Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry FRS RA (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens. He is known for his major contribution to the use of Italianate architecture in Britain,[1] especially the use of the Palazzo as basis for the design of country houses, city mansions and public buildings. He also developed the Italian Renaissance garden style for the many gardens he designed around country houses.[2]
For his son, also an architect, see Charles Barry Jr. For the Irish lawyer, see Charles Robert Barry.
23 May 1795
12 May 1860 (aged 64)
Architect
Royal Gold Medal (1850)
Background and training[edit]
Born on 23 May 1795[3] in Bridge Street, Westminster (opposite the future site of the Clock Tower of the Palace of Westminster), he was the fourth son of Walter Edward Barry (died 1805), a stationer, and Frances Barry (née Maybank; died 1798). He was baptised at St Margaret's, Westminster, into the Church of England, of which he was a lifelong member. His father remarried shortly after Frances died and Barry's stepmother Sarah would bring him up.[3]
He was educated at private schools in Homerton and then Aspley Guise,[4] before being apprenticed to Middleton & Bailey,[5] Lambeth architects and surveyors, at the age of 15. Barry exhibited drawings at the Royal Academy annually from 1812 to 1815.[6] Upon the death of his father, Barry inherited a sum of money that allowed him, after coming of age, to undertake an extensive Grand Tour around the Mediterranean and Middle East, from 28 June 1817 to August 1820.[7]
He visited France and, while in Paris, spent several days at the Musée du Louvre. In Rome, he sketched antiquities, sculptures and paintings at the Vatican Museums and other galleries,[8] before carrying on to Naples, Pompeii, Bari and then Corfu. While in Italy, Barry met Charles Lock Eastlake, an architect, William Kinnaird and Francis Johnson (later a professor at Haileybury and Imperial Service College) and Thomas Leverton Donaldson.[9][10]
With these gentlemen he visited Greece, where their itinerary covered Athens, which they left on 25 June 1818, Mount Parnassus, Delphi, Aegina, then the Cyclades, including Delos, then Smyrna[11] and Turkey, where Barry greatly admired the magnificence of Hagia Sophia. From Constantinople he visited the Troad, Assos, Pergamon and back to Smyrna.[12] In Athens, he met David Baillie, who was taken with Barry's sketches and offered to pay him £200 a year plus any expenses to accompany him to Egypt, Palestine and Syria in return for Barry's drawings of the countries they visited.[13] Middle East sites they visited included Dendera, the Temple of Edfu and Philae[14] – it was at the last of these three that he met his future client, William John Bankes, on 13 January 1819[15] – then Thebes, Luxor and Karnak. Then, back to Cairo and Giza with its pyramids.[16]
Continuing through the Middle East, the major sites and cities visited were Jaffa, the Dead Sea, Jerusalem, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, then Bethlehem,[16] Baalbek, Jerash, Beirut, Damascus and Palmyra,[17] then on to Homs.[18]
On 18 June 1819, Barry parted from Baillie at Tripoli, Lebanon. Over this time, Barry created more than 500 sketches.[19] Barry then travelled on to Cyprus, Rhodes, Halicarnassus, Ephesus and Smyrna from where he sailed on 16 August 1819 for Malta.[20]
Barry then sailed from Malta to Syracuse, Sicily,[20] then Italy and back through France. His travels in Italy exposed him to Renaissance architecture and after arriving in Rome in January 1820, he met architect John Lewis Wolfe,[21] who inspired Barry himself to become an architect. Their friendship continued until Barry died. The building that inspired Barry's admiration for Italian architecture was the Palazzo Farnese. Over the following months, he and Wolfe together studied the architecture of Vicenza, Venice, Verona and Florence, where the Palazzo Strozzi greatly impressed him.[22]
Professional life[edit]
Barry was appointed architect to the Dulwich College estate in 1830, an appointment that last until 1858.[5] Barry attended the inaugural meeting of the Royal Institute of British Architects on 3 December 1834[104] he became a fellow of the R.I.B.A. and later served as vice-president of the institute, in 1859 he turned down the Presidency of the R.I.B.A.[5]
In 1845 he awarded the commission in the competition for New College, Edinburgh to William Henry Playfair.[105] Barry also served on the Royal Commission (learned committee) developing plans for the Great Exhibition of 1851;[106] also in 1851, he was a co-founder of what became the Royal Architectural Museum.[107] In 1852 he was an assessor on the committee that selected Cuthbert Brodrick's design in the competition to design Leeds Town Hall.[105] In 1853 Barry was consulted by Albert, Prince Consort on his plans for creation of what became known as Albertopolis.[108] Barry spent two months in Paris in 1855 representing, along with his friend and fellow architect Charles Robert Cockerell, English architecture on the juries of the Exposition Universelle.[109]
Barry was an active fellow of the Royal Academy, and he was involved in revising the architectural curriculum in 1856.[110] In 1858 Barry was appointed to the St. Paul's Committee, whose function was to oversee the maintenance of the Special Evening Service in St Paul's Cathedral and carry out redecoration of the cathedral.[111]
Several architects received their training in Barry's office, including: John Hayward, John Gibson, George Somers Leigh Clarke, J. A. Chatwin and his sons Charles Barry and Edward Middleton Barry.[28] Additionally Barry had several assistants who worked for him at various times, including Robert Richardson Banks, Thomas Allom, Peter Kerr and Ingress Bell.
Barry designed: