William Burges - Early Works

Early Works

In 1856 Burges established his own architectural practice in London at 15 Buckingham Street, The Strand. Some of his early pieces 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 produced nothing of major note, although he won prestigious commissions for Lille Cathedral, the Crimea Memorial Church and the Bombay School of Art. None were built to Burges's designs. His failed entry for the Law Courts in the Strand, if successful, would have given London its own Carcassonne, the plans being described by the architectural writers Dixon and Muthesius as "a re-creation of a thirteenth century dream world a skyline of great inventiveness." In 1859, he submitted a French-inspired design for St John's Cathedral in Brisbane, Australia, which was rejected. He also provided designs for Colombo Cathedral in Ceylon and St Francis Xavier's Cathedral, Adelaide, without success. In 1855, however, he obtained a commission for the reconstruction of the Chapter House of Salisbury Cathedral. Henry Clutton was the lead architect but Burges, as assistant, contributed to the restoration of the sculpture and to the general decorative scheme. Much was lost in restorations of the 1960s. More lasting was Burges's work of 1858 onwards in the substantial remodelling of Gayhurst House, in Buckinghamshire, for the second Lord Carrington. Rooms there contain some of his large signature fireplaces, with carving by Burges's long-time collaborator Thomas Nicholls, in particular those in the Drawing Room which include motifs from Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained. He also designed a circular lavatory for the male servants, which Jeremy Cooper describes as being "surmounted by a growling Cerberus, each of his three heads inset with bloodshot glass eyes."

In 1859 Burges began work with Ambrose Poynter on the Maison Dieu, Dover, which was completed in 1861. Emulation of the original medieval style can be seen in his renovation of the grotesque animals and in the coats of arms incorporated into his new designs. Burges later designed the Council Chamber, added in 1867, and in 1881 began work on Connaught Hall in Dover, a town meeting and concert hall. The new building contained meeting rooms and mayoral and official offices. Although Burges designed the project, most of it was completed after his death by his partners, Pullan and Chapple. In 1859–60, Burges took over the restoration of Waltham Abbey from Poynter, working with Poynter's son Edward Poynter and with furniture makers Harland and Fisher. He commissioned Edward Burne-Jones of James Powell & Sons to make three stained-glass windows for the east end, representing the Tree of Jesse.

In 1861–2, Burges was commissioned by Charles Edward Lefroy, secretary to the Speaker of the House of Commons (United Kingdom), to build All Saints Church, Fleet as a memorial to Lefroy's wife. She was the daughter of James Walker, who established the marine engineering company of Walker and Burges with Burges's father Alfred, and this family connection brought Burges the commission. Pevsner says of Fleet that "it has no shape, nor character nor notable buildings, except one," that one being All Saints. The church is of red brick and Pevsner considered it "astonishingly restrained." The interior too is simply decorated but the massive sculpture, particularly of the tomb of the Lefroys and of the gabled arch below which the tomb originally stood, is quintessentially Burges, Crook describing it as "not so much muscular (gothic) as muscle-bound."