William Butterfield was the most daring, rigorous and brilliant architect of his age, whose 60-year practice spanned the entire Victorian era.
This book addresses the emergence of a modern society, with rapidly expanding new institutions and a changing moral code and explores how Butterfield responded to and advanced that transformation. It reflects the changing emphasis of Butterfield’s work: first, the revival, rebuilding and reform of the country parish; next the role of the church and the agents of social health in the burgeoning town and city; third, the revolution in secondary education and college life; and finally, sites of refuge, sanctuary, repose and remembrance. Drawing extensively on the literature of the time, each chapter discusses a societal shift and surveys Butterfield’s most important architectural contributions to this. Woven through the book are characterisations of the often colourful men and women who were Butterfield’s patrons and associates.
It not only provides in-depth analyses of seminal projects such as All Saint’s Margaret Street, Keble College, and Rugby School, along with lesser known, but equally influential works such as Exeter Grammar School, but it also shows how Butterfield through his wide range of work created whole new typologies of buildings – from hospitals and care homes, to seaside resorts, urban schools and working men’s colleges, to the Coleridge’s great country house in Devon and the village parsonages, cottages and schools in which the characteristics of the Arts and Craft movement first appeared.
Table of Contents:
Prologue. 1. Past and Present. 2. Parochialia. 3. The heath, the Altar and the Grave. 4. Our Overgrown Towns. 5. The Way We Live Now. 6. Character Building. 7. Fellowship, Discipline, Duty. 8. Refuge, Refreshment, Repose. Bibliography. Index.
About the Author :
Nicholas Olsberg was Director of the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montreal and founding Head of Special Collections at the Getty Research Institute. He holds an honours degree in Modern History from Oxford University and a doctorate in Nineteenth Century History from the University of South Carolina. He has written books on the work of Herzog DeMeuron, Carlo Scarpa, John Lautner, Cliff May and Arthur Erickson and been a columnist for the Architectural Review and Building Design.
Review :
Winner of The Architects' Company/World Festival of Architecture Book of the Year - 'An exceptional work of scholarship and presentation, offering a richly detailed and beautifully produced study of one of Victorian England’s most distinctive architects. Lavish in its use of archival illustrations and supported by James Morris’ striking new photography, the book reveals a deep passion for its subject and an impressive command of historic material. While substantial and densely detailed, it remains an accessible and engaging overview that will inspire greater interest in Butterfield’s remarkable architectural legacy.' - Judges: Chris Foges, Jo Bacon, Sarah Jackson
'a magnificent achievement’ – Timothy Brittain-Catlin, World of Interiors
'This is a superbly written book, without a single bad sentence. Not since Rosemary Hill’s 2008 biography of A. W. N. Pugin has there been a book about an architect of such high literary merit. It leaves us with Butterfield as aloof and elusive as ever, and yet with a revelatory understanding of how the unsentimental builder could make some of the most deeply personal buildings of his turbulent century.' – Michael J. Lewis, The New Criterion
'Olsberg illustrates his book with a wealth of original drawings and newly commissioned photographs, showing off the master's work in a glorious compendium of colourful visual delights.' – James Stevens Curl, The Critic
'A masterpiece. Brings the man totally alive solely through his work.' – Professor Nicholas Allen, Vienna
