William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a British Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy.
Biography William Butterfield was born in London in 1814. His parents were strict non-conformists who ran a chemist's 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 Thomas Arber, a builder in Pimlico, 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 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.
Butterfield's church of All Saints, Margaret Street, London, was, in the view of Henry-Russell Hitchcock, the building that initiated the High Victorian Gothic era. It was designed in 1850, completed externally by 1853 and consecrated in 1859. Flanked by a clergy house and school, it was intended as a "model" church by its sponsors, the Ecclesiological Society. The church was built of red-brick, a material long out of use in London, patterned with bands of black brick, the first use of polychrome brick in the city, with bands of stone on the spire. The interior was even more richly decorated, with marble and tile marquetry.
In 1849, just before Butterfield designed the church, John Ruskin had published his Seven Lamps of Architecture, in which he had urged the study of Italian Gothic and the use of polychromy. Many contemporaries perceived All Saints' as Italian in character, though in fact it combines fourteenth century English details, with a German-style spire.
Also in 1850 he designed, without polychromy, St Matthias' in Stoke Newington, with a bold gable-roofed tower. At St Bartholomew's, Yealmpton in the same year, Butterfield used a considerable amount of marquetry work for the interior, and built striped piers, using two colours of marble.Hitchcock 1977, pages 247–8
At Oxford, Butterfield designed Keble College, in a style radically divergent from the university's existing traditions of Gothic architecture, its walls boldly striped with various colours of brick. Intended for clerical students, it was largely built in 1868–70, on a fairly domestic scale, with a more monumental chapel of 1873–6. In his buildings of 1868–72 at Rugby School, the polychromy is even more brash.Hitchock 1977, page 264
Butterfield received the RIBA Gold Medal in 1884. He died in London in 1900, and was buried in a simple Gothic tomb (designed by himself) in Tottenham Cemetery, Haringey, North London. The grave can be easily seen from the public path through the cemetery, close to the gate from Tottenham Churchyard. There is a blue plaque on his house in Bedford Square, London.
Works
Butterfield's buildings include: 1842 Highbury Congregational Chapel (Cotham Church), Bristol 1843 St John's Church, Jedburgh: lychgate 1845 St Saviour's Church and vicarage, Coalpit Heath, south Gloucestershire, 1845 (Butterfield's first Anglican work) St Augustine's College, Canterbury, Kent, 1845Homan 1984, page 106 St John the Baptist parish church, Hellidon, Northamptonshire: restoration, 1845–47Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 252 1846 St Nicholas' Church, Thanington Without, Kent: restoration, 1846 St Nicholas' Church, Ash, Kent: restoration, 1846 Abbey Church of Saints Peter & Paul, Dorchester on Thames, Oxfordshire: restoration, 1846–53Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 579–583 1847 St Andrew's parish church, Ogbourne St Andrew, Wiltshire: restoration, 1847–49Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 365 and vicarage, 1848Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 366 Parish Church of the Holy Trinity with St Edmund, Horfield, Bristol, nave and aisles c1847 1849 St Bartholomew's Church, Yealmpton, Devon, PL8 2HG, reconstruction 1849–1852 The Cathedral of the Isles, Great Cumbrae, Scotland, started 1849 but still incomplete St Edmund's Church, Thurlaston, Warwickshire. Built as a combined church and school. St Mary's Church, Ottery St Mary, Devon restoration 1849–1850 1850 Goldern Lion Hotel (1850) in the Norfolk sea-side town of Hunstanton. St Mary Magdalene church, West Lavington, West Sussex, 1850 St Ninian's Cathedral, Perth, Scotland, 1850 St James & St Anne parish church and vicarage, Alfington, Devon, 1850 Wantage Cemetery, Berkshire: chapel, 1850Pevsner, 1966, page 253 1851 St Mary's Church, Emmorton, Maryland: stained glass windows, 1851 St Martin's Church, Great Mongeham, Kent: restoration, 1851 1853 St Mary and St Melor parish church, Amesbury, Wiltshire: restoration, 1852–1853Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 90 All Saints, Wykeham, 1853–1855 Milton Ernest Hall, Bedfordshire, 1853–1858 St Mary's Church, Langley, Kent, 1853 1854 St Paul's Church, Hensall, North Yorkshire The Red House, Hensall, North Yorkshire Hutton Buscel Village Hall, North Yorkshire St Nicholas' Hospital, Salisbury, Wiltshire: restoration, 1854Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 458 Church of St John the Baptist, Pollington Cum Balne Church of the Holy Trinity, Snaith 1855 St Mary's parish church, Marlston, Berkshire, 1855Pevsner, 1966, page 177 All Saints' Church, Braishfield, Hampshire, 1855 1856 St John the Evangelist's parish church, Milton, Oxfordshire, 1856Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page705 Balliol College, Oxford: chapel, 1856–57Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 101 1857 St Michael's parish church, Gare Hill (Gaer Hill), near Trudoxhill, Somerset, 1857
St James' church, school and village buildings, Baldersby St James, North Yorkshire, 1857 Charlton-All-Saints, Wiltshire: school, 1857–58Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 162 1858 St Mathew's chapel of ease, Easton, Bristol, 1858; demolished 1923 St Andrew's parish church, Landford, Wiltshire, 1858Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 291 Church of St John the Evangelist, better known as the Afghan Church, Mumbai: the reredos, the Afghan War Memorial mosaics, and the tiles, pews and screen, 1858 St John the Evangelist parish church, Hammersmith, 1858–59 St John the Baptist, Latton, Wiltshire: chancel, 1858–63Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 293 Pitt Mission Church and School, Pitt, Hursley, Hampshire, 1858 1859 All Saints, Margaret Street, London, 1859 St Mary the Virgin, Etal, Northumberland 1859 St Nicholas' school, Newbury, Berkshire, 1859Pevsner, 1966, page 182 Standlynch Chapel, Trafalgar House, Wiltshire: restoration, 1859–66Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 531 1860 St Giles' Church, Tadlow, Bedfordshire, 1860 Charlton All Saints, Wiltshire: vicarage, 1860–62Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 82 Clergy house, St Alban the Martyr, Holborn 1861 St John the Baptist church, Bamford, Hope Valley, Derbyshire: restoration, 1861 St Michael's parish church, Letcombe Bassett, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire): nave and south aisle, 1861Pevsner, 1966, page 166 St Mary the Virgin parish church, Castle Eaton, Wiltshire: restoration, 1861–63Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 160 1862 Lych gate at St Michael & All Angels' Churchyard extension, Houghton-le-Spring, Durham, 1862 St Martin's parish church, Bremhill, Wiltshire: restoration, 1862–63Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 140 St Michael's parish church, Lyneham, Wiltshire: nave roof and chancel, 1862–65Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 319 1863 Church of St Cross, Manchester, Clayton, Manchester, 1863–66The Buildings of England: Lancashire – Manchester and the South East, 2004 St Margaret's parish church, Mapledurham, Oxfordshire: restoration, 1863Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 693 St Mary Magdalene church, Enfield Chase, