William Butterfield

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St Mary Brookfield

William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900), born in London, architect of the Gothic revival, and associated with the Oxford Movement (aka the Tractarian Movement).

William Butterfield was born in London in 1814. His parents were strict non-conformists and ran a chemist shop in the Strand. He was one of nine children and was educated at a local school. At the age of 16, he was apprenticed to a builder in Pimlico, Thomas Arber, who later became bankrupt. He studied architecture under E. L. Blackburne (1833–1836). From 1838 to 1839, he was an assistant to Harvey Eginton, an architect in Worcester, where he became articled. He established his own architectural practice at Lincoln's Inn Fields in 1840.

From 1842, Butterfield he was involved with the Cambridge Camden Society, later The Ecclesiological Society. He contributed designs to the Society's journal, The Ecclesiologist. His involvement influenced his architectural style. He also drew religious inspiration from the Oxford Movement and as such, he was very "High Church", despite his non-conformist upbringing. He was a Gothic revival architect, and as such he reinterpreted the original Gothic style in Victorian terms. Many of his buildings were for religious use, although he also designed for colleges and schools.

In 1884, Butterfield was the recipient of the RIBA Gold Medal. In 1900, he died in London.

Blue plaque in Bedford Square, London

There is a blue plaque on his house in Bedford Square, London.

[edit] Buildings

Butterfield's buildings include:

All Saints, Margaret Street, London (1859)
Balliol College, Oxford Chapel (1856–7)
The Cathedral of the Isles, Great Cumbrae, Scotland
St Saviour's, Coalpit Heath
Keble College, Oxford (1876)
Merton College, Oxford New Buildings (1864)
Rugby School Chapel and Quadrangle (1875)
St Alban's, Holborn
St Augustine's College, Canterbury (1845)
St James's, Christleton
St Mary Brookfield, Dartmouth Park, London (1869-75)
Winchester County Hospital
Horfield Parish Church
St James' Church, Baldersby St James Primary School and village buildings, Baldersby St James, North Yorkshire (1857)
All Saints Babbacombe, Torquay, Devon
Sarum College, Salisbury
Exeter School, Exeter, Devon
St Paul's Cathedral (except main tower and spire), Melbourne, Australia (1880-1891)
Highbury Congregational Church Bristol. This was Butterfields first work.
Holy Saviour Church, Hitchin