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Early life

Burges was born on 2 December, 1827, the son of Alfred Burges (1796-1886), a wealthy civil engineer who undertook work in Cardiff for John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, himself the father of Burges' later, greatest, patron, the 3rd Marquess. Alfred Burges left a fortune of some £113,000 and this patrimony enabled Burges to devote his life to the study and practice of architecture, without requiring that he actually earn a living[2].

Burges entered King's College London in 1839 and remained for five years before being articled to the office of Edward Blore, surveyor to Westminster Abbey. Blore was, at that stage, an established architect, being "Special Architect" to both William IV and Queen Victoria, who had made his reputation as a gothic revivalist. However, it was not Blore but Augustus Welby Pugin who made the greatest early impression on Burges. Pugin's championing of the Gothic Revival provided the inspiration that fuelled Burges' life's work.

After five years, Burges moved to the offices of Matthew Digby Wyatt. Wyatt was then almost at the height of his influence and public prominence, culminating in his leading role in the direction of the 1851 Great Exhibition. Burges' work on the Medieval Court for this exhibition can fairly be said to have set the course of the remainder of his life.

St. Finbarre's Cathedral, Cork, Ireland - Burges' first major commission

Of equal importance and influence was Burges' travelling. "All architects should travel, but more especially the art-architect; to him it is absolutely necessary to see how various art problems have been resolved in different ages by different men." [3] Enabled by his private income, Burges moved through England, then France, Italy, Greece and finally into Turkey, studying and drawing on a prodigious scale. What he saw, and sketched, provided a repository of influences and ideas that he used, and re-used, for the whole of his career. The influence of the East, both Near and Far, was also profound; his fascination with Moorish design finding ultimate expression in the Arab Room at Cardiff Castle, and his absorption of Japanese techniques having a significant impact on his metalwork.

First Commissions

In 1856 Burges established his own architectural practice at 15 Buckingham Street, The Strand. Some of his early items of furniture were created for this office and later moved to The Tower House, Melbury Road, Kensington, the home he built for himself towards the end of his life. His early architectural career was relatively unsuccessful although he won prestigious commissions for Lille Cathedral, the Crimea Memorial Church and the Bombay School of Art. However, all remained unbuilt, at least to Burges' designs. Most regretable of all was his failed entry for the Law Courts in the Strand which, if built, would have created an English Carcassonne in the middle of London. Undaunted, and fortified by the his belief that Early French provided the answer to the crisis of architectural style that beset mid-Victorian England; "I was brought up in the 13th century belief and in that belief I intend to die"; he finally secured his first major commission for St. Fin Barre's Cathedral Cork in 1863. Vastly exceeding the intended budget, he produced a building that in size is little more than a large parish church but in impression is indeed "a cathedral becoming (of) such a city and one which posterity may regard as a monument to the Almighty's praise." [4] Other commissions, both ecclesiastical and domestic, followed including substantial remodelling of Gayhurst House, Buckinghamshire for the second Lord Carrington[5].

Burges and Bute

In 1865, the defining moment in Burges' life occurred when he met John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute. The connection may have occurred as a result of Burges' father's own connection with the 2nd Marquess but this is uncertain.

Burges' design for the Summer Smoking Room at Cardiff Castle
Castell Coch

However occasioned, the connection lasted the rest of Burges' life and led to his most important works, the castle at Cardiff, and Castell Coch. To the Marquess, and his wife, Burges was the "soul-inspiring one", and the relationship between them had some similarities to that of Ludwig II of Bavaria and Richard Wagner, and led to some similar results. That the Marquess was the richest man in Britain was an essential factor, for Burges was not a cheap architect. As he himself wrote "good art is far too rare and far too precious ever to be cheap."[6] Funded by the Marquess' almost limitless resources, Burges' re-building of Cardiff Castle and the complete reconstruction of the ruin of Castell Coch, (the Red Castle), north of the city, represent his highest achievements. Both present a fantasy of the medieval world undertaken with a brio, an inventiveness and a sheer architectural and decorative ability that sets them far apart from 19th century feudal pastiches.

