The Sun.
London, England, 1867-08-28 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER PALACE.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE " PALL MALL GAZETTE."

SlR,—After allowing nearly two months to elapse
since my statement first appeared in the Building
News, Mr. E. M. Barry meets the question by drag-
ging to light an old letter of my father's, dated
September 3, 1845. This is his sole reply. We
had a right to expect that the denial, if any could
be made, would have come in his own words, as he
is the architect employed to carry on his father's
work, and must be fully cognizant of everything
connected with it. What he fails to disprove, allow
me, without further delay, to substantiate.
1. Mr. Barry is quite premature in supposing
that my father's letter in any way contradicts my
statement. He must surely be aware that the de-
signs for the Houses of Parliament were made at
a period long anterior to the date of the letter,
which refers to one particular arrangement made
with Sir C. Barry, " with the approval of the Go-
vernment," for certain works connected with the
internal fittings and decoration of the Houses.
It bears no reference to anything my father had
done ten years previously. It was in 1835 that
he made for Sir C. Barry the designs which ob-
tained the competition. He had previously been
engaged in preparing designs for the same com-
petition for Mr. Gillespie Graham, for which he
received 300 guineas ; and he did not accede to Sir
Charles's application until he had obtained Mr.
Graham's consent. In order that my father's touch
should not be detected in two separate sets of
drawings, many of the designs were redrawn in
pencil by Sir Charles, as Mr. Talbot Bury can
testify. For these designs, which included the
whole of the elevations and sections, together with
some of the views, my father received 400 guineas.
It is clear, therefore, that the arrangement spoken
of in the letter of September, 1845, had nothing
whatever to do with previous works. .The origin
of that letter will appear presently.
2. In confirmation of these statements I beg
to refer to the eighteenth chapter of Mr. Ferrey's
Biography, and to the following extracts from the
diaries of my father. In the diary for 1836,
amongst other entries, occur these :
August 2.—Mr. Barry all day. August 28.—Finished
for Mr. Barry.
In October he seems to have commenced work-
ing the detail drawings. During that month I find
the following entries :
Sent five drawings to Mr. Barry, King's Staircase
Robing-room, Lords (2).
These are referred to in Sir C. Barry's letter,
given in Mr. Ferrey's Life, p. 245.
Nov. 6.—A1l the week on Mr. Barry's drawings. Mr.
Barry came. Nov. 12.—Sent eleven drawings to Mr.
Barry, porch, hall, central lobby, stairs, witness room,
King's tower (2), entrance hall (2). Nov. 26.—Eleven
drawings to Mr. Barry, court-yard front, ditto water
front, upper part of ditto, turrets, upper part of section
of tower, Commons' entrance, Speakers' Court entrance.
And later on in the year :

Drawings done at Mr. Barry's. Two interiors 01

library ; compartment, river front (second time); compart-
ment, land front (second time) ; upper part of centre
(second time) ; two great oriels, upper part above ditto,
end towers, part above ditto, upper part of bell tower,
lantern of ditto, angle turrets, south gables of West-
minster Hall, lower part of great tower, middle story of

ditto, upper part of ditto, drawing on vellum of King's
tower, entrance hall from water, throne and end of House

of Lords, end of Speaker's chair, House of Commons,
Peers' entrance hall and dining-room.

These entries sufficiently prove that my father's
work embraced every portion of the new building.
3. Now then comes the real explanation of my
father's letter. After all these designs were made

and had passed into Sir C. Barry's possession, he
called up from Birmingham the late Mr. J. 1 homas,
who had been working on the Grammar School
from my father's designs. To Mr. Thomas was
exclusively entrusted the execution of my father's
designs, which were most ungenerously withdrawn
from his control, and he was temporarily ignored
and thrust on one side. This caused him so much
annoyance,
aihdlm,
unaboyleantcne, that when arltCnahyfeas found
taer,a
and
f
raeignielaw, emd supplyyhifsaathpeprlirceaftaiosnedforroiantf-rbelsahnktnwork for
of de-
him, except on condition of holding an indepen-
dent official position under Government, to secure
him from any future indecision and caprice. This
Sir Charles was compelled to concede, and it was
in consequence of my father's appointment that
reports which seemed derogatory to Sir Charles's
position arose and were circulated. Hence the
letter upon which Mr. E. M. Barry now relies, and
which bears upon its very face unmistakeable
evidence of being written at Sir C. Barry's soli-
citation for his own peculiar advantage.
4. In conjunction with these facts, it is worthy
of especial notice that Sir C. Barry destroyed all
my father's letters to him, and that seventy-six
letters of Sir Charles's to my father, which were
at his (Sir Charles's) request placed by me in his
hands for perusal, previous to being made use of
by Mr. Ferrey in compiling his biography, were
retained by Sir Charles and never returned to
me. Notwithstanding his repeated promises, all
my applications to him were useless, and on one
pretence or another evaded.
One letter, however, dated October 22, 1836,
remains in my possession. It is given in Mr.
Ferrey's Biography, p. 243, and happily is quite
sufficient of itself to prove the character of the
correspondence, if not the very important fact
which I have recently advanced, and now reiterate,
that my father was the actual architect of the
Mouses of Parliament, that his was the master
mind which conceived, and his the hand which por-
trayed, their manifold glories, but that " tulit alter
honoree." This statement would be incom-
giving my father's reason for not
plete without
competing in his own name. It was simply this,
that being a Catholic he was under the idea that
he had no chance of success. He all along aban-
doned himself to this impression, which, rightly or
wrongly, I have heard him say, was fostered by
Sir Charles Barry.
In conclusion, I may add that no one regretted
more than my father the period of architecture
which was selected as the only one likely to take
at the time, and be the means of introducing a
better order of things later on. Nothing pained
him so much as the sinking of the building to its
present river level, and its featureless, shadowless
' front. "Itis a grand failure," he said, " but it
was that or nothing." I need, however, scarcely
say that the centre gable or the north wing was not
my father's, nor the contemptible termination of
the Victoria Tower.—Yours faithfully,
E. WELBY PUGIN.
21, Savile-row, August 12.

Mr. Pugin's rejoinder to Mr. Barry, which ap-
pears in another portion of our columns, cannot be
allowed to pass without one or two remarks. The
extracts from his father's diaries show that he
worked upon all the details of the building, which
is not denied. But what we want to know is, the
extent of the work which he thus bestowed, which
is not indicated by the extracts before us. For
example : " Eleven drawings to Mr. Barry, court-
yard front, ditto water front, upper part of ditto,
turrets, Commons' entrance," &c., may mean that
the actual design of these portion's of the building
was the work of Mr.. Pugin, or it may mean that
he merely carried out in the details of mouldings,
foliage, and decoration, the general designs supplied
to him for the purpose by Mr. Barry. No doubt
it is most desirable that the question should be
settled, both for the sake of Pugin's fame and
of Barry's fame; and as the reputation of every
great artist is a matter of public interest, so far
are the public concerned in the settlement. But
Mr. Pugin's assertion, in which we have no doubt
he is perfectly sincere, raises a question of far
more importance, both to the architectural pro-
fession and to the general public. If it is really
the fact that the elder Pugin was employcd by
Barry to design the whole of the Houses of Parlia-
ment, saving the ground plan, that he was paid
400 guineas for so doing, and that Barry received
the credit of the work, and was employed At the