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That ‘regular mongrel affair’: G. G. Scott’s design for the government offices

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 July 2016

David B. Brownlee
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Extract

The notorious tale which surrounds the competition of 1856–57 for the British government offices is part of the mythology of the Gothic Revival. In the saga of the so-called ‘Battle of the Styles’, it has generally been regarded as the fiercest skirmish, fought between the perfervid Gothic architect, George Gilbert Scott, and Lord Palmerston, the Liberal prime minister and a staunch classicist. However, the actual politics of the design was not this fabled, clearcut Liberal-versus-Conservative schism, nor was the heart of the architectural question — Scott’s Gothicism — unambiguous. The real complexities of the story were defined by two great, imbricated cultural forces which matured in the 1850s: the Reform movement in political life and the High Victorian movement in architecture. These established the environment in which unexpected political alliances could be made — most notably that between Palmerston’s chancellor of the exchequer, W. E. Gladstone, and Scott — and in which an exceptionally broad-based architectural theory could be forged, and then tested to its breaking point.

Type
Research Article
Information
Architectural History , Volume 28 , 1985 , pp. 159 - 196
Copyright
Copyright © Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain 1985

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References

Notes

1 ‘Report from the Select Committee on the Downing-street Public Offices Extension Bill …’, BPP, vn (1854–55).

2 Hansard, 3s, cxxxix, cols 1574–78 [31 July 1855].

3 Wood, J. (War Office secretary) to Alfred Austin (Works secretary), 8 December 1855, in ‘Report from the Select Committee on Foreign Office Reconstruction …’, BPP, xi (1857–58), 176 Google Scholar; Austin to Pennethorne, 12 December 1855, in ibid.; Pennethorne testimony, in ibid., p. 114; Benjamin Hawes (War Office secretary) to Hall, 18 March 1856, in ibid., p. 179.

4 This chronology comes from Pennethorne to Treasury, 26 June 1856, in ibid., pp. 184–86; and Hall to Treasury, 21 July 1856, in ibid., pp. 188–95.

5 [ Beresford-Hope, A.J.], ‘The Rebuilding of the Public Offices’, Saturday Review, 17 November 1855, p. 48 Google Scholar.

6 Hall to Treasury, 21 July 1856, in ‘Report ofthe Select Committee on Foreign Office Reconstruction…’, BPP, xi (1857–58), 195.

7 Ibid., p. 191.

8 Austin to Pennethorne, 25 February 1856, in ibid., p. 177.

9 Austin to Sir Charles Barry, Philip Hardwick, Sydney Smirke, George Pownall, John Shaw, Anthony Salvin, Pennethorne, William Tite, C. R. Cockerell, George Mair, and P. C. Hardwick, 13 March 1856, in ibid. Pennethorne to Hall, 18 March 1856, in ibid., p. 178.

10 Hall to Palmerston, 20 March 1856, BP GC/HA/16.

11 Hall to Treasury, 28 March 1856, in ‘Report of the Select Committee on Foreign Office Reconstruction …’, BPP, xi (1857–58), 180–81; Hansard, 3s, cxn, cols 466–77 [4 April 1856].

12 Pennethorne to Hall, 26 May 1856, PRO Works 12/84/1, f. 125; Pennethorne to Treasury, 26 June 1856, in ‘Report of the Select Committee on Foreign Office Reconstruction …’, BPP, xi (1857–58), 184–87.

13 ‘Report of the Select Committee on Public Offices …’, BPP, xi (1856).

14 Lewis to Palmerston, 20 August 1856, BP GC/LE/74/1-2.

15 Palmerston to Lewis, 25 August 1856, BL Add. MS 48580, pp. 127–29.

16 Lewis to Palmerston, 26 August 1856, BP GC/LE/75/1-2.

17 Palmerston to Hall, 25 August 1856, BL Add. MS 48580, pp. 129v-130r.

18 Lewis to Palmerston, 18 September 1856, BP GC/LE/78/1-2.

19 Palmerston to Lewis, 25 September 1856, BP GC/LE/189/1-2.

20 Palmerston to Lewis, 7 October 1856, BP GC/LE/191/1-2.

21 Palmerston to Hall, 13 October 1856, BP GC/HA/55.

22 Hall to Palmerston, 11 November 1856, PRO Works 1/52, p. 323; James Wilson (Treasury secretary) to Hall, 12 December 1856, PRO Works 2/16, p. 18.

23 Scott, , ‘The New Foreign Office’ [letter, 12 February 1859], The Times, 14 February 1859, p. 6 Google Scholar.

24 Scott, , Explanatory Remarks upon the Designs ofthe New Government Offices and the Approaches, &c. (London: George Barclay, 1857), p. 23 Google Scholar.

