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Barry were celebrated for their drawings before they became practising architects. Barry took a house in Ely Place, Holborn, and competed for the small Gothic churches then being built; his success in several cases enabled him to marry in December 1822 Miss Sarah Rowsell, to whom he was engaged before he went abroad. In 1823 he gained St. Peter's Church, Brighton, in competition; in 1824 he built the Royal Institute of Fine Arts, Manchester, still one of the finest buildings in the town; in 1827 he removed to Foley Place; in 1829–31 he built the Travellers' Club House, Pall Mall, and thus drew the attention of the public to the merits of that phase of Italian architecture in which the effect is produced by simplicity and proportion—window dressings, rustications, strings, and massive unbroken cornices being alone employed; his grouping of the windows of the garden front was much admired at the time; the interior is characterised by dignified simplicity. In 1836 he began the Manchester Athenæum, which is distinguished like all his works by its elegant proportions. In 1837 he was commissioned to build the Reform Club House in Pall Mall, which may undoubtedly be considered his finest work; since the Italian renaissance no European building has equalled its exquisite proportions. The plan is that of an Italian palace with a central courtyard; here he hit upon the happy idea of covering the courtyard, and lighting it by glazed scale-work in the cove of the ceiling; by these means the whole of the area is made into a grand saloon, and the beauty of the surrounding arcades can be fully seen; the same device was resorted to by him, but on a larger scale, at Bridgewater House, built for the Earl of Ellesmere in 1847, where the covered courtyard serves as a sculpture gallery.

In speaking of Barry's works it is necessary to deviate somewhat from their chronological order, partly to group them according to style, and partly to note the changes effected in his mind. Even when he was fresh from Egypt and Italy, with marked views as to the proper style and treatment of buildings from the art side, he was, like Wren, too practical a man to shut himself out from work by a rigid adherence to his own views. He doubtless felt that his powers could as well be shown in buildings to which late Gothic details were applied, as in those whose details were purely classic, the main difference called for in the general treatment being greater variety and picturesqueness in the outline. In 1833 he began King Edward VI's Grammar School at Birmingham. The style was perpendicular, the front was only broken by a slight projection of the ends, which were emphasised by oriel windows, while the centre was divided by buttresses into nine bays, the school itself taking seven bays which contain low windows on the ground floor to light the cloister, and the door in the middle bay; above, large two-storied windows fill the space between the buttresses. The building was finished in 1836; during its building he became acquainted with Augustus Welby Pugin and John Thomas, who subsequently acted as his trusty lieutenants at the Houses of Parliament.

The Houses of Parliament were burnt down in October 1834; in June 1835 a competition was advertised, ‘the style to be Gothic or Elizabethan.’ On 1 Nov. the designs were sent in. On 29 Feb. 1836 the first premium was awarded to Barry. The river wall was begun in 1837, but it was not until 27 April 1840 that the first stone of the building was laid, and in 1841 he moved to 32 Great George Street, Westminster, to be near his work. Though the House of Lords was used in 1847, it was not until 1852 that the houses were formally opened by her majesty, and Barry was knighted shortly afterwards. The whole building was not completed at his death, but was finished by his son, Edward Middleton Barry [q. v.]

The plan is a model of perspicuity and convenience. The grand entrance from Westminster Hall is absolutely unrivalled, the first flight of steps stretching right across the hall; the idea, too, of forming the main corridors into a cross with a grand central octagon was happy, and the vaulting of the octagon forms one of the finest Gothic domes in existence. Externally the parts are beautifully proportioned; the clock-tower is a most brilliant design, and will bear a favourable comparison with the finest towers in the world. And though the Victoria tower has been found fault with by some as dwarfing the structure, in itself it is a beautiful design.

No modern building in England has been so often painted by the artists of all countries. We must not overlook the effects of this building on the subsidiary arts. Barry formed schools of modelling, stone and wood carving, cabinet-making, metal-working, glass and decorative painting, and of encaustic tile making, which have completely revolutionised the arts. He was gifted with that intuitive knowledge of men who could be of use which characterised the first Napoleon and which is possessed by all great men who successfully carry out great works. He got John Thomas appointed head of the stone-carving, and Augustus Welby Pugin head of the wood-