,
Thanet,
Kent, England, designed by Pugin as his family home in
Birmingham, England ,
Cheadle, Staffordshire, England, designed by Pugin Pugin was the son of the French draughtsman
Auguste Pugin, who had immigrated to
England as a result of the
French Revolution and had married Catherine Welby of the Welby family of
Denton, Lincolnshire, England. Pugin was born on 1 March 1812 at his parents' house in
Bloomsbury, London, England. Between 1821 and 1838, Pugin's father published a series of volumes of
architectural drawings, the first two entitled
Specimens of Gothic Architecture and the following three
Examples of Gothic Architecture, that not only remained in print but were the standard references for Gothic architecture for at least the next century.
Religion As a child, his mother took Pugin each Sunday to the services of the fashionable Scottish
Presbyterian preacher
Edward Irving (later the founder of the Holy
Catholic Apostolic Church), at his chapel in Cross Street,
Hatton Garden,
Camden, London. Pugin quickly rebelled against this version of Christianity: according to
Benjamin Ferrey, Pugin "always expressed unmitigated disgust at the cold and sterile forms of the Scottish church; and the moment he broke free from the trammels imposed on him by his mother, he rushed into the arms of a church which, pompous by its ceremonies, was attractive to his imaginative mind".
Education and early ventures Pugin learned drawing from his father, and for a while attended
Christ's Hospital. After leaving school, he worked in his father's office, and in 1825 and 1827 accompanied him on visits to
France. His first commissions independent of his father were for designs for the goldsmiths
Rundell and Bridge, and for designs for furniture of
Windsor Castle from the upholsterers Morel and Seddon. Through a contact made while working at Windsor, he became interested in the design of theatrical scenery, and in 1831 obtained a commission to design the sets for the production of the new opera
Kenilworth at the
Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. He also developed an interest in sailing, and briefly commanded a small merchant
schooner trading between
Great Britain and
Holland, which allowed him to import examples of furniture and carving from
Flanders, with which he later furnished his house at
Ramsgate in Kent. During one voyage in 1830, he was wrecked on the Scottish coast near
Leith, as a result of which he came into contact with
Edinburgh architect
James Gillespie Graham, who advised him to abandon seafaring for architecture. He then established a business supplying historically accurate carved wood and stone detailing for the increasing number of buildings being constructed in the Gothic Revival style, but the enterprise quickly failed. She died a few months later in childbirth, leaving him a daughter. He had a further six children, including the future architect
Edward Welby Pugin, with his second wife, Louisa Burton (or Button), who died in 1844. His third wife, Jane Knill, kept a journal of their marital life, from their marriage in 1848 to Pugin's death, which was later published. Their son was the architect
Peter Paul Pugin.
Salisbury Following his second marriage in 1833, Pugin moved to
Salisbury,
Wiltshire, with his wife, and in 1835 bought of land in
Alderbury, about outside the town. On this, he built a Gothic Revival-style house for his family, which he named St Marie's Grange. Of it,
Charles Eastlake said "he had not yet learned the art of combining a picturesque exterior with the ordinary comforts of an English home".
Conversion to Catholicism In 1834, Pugin converted to
Catholicism and was received into it the following year. British society at the start of the 19th century often discriminated against dissenters from the
Church of England, although things began to change during Pugin's lifetime, helping to make Pugin's eventual conversion to Catholicism more socially acceptable. For example, dissenters could not take degrees at the established universities of Oxford and Cambridge until 1871, but the
University of London (later renamed University College London) was founded near Pugin's birthplace in 1826 with the express purpose of educating dissenters to degree standard (although it would not be able to confer degrees until 1836). Dissenters were also unable to serve on parish or city councils, be a member of Parliament, serve in the armed forces or be on a jury. A number of reforms across the 19th century relieved these restrictions, one of which was the
Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829, which allowed Catholics to become members of Parliament. Pugin's conversion acquainted him with new patrons and employers. In 1832 he made the acquaintance of
John Talbot, 16th Earl of Shrewsbury, a Catholic sympathetic to his aesthetic theory and who employed him in alterations and additions to his residence of
Alton Towers, which subsequently led to many more commissions. Shrewsbury commissioned him to build
St Giles Catholic Church,
Cheadle, Staffordshire, which was completed in 1846, and Pugin was also responsible for designing the oldest Catholic Church in
Shropshire,
St Peter and Paul Church, Newport.
Contrasts In 1836, Pugin published
Contrasts, a polemical book which argued for the
revival of the medieval Gothic style, and also "a return to the faith and the social structures of the Middle Ages". The book was prompted by the passage of the
Church Building Acts of 1818 and 1824, the former of which is often called the
Million Pound Act due to the appropriation amount by Parliament for the construction of new Anglican churches in Britain. The new churches constructed from these funds, many of them in a Gothic Revival style due to the assertion that it was the "cheapest" style to use, were often criticised by Pugin and many others for their shoddy design and workmanship and poor liturgical standards relative to an authentic Gothic structure. Each plate in
Contrasts selected a type of urban building and contrasted the 1830 example with its 15th-century equivalent. In one example, Pugin contrasted a medieval monastic foundation, where monks fed and clothed the needy, grew food in the gardens – and gave the dead a decent burial – with "a
panopticon workhouse where the poor were beaten, half-starved and sent off after death for dissection. Each structure was the built expression of a particular view of humanity: Christianity versus
Utilitarianism." having found it an inconvenient base for his growing architectural practice. He sold St Marie's Grange at a considerable financial loss, and moved temporarily to
Cheyne Walk in
Chelsea, London. He had, however, already purchased a parcel of land at West Cliff,
Ramsgate,
Thanet in Kent, where he proceeded to build for himself a large house and, at his own expense, a
church dedicated to St Augustine, after whom he thought himself named. He worked on this church whenever funds permitted it. His second wife died in 1844 and was buried at
St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham, which he had designed. He revised the plans for
St Michael's Church, Ballinasloe,
County Galway, Ireland. Bishop
William Wareing also invited Pugin to design what eventually became
Northampton Cathedral, a project that was completed in 1864 by one of Pugin's sons, Edward Welby Pugin. Pugin visited
Italy in 1847; his experience there confirmed his dislike of
Renaissance and
Baroque architecture, but he found much to admire in the medieval art of northern Italy., made by John
Hardman & Co. to a design by Pugin (1848–1850)
Stained glass Pugin was a prolific designer of stained glass. He worked with
Thomas Willement,
William Warrington and
William Wailes before persuading his friend
John Hardman to start stained glass production.
Illness and death In February 1852, while travelling with his son Edward by train, Pugin had a total breakdown and arrived in London unable to recognise anyone or speak coherently. For four months he was confined to a private asylum,
Kensington House. In June, he was transferred to the
Royal Bethlem Hospital, popularly known as Bedlam. At that time, Bethlem Hospital was opposite
St George's Cathedral, Southwark, one of Pugin's major buildings, where he had married his third wife, Jane, in 1848. Jane and a doctor removed Pugin from Bedlam and took him to a private house in
Hammersmith where they attempted therapy, and he recovered sufficiently to recognise his wife. In September, Jane took her husband back to
The Grange in Ramsgate, where he died on 14 September 1852. He is buried in his church next to The Grange, St. Augustine's. On Pugin's death certificate, the cause listed was "convulsions followed by coma". Pugin's biographer,
Rosemary Hill, suggests that, in the last year of his life, he had had
hyperthyroidism which would account for his symptoms of exaggerated appetite, perspiration, and restlessness. Hill writes that Pugin's medical history, including eye problems and recurrent illness from his early twenties, suggests that he contracted
syphilis in his late teens, and this may have been the cause of his death at the age of 40. ==Palace of Westminster==