25 Scott, , A Plea for the Faithful Restoration of Our Ancient Churches (London and Oxford: Parker, J. H., 1850), p. 76 Google Scholar; Scott, , Remarks on Secular and Domestic Architecture, Present and Future, 2nd edn (London: Murray, John, 1858), p. vii Google Scholar.

26 I discuss the architectural theory of the 1840s in a forthcoming article.

27 Scott, , Remarks on Secular and Domestic Architecture, Present and Future, 2nd edn, p. 192 Google Scholar.

28 ‘Mr. Scott’s Second Lecture on Architecture at the Royal Academy’, Builder, 20 February 1858, p. 130 Google Scholar.

29 Scott, , Explanatory Remarks upon the Designs for the New Government Offices and the Approaches, &c., p. 10 Google Scholar.

30 Scott, , Recollections, p. 179. ‘The Competition for the Government Offices in Westminster Hall’, Ecclesiologist, June 1857, p. 174 Google Scholar. [ Beresford-Hope, ], ‘The Competition for the Public Offices’, Saturday Review, 23 May 1857, pp. 474–75 Google Scholar. As chairman of the Ecclesiological Society as well as the proprietor and critic of the Saturday Review, Beresford-Hope was active in both of these articles.

31 Hansard, 3s, CXLIV, cols 701–02 [16 February 1857]. Dissatisfaction with the jury is expressed in ‘The Coming Competition’, Saturday Review, 21 February 1857, p. 174; ‘The Judges of the Public Offices’ Competition’, Saturday Review, 16 May 1857, p. 451; ‘The New Government Offices’, Athenaeum, 16 May 1857, pp. 628–29.

32 ‘Proceedings of Committee to Judge Plans of Public Offices 1857’, PRO Works 12/86/1, f. 42.

33 The Times, 12 August 1857, p. 9 [leading article]; Hansard, 3s, CXLVI, cols 1421–22 [13 July 1857]; 3s, CXLVII, cols 363–65 [24 July 1857]; 3s, CXLVII, cols 1295–1312 [10 August 1857]; 3s. CXLVII, cols 1458–59 [11 August 1857]. Money was voted for site acquisition, however.

34 Wilson to Hall, 28 October 1857, PRO Works 12/84/1, ff. 201–02.

35 Hall to Treasury, 5 November 1857, PRO Works 12/84/1, ff. 203–07; Wilson to Hall, 28 November 1857, Works 12/84/1, ff. 208–12; Hall to Treasury, 28 December 1857, PRO Works 2/18, pp. 96–99; Wilson to Hall, 1 February 1858, PRO Works 2/18, pp. 203–04.

36 Alfred Austin (Works secretary) to Pennethorne, 8 February 1858, PRO Works 1/57, p. 300; Austin to Pennethorne, 10 February 1858, PRO Works 1/57, pp. 316–17; ‘Copy of Any Correspondence … between the First Commissioner of Works and the Treasury …’, BPP, XLVIII (1857–58).

37 Beresford-Hope, , Public Offices and Metropolitan Improvements (London: James Ridgway, 1857)Google Scholar; Beresford-Hope, , The Expense of the Government and of Mr. Beresford Hope’s Plan of Public Offices Compared, with a Plan (London: James Ridway, 1857)Google Scholar; [ Beresford-Hope, ], ‘The Prizes for the Public Offices’, Saturday Review, 1 August 1857, pp. 105–06 Google Scholar; Hansard, 3s, CXLVI, cols 794–800 [2 July 1857]; 3s, CXLVII, cols 1295–1300 [10 August 1857].

38 ‘Report from the Select Committee on Foreign Office Reconstruction …’, BPP, xi (1857–58).

39 Ibid., p. 80.

40 Ibid., p. 89.

41 Ibid., p. 64.

42 Ibid., p. v.

43 Ibid., p. xiii. Seen. 30.

44 Disraeli to Sarah Brydges Willyams, 28 September 1863, quoted in Blake, Robert, Disraeli (New York, 1967), p. 416 Google Scholar. He wrote a similar letter to Lord Beauchamp on the same day, quoted in Bradford, Sarah, Disraeli (New York, 1982), p. 248 Google Scholar. The house was remodelled in 1862–63 by E. B. Lamb.

45 ‘Report of the Twenty-third Meeting of the Cambridge Camden Society’, Ecclesiologist, November 1841, p. 23.Google Scholar

46 Manners to Disraeli, 28 September 1858, Hughenden Papers, B/XX/M/106.

47 Manners to Prince Albert, 10 November 1858, Belvoir Castle Papers.

48 Manners to Treasury, 12 November 1858, PRO Works 2/20, pp. 85–86; Trevely an to Manners, 24 November 1858, PRO Works 2/20, p. 103.

49 Austin to Scott, 29 November 1858, in ‘Copies of the Official Letters by Which Mr. Scott Was Appointed …’, BPP, 2s, xv (1859), n. pag.

50 Manners memorandum, n.d., Belvoir Castle Papers.

51 Manners to Stanley, 10 December 1858, Belvoir Castle Papers. Stanley apparently wanted the commission to go to Charles Barry, Jr, and Manners had to agree to do all he could to secure the rebuilding of Burlington House for him, leaving a confidential memo to that effect for his successors.

52 Wyatt memo, [c. 15 December 1858], IOL L/SUR/2/3, p. 139.

53 Scott to Wyatt, 17 December 1858, IOL L/SUR/5/8; I. Cosmo Melvill (India Office secretary) to Scott. 1 January 1859, in ‘Copies of the Official Letters by Which Mr. Scott Was Appointed …’, BPP, 2s, xv (1859), n. Pag.

54 Beresford-Hope to Manners, 7 January 1859, Belvoir Castle Papers.

55 Pearson to Scott, 29 November 1858, BAL ScGGS/4/2/13; Burges to Scott, 29 November 1858, BAL ScGGS/4/2/14.

56 Stanley to India Council, 15 December 1858, IOL L/SUR/6/1, ff. 5–8.

57 Scott to Manners, 3 March 1859, PRO Works 2/21, pp. 25–26; Scott and Wyatt to Stanley, 7 April 1859, IOL L/SUR/2/3, pp. 237–40.

58 Street to Scott, 29 January 1858, BAL ScGGS/4/2/11; Scott, ‘On the Present Position and Future Prospects of the Revival of Gothic Architecture’ [read23 September 1857], Associated Architectural Societies Reports and Papers, iv (1857–58), 75-

59 Arthur R. Onslow (India Office secretary) minute of council meeting, 14 April 1859, IOL L/SUR/6/1; PRO Works 12/90/9, ff. 4–16.

60 Hansard, 3s, CLII, cols 270–72 [n February 1859], cols 523–24 [18 February 1859].

61 Scott, , ‘The New Foreign-office’ [letter, 12 February 1859], The Times, 14 February 1859, p. 6 Google ScholarPubMed.

62 BP, D/17-21.

63 Palmerston to Lewis, 6 December 1856, BP, GC/LE/192/1-2.

64 BP, D/19.

65 ‘Punch’s Essence of Parliament’, Punch, 19 February 1859, p. 72; ‘Fine Arts: Fine-art Gossip’, Athenaeum, 13 August 1859, p. 213.

66 Gladstone Diaries, ed. Foot, M. R. D. and Matthew, H. C. G., 8 vols to date (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1968–82), iv, 50 [14 July 1848]; v, 262 [11 November 1857]Google Scholar. Gladstone’s continuing interest in architecture is discussed in my Law Courts: The Architecture of George Edmund Street (New York: Architectural History Foundation, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and London: MIT Press, 1984).

67 Gladstone Diaries, ed. Foot and Matthew, V, 287 [28 March 1858], 314 [23 July 1858]; Scott to Gladstone, 30 March 1858, BL Add. MS 44389, ff. 133–34; Scott to Gladstone, 20 July 1858, BL Add. MS 44390, ff. 63–64.

68 Scott to Gladstone, 5 July 1859, BL Add. MS 44392, f. 28.

69 Scott to Gladstone, 19 July 1859, BL Add. MS 44392, ff. 66–67.

70 Scott to Gladstone, 2 August 1859, BL Add. MS 44392, ff. 103–04.

71 Hansard, 3s, CLV, col. 920 [4 August 1859].

72 Scott to Palmerston, 23 July 1859, BP, GC/SC/18.

73 Scott to E. A. Freeman, 26 July 1859, RL, Freeman papers.

74 Palmerston to Scott, 26 July 1859, BL Add. MS 48581, pp. 13V-14V.

75 Scott to Palmerston, 28 July 1859, BP, GC/SC/19.

76 ‘Lord Palmerston on Architecture: The New Foreign Office’, Builder, 6 August 1859, p. 517.

77 Palmerston to Fitzroy, 27 July 1859, BP, GC/FI/8A.

78 Palmerston to Gladstone, 2 August 1859, BL Add. MS 44271, ff. 112–13.

79 Hansard, 3s, CLV, col. 935.

80 Donaldson to Palmerston, 4 August 1859, BP, GC/DO/4.

81 Stamp, Gavin, ‘Sir Gilbert Scott’s Recollections’, Architectural History, xix (1976), 58. ‘The New Foreign Office’, The Times, 19 August 1859, p. 5 Google Scholar.

