited with the popularity of Gothic Revival design during the nineteenth century.
Pugin was born March 1, 1812, in Bloomsbury, London England, the son of immigrant French architect Augustus Charles Pugin, a rabid proponent of the Gothic architectural style. From an early age A.W. Pugin developed an interest in art and design though he had very little formal schooling with his only known education being at the Blue Coat School, a charity school for poor children. His father trained him as a draughtsman, teaching him the details of gothic architecture. He went on to assist his father’s employer John Nash by doing drawings for a book on gothic architecture and ornament.
At the age of 15 he got a position at Morel & Seddon designing furniture for Windsor Castle Palace in the gothic style after the Palace’s destruction by fire in 1834.
His work came to the attention of architect Sir Charles Barry who selected him to work on the King Edward VI Grammar School in 1835. The same year Pugin published a book Gothic Furniture in the Style of the 15th Century. This was followed in 1836 by Contrasts: Or, A Parallel between the Noble Edifices of the Middle Ages and Corresponding Buildings of the Present Day which fiercely advocated for architecture in the Gothic Revival style, following in the footsteps of his father.
He was again selected by Sir Charles Barry to assist in the design of the Houses of Parliament which they worked on sporadically between 1836 and 1852. It was he who designed the Queen’s Tower in which Big Ben is located. This high profile work brought him commissions in the construction of homes, churches, furniture, metalwork and stained glass, all in the Gothic Revival style.
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His conversion to Catholicism inspired the publication of two more pieces in 1843 based on lectures he delivered: The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture and An Apology for the Revival of Christian Architecture which took issue with the neoclassical Greek and Roman style considering it “pagan.” He followed it in 1849 with Floriated Ornament: A Series of Thirty-One Designs.
By 1850 he had become one of the best known designers in England. It was this fame which brought him to the Minton pottery which was at the time in preparation for the introduction of their innovative new majolica ceramics (at the time called Palissy Ware) at the Crystal Palace Exhibition.
The Mediaeval Court, a pet project of Prince Albert, was planned as a central display for the Exhibition for which Pugin designed many of the furnishings. The Minton factory contributed majolica tiles to the large Pugin designed stove for John Hardman & Co. who supplied the metalwork. Pugin designed the tiles for the stove as well as other furniture, textiles and wallpaper.
The impact of the Mediaeval Court’s Gothic Revival style shown at the Exhibition had other companies following the trend as well with designs in the Gothic Revival style appearing in the inventories of more potteries.
After his work on the Exhibition was complete, Pugin returned to his commission for the Houses of Parliament. Early in 1852 he suffered a complete physical and psychiatric breakdown and was hospitalized in the British Royal Bedlam Hospital. After a couple of months his wife had him transferred to a private hospital but he died soon after on September 14, 1852 at the age of 40. His death certificate states the cause of death as “convulsions followed by coma” though the exact cause of death is not exactly known. It is believed he suffered from hyperthyroidism possibly complicated by mercury poisoning (which had been prescribed by his doctors to cure his psychiatric issues) and/or syphilis, which he had contracted as a teenager. He left eight children and the last of his three wives a widow in bankruptcy.
The Gothic Revival style remained popular until late in the nineteenth century when it was succeeded by the burgeoning Aesthetic Movement style.
Pugin revolutionized design in the mid-nineteenth century with his work and influence far outliving his short lifespan. He is buried in St. Augustine's Church, a church he himself designed but never finished in Ramsgate, Kent, England.