Burges began building at Cardiff Castle in 1868. The castle, of medieval origin, had been extensively remodelled by both Capability Brown and Henry Holland and it was necessary for Burges to incorporate the existing structure into his work. This "over-laying" can clearly be seen, either from the park or from the courtyard, with the silhouette showing Burges' capping of the Georgian towers by gothic steeples. However, the Clock Tower, which was begun on Bute's coming of age in 1869, is entirely Burges' own. It essentially formed a suite of bachelor's rooms, the Marquess not marrying until 1872, comprising a bedroom and, most magnificently, Summer and Winter smoking rooms. The rooms are sumptuously decorated with gildings, carvings and cartoons, many allegorical in style, depicting the seasons, myths and fables. Work continued along Holland's Georgian range and, following Burges' death in 1881, further areas of the castle were developed along the lines he had set, culminating in the Animal Wall, which was not completed until the 1920s by the third Marquess' son, the fourth Marquess. Within the castle, very recent research has shown that the Grand Staircase, which Burges designed but which it was believed had never been constructed, had, in fact, been built, only to be demolished in the early twentieth century [7]. A watercolour of 1874 by Axel Haig shows the full extent of the structure[8].

In 1872, whilst work at Cardiff Castle was at its height, Burges presented a scheme for the complete reconstruction of Castell Coch, a ruined thirteenth century fort to the north of Cardiff on the Bute estate. The restoration, in truth a complete rebuilding, began in the year Burges presented his plans and was again unfinished on Burges' death nine years later. The result is perhaps Burges' most perfect composition demonstrating his mastery of architectural form, by the inspired use of cube, cylinder and cone to create an impressive vision of a thirteenth-century knight's castle.[9]

Later Works

Although Bute's commissions formed the major corpus of Burges' work from the late 1860s until his death, he continued to accept other appointments, completing his work at Knightshayes Court, although unfortunately not the building itself, for Sir John Heathcoat-Amory ; designing and building two fabulous churches, the Church of Christ the Consoler at Skelton-on-Ure and St Mary's, Studley Royal for George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon; and creating Park House, the fore-runner of his own, for Lord Bute's engineer, James McConnochie.

Burges' last major work was for himself, his "Palace of the Arts", The Tower House, Melbury Road, Kensington. All the earlier forms from Cardiff Castle, the McConnochie House, Knighshayes and Castell Coch are re-used in miniature to create a perfect synthesis of Burges' style[10]. .

Death

Burges died, aged 53, at The Tower House on 20 April, 1881. He was buried in the tomb he designed for his mother at West Norwood, a suitably gothic cemetery by the architect William Tite. Mordaunt Crook chooses Lady Bute's words as his epitaph; "ugly Burges who designed such lovely things - what a duck.".[11] Perhaps more arguably, Mordaunt Crook suggests that "the intensity of [Burges'] vision was(...) diluted by a luxurious lifestyle."[12] It can surely be contended that the Arabic Room and the Summer Smoking Room in Cardiff Castle, the Drawing Room and Lady Bute's bedroom at Castell Coch, the stained glass at St. Fin Barre's Cathedral, the rooms at The Tower House, the Cat Cup and the drawings for the Sabrina Fountain in Gloucester represent a more intense and more dazzling vision of the gothic revival than any other works of architecture, craftsmanship or draughtsmanship produced in 19th century Britain. His own words, in his letter of January 1877 to the Bishop of Cork, well sum up his career "(In the future) the whole affair will be on its trial and, the elements of time and cost being forgotten, the result only will be looked at. The great questions will then be, first, is this work beautiful and, secondly, have those to whom it was entrusted, done it with all their heart and all their ability."[6]

Burges' Legacy

Burges' death came as the Gothic revival was already waning as an architectural force. Within 20 years his style was considered hopelessly out-dated and owners of his work, such as the Heathcoat-Amory's, sought to eradicate all traces of his endeavours from their homes. "He founded no school".. (had few adherents outside the circle of his practice).. and trained no further generation of designers.".[13]. Even had the stylistic scene remained unchanged, his architecture was too rich, too unique and too expensive to allow for many practioners, or patrons, to attempt to follow it.

Given Burges' long-standing interest in Japanese art, it should be noted that he did have some adherents in Japan. Josiah Conder studied under him, and, through Conder's influence, the notable Japanese architect Tatsuno Kingo was articled to Burges in the year before the latter's death.[14][15]

Study of Burges

Burges' limited output, and the general unpopularity of his work for much of the century following his death, meant that he was little studied. However, the past thirty years have seen a significant revival of interest in Burges, and the prices paid for examples of his painted furniture are now astronomical[16]. By far the best, indeed the only, full study is J. Mordaunt Crook's (JMC) William Burges and the High Victorian Dream (1981, John Murray, and now out of print). Other valuable sources on Burges, from a limited range, are two articles on Cardiff Castle and Castle Coch in Mark Girouard's The Victorian Country House (1979, Yale University Press, now out of print); the catalogue to the exhibition held in Cardiff in 1981 to commemorate the centenary of his death, entitled The Strange Genius of William Burges (1981, edited by J Mordaunt Crook, published by The National Museum of Wales, also out of print); and John Newman's The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan (1995, Pevsner Architectural Guides series). The current curator of Cardiff Castle, Matthew Williams, has also written a number of Burgesian/Bute articles for the architectural press. The most recent addition to the study of Burges is The Cathedral of Saint Fin Barre at Cork, by David Lawrence and Ann Wilson (2006, Four Courts Press).

List of Works

This list of his buildings is fairly, but not fully, comprehensive but the list of furniture is selective. Good examples of the latter can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), the Cecil Higgins Gallery [1], Bedford and Manchester Art Gallery. No listing is given here of his extensive creations of jewellery and glass. In relation to his stained glass work, the recently published history of St. Fin Barre's has detailed commentaries on his glass there, which the co-author, David Lawrence describes thus, "The impact created by all these glowing, coloured religious images is overwhelming and intoxicating. To enter St. Fin Barre's Cathedral is an experience unparalled in Ireland and rarely matched anywhere." [17]

JMC has a very full and valuable list of, almost all of, Burges' work with an indication as to whether the work is still in situ, was never executed, has now been removed/demolished or where the present location is unknown.

Buildings

Speech Room, Harrow

Possible Attribution

Unexecuted Designs

Major pieces of furniture

Notes

  1. ^ William Burges and the High Victorian Dream: introduction
  2. ^ William Burges and the High Victorian Dream: page 39
  3. ^ William Burges and the High Victorian Dream: page 44
  4. ^ The Cathedral of Saint Fin Barre at Cork: page 37, quote from The Southern Reporter, 12 May, 1862
  5. ^ The Buildings of England: Buckinghamshire
  6. ^ a b William Burges' letter to the Bishop of Cork of 8 January 1877, reproduced as the preface to The Cathedral of Saint Fin Barre at Cork
  7. ^ The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan: page 202
  8. ^ Axel Haig and the Victorian Vision of the Middle Ages: page 9 of the illustrations
  9. ^ The Victorian Country House: page 336
  10. ^ London 3: North West, The Buildings of England, page 511, Bridget Cherry and Nikolas Pevsner, 2002
  11. ^ The Strange Genius of William Burges: page 12
  12. ^ The Strange Genius of William Burges: page 12
  13. ^ Gothic Revival: page 215
  14. ^ William Burges and the High Victorian Dream pages 80-82
  15. ^ Meiji Revisited: The Sites of Victorian Japan, p. 21, p. 194
  16. ^ Apollo, November 2005
  17. ^ The Cathedral of Saint Fin Barre at Cork: page 110
   
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