82 Palmerston diary, BP, D/19.

83 Scott to Palmerston, 22 August 1859, BP, GC/SC/20.

84 Scott to Gladstone, 23 August 1859, BL Add. MS 443,92, ff. 139–48.

85 Gladstone to Scott, 30 August 1859, BL Add. MS 44530, pp. 67v-68r.

86 Scott, Recollections, p. 191.

87 Scott to Freeman, 13 September 1859, RL, Freeman papers.

88 Scott to Freeman, 15 August 1859, RL, Freeman papers. Freeman replied on 17 August, suggesting Scott consider Spalatro as a model: BAL ScGGS/4/2/15.

89 [reeman], E. A. F., ‘Gothic or Classic? — A Plain Statement of the Question’ [letter], The Times, 19 October 1859, P. 9 Google Scholar: [ Freeman, ], ‘The Foreign Office: Classic or Gothic’, National Review, January 1860, pp. 24–53 Google Scholar. Scott got Freeman’s letter published in The Times by sending it to a friendly editor and thus circumventing Delane, an ally of Palmerston. He made extensive comments on a draft of the National Review article on 26–28 March 1859: RL, Freeman papers.

90 Scott to Freeman, 28 November 1859, RL, Freeman papers; Scott to Freeman, 2 July 1860, RL, Freeman papers.

91 Scott, Recollections, p. 192.

92 Scott, Explanatory Remarks on the Designs for the New foreign Office Now Laid before the House of Commons (London: Strangeways and Walden, [1860]), p. 15.

93 Scott sketchbook, BALD [159] 24, p. 188; Blau, Eve, Ruskinian Gothic: The Architecture of Deane and Woodward, 1856–1861 (Princeton; Princeton University Press, 1982), pp. 31–32 Google Scholar.

94 Scott, Recollections, pp. 193–94.

95 Scott to Freeman, 18 May 1860, RL, Freeman papers. Cowper’s letter has not been found.

96 Stamp, ‘Sir Gilbert Scott’s Recollections’, Architectural History, xix (1976), 58.

97 Scott to Freeman, 2 July 1860, RL, Freeman papers.

98 Gladstone Diaries, ed. Foot and Matthew, v, 456 [12 January 1860], 458 [20 January 1860], 485–86 [7 May 1860]; Shall Gothic Architecture Be Denied Fair Play? Thoughts Suggested by Reading a Pamphlet Entitled ‘Remarks on a National Style, in Reference to the Proposed Foreign Office’ (London: Bell and Daldy, 1860). The pamphlet war which accompanied the private debate between Scott and the Government cannot be detailed here.

99 Russell to Gladstone, 26 April 1860, PRO 30/22/31, ff. 30–31.

100 Russell to Gladstone, 6 June 1869, BL Add. MS 44291, ff. 316–17.

101 Gladstone to Scott, 21 June 1860, BL Add. MS 44531, pp. 17v-18r.

102 Gladstone to Cowper, 21 June 1860, BL Add. MS 44531, p. 17V. Gladstone to Cowper, 22 June 1860, BL Add. MS 44531, p. 19r.

103 ‘Fine Arts: Fine-art Gossip’, Athenaeum, 28 July 1860, p. 131; ‘The New Foreign Office and Lord Palmerston’, Saturday Review, 28 July 1860, p. 111.

104 Hansard, 3s, CLXIV, col. 539 [8 July 1861].

105 Scott to Freeman, 20 August 1860, RL, Freeman papers.

106 Stamp, , ‘Sir Gilbert Scott’s Recollections’, Architectural History, xix (1976), 58 Google Scholar.

107 Scott, Recollections, p. 195.

108 Scott to Freeman, 1 August 1860, RL, Freeman papers.

109 Scott, Explanatory Remarks on the Designs for the New Foreign Office Now Laid before the House of Commons (London: Strangeways and Walden, [1860]), pp. 16–17.

110 Scott to Freeman, 20 August 1860, RL, Freeman papers.

111 Scott, Recollections, pp. 196–97.

112 Ibid., p. 197.

113 Scott to Wyatt, 23 August 1860, IOL L/SUR/5/8.

114 Wyatt minute, 30 August 1860, IOL L/SUR/2/4, pp. 26–29.

115 Scott, Recollections, p. 199.

116 Wyatt minute, 13 February 1860, IOL L/SUR/6/1, ff. 347–54.

117 Scott, Recollections, p. 200.

118 Cockerell to Scott, 15 April 1861, BAL ScGGS/4/2/17.

119 Hansard, 3s, CLXIV, col. 510 [8 July 1861].

120 Ibid., p. 546.

121 F. Peel (Treasury secretary) to Cowper, 22 March 1862, PRO Works 2/25, p. 411.

122 Wyatt minute, 24 March 1862, IOL L/SUR/6/1, ff. 485–88; Wyatt to Kelk, 17 May 1862, IOL L/SUR/2/4, P-437.

123 The Times, 9 July 1861, p. 9 [leading article].