Charles
Barry
was born in London in 1795. He was apprenticed
to a firm of surveyors before training as a architect in Italy (1817-20).
Influenced by the architects of the Italian Renaissance, when Barry
returned to England he designed the Travellers Club (1832) that had
been founded by Lord Castlereagh in
1814.
In 1834 most of the Old Palace of Westminster was destroyed by fire.
Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin were
commissioned to design and build a new House
of Commons and a House of Lords.
Other buildings designed by Barry include the Athenaeum in Manchester
(1836), Trafalgar Square Precinct (1840) and the Cabinet Office (1845).
He also designed the new Reform Club, an exclusive gentleman's club
formed by leading Whigs to celebrate the
passing of the 1832 Reform Act. Sir Charles
Barry died in 1860.
Available
from Amazon Books (order below)
