Pre Pugin

photograph of Soane's house photograph of church

Sir John Soane 1753-1857

Pugin had no time for his work, rejoicing when Parliament burned, he watched whilst Soane's mullions and pinnacles were cracking and crashing to the ground in a thousand pieces. Soane's wonderful classical, lofty curvy domed interiors were an anathema to Pugin who liked sturdy, stocky buildings 'built for the purpose'. Only a few of Soane's buildings have survived. The Dulwich Picture Gallery, the museum Lincoln's Inn Fields, Pitzhanger Manor. A truly inspirational architect who rose from humble beginings to be knighted and awarded a gold medal for his services to architecture.
photograph of Sheffield Place

James Wyatt 1746-1813

Pugin could not abide Wyatt's work, he considered him the destroyer of cathedrals he gained the nickname, Wyatt the Destroyer. His work almost had a fairytale feel about it as at Fonthill Abbey, Wiltshire which he built for William Beckford. He gothicised and castelated buildings, the prettiest being Huntingfield Hall in Suffolk. Some of his other buildings are Sheffield Place, Sussex. Sandleford Priory, Berkshire. and in the V & A there is the Strawberry room from Lee Priory, Kent. He was made Surveyor General and Comptroller of the Office of Works in 1796.
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This original work was created for the World Wide Web by Victoria Farrow, with the support of the Pugin Society. It was constructed by Mike Farrow of Channel Business Internet Systems.