GOTHIC REVIVALISM

SIR GEORGE GILBERT SCOTT

13 JULY 1811 – 27 MARCH 1878

Sir George Gilbert Scott was the founder of immensely

successful architectural dynasty, and he was an
outstanding Victorian Gothic architect that no corner of
Britain was left untouched by Scott and his style touched
either directly or indirectly every aspect of British life. He
journeyed to France, studied Gothic cathedrals and
parochial churches. Through these studies he formed his
own vision of architecture, which was vastly influenced by
French High Gothic (1280-1340).
Scott believed passionately in the Gothic Revival; he
thought of the Gothic style as the best, indeed, the only,
suitable style for both ecclesiastical and secular buildings.
Along with new designs came a huge quantity of work restoring older churches. Furthermore,
Scott swept away original work and replacing it with his own meticulously crafted 'improved'
Gothic. He was then hired to oversee restoration work on many of England's cathedrals and
became Surveyor of the fabric for Westminster Abbey.
SAMPLES OF HIS WORKS:
✓ St. Giles Church, London
✓ Albert Memorial, London
✓ St Pancras rail station and hotel, London
✓ Cathedrals of Hereford, Ely, Winchester, Salisbury, Lichfield, Peterborough
✓ Exeter College Chapel, Oxford
✓ St John's College Chapel, Cambridge
✓ Edinburgh, St Mary's Cathedral
✓ Kelham Hall, Nottinghamshire
CONTRIBUTIONS TO THE MOVEMENT:
✓ He designed 800 buildings in England.
✓ He directed the restoration of several hundred more buildings.
✓ His 607 buildings are now 'listed' for their historic importance.
✓ He helped in the restoration of 18 medieval cathedrals in England, there are only 26
in total.
Without Scott's prodigious work, and other Victorian Gothic restorers, many of our historic
medieval buildings would simply not have survived. Yes, they may sweep away real Gothic
architecture and replace it with their own styles. But here’s the thing about Scott's Victorian
Gothic is how his style reflected the times; it was important to Victorians to not just simply
copy the past, but to show the richness and vivacity of a 'new Gothic' Britain; a new age.
Scott's architecture compared to the original medieval Gothic, he would be the second-best,
but if you view his work as a reflection of the Victorian era, which is full of vigor and High
Church idealism, it becomes more interesting in its own ways. Thus, Scott helped change the
face of Britain in the appearance of the buildings, its style and decorations- a style that still
lingers. He deserves to be remembered as one of Britain's most influential architects.

EUGÈNE-EMMANUEL VIOLLET-LE-DUC
27 JANUARY 1814 – 17 SEPTEMBER 1879

Eugène-Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc was a French Gothic Revival

architect, who restored French medieval buildings, and wrote
theories of rational architectural design related the revivalism
of the Romantic period to 20th-century Functionalism. In
1836 he journeyed to Italy, where he spent 16 months
studying architecture. Back in France he was already drawn
irrevocably to Gothic art.
Today, he is best-known as the champion of the Gothic style
and restoration architect. He was so independent that he
refused the normal French path to architectural legitimacy.
With his talent in drafting, he took advantage of his family
and personal connections to increase his knowledge, have
trainings, and also commissions that paved his way to become the preeminent 19th-century
French restorer of monuments. He was not just one of the first historic preservationists, he was
also a talented draftsman, archaeologist, architect, engineer, public administrator, teacher,
theatrical set designer, international exposition organizer, city councilor, journalist, children’s
book writer, military strategist, and ecologist.
SOME OF HIS WORKS:
✓ He was trained by J.B. Lassus as a medieval archeologist on the restoration of Saint
Germain-l’Auxerrois (1838).
✓ He was in charge of the restoration of the abbey church of La Madeleine at Vézelay
(1840).
✓ He was placed in charge of the restoration of the abbey church of La Madeleine at
Vézelay (1840).
✓ In the early 1840s through the 1860s he worked with Lassus on restoring the Sainte-
Chapelle in Paris, and in 1844 he and Lassus were chosen to restore Notre-Dame de
Paris and to build a new sacristy in the Gothic style. This commission was observed as an
official sanction for the Gothic Revival movement in France.
✓ One of the early restorations was the work done on the abbey church of Saint-Denis in
1846.
✓ After 1848, he was linked with the Service des Édifices Diocésains, administering the
restoration of various medieval buildings, namely, the most important is the Amiens
Cathedral (1849), the synodal hall at Sens (1849), the fortifications of Carcassonne
(1852), and the church of Saint-Sernin at Toulouse (1862).

Viollet-le-Duc can be said to have dominated 19th-century theories of architectural

restoration; his initial aim was to restore in the style of the original, but his later
restorations show that he often added entirely new elements of his own design. However,
his designs for ecclesiastical buildings were in a weak Gothic style like the churches of Saint-
Gimer and Nouvelle Aude at Carcassonne, and Saint-Denis-de-l’Estrée at Saint-Denis.

CONTRIBUTION IN THE MOVEMENT:

✓ He wrote two great encyclopaedic works encompassing meticulous structural data and
extensive design analysis: Dictionnaire raisonné de l’architecture française du XIe au
XVIe siècle (1854–68; “Analytical Dictionary of French Architecture from the XIth to the
XVIth Century”) and the Dictionnaire raisonné du mobilier français de l’époque
carlovingienne à la Rénaissance (1858–75; “Analytical Dictionary of French Furniture
from the Carlovingians to the Renaissance”). It has 16 volumes that gave the important
visual and intellectual inspirations needed to sustain the Gothic Revival movement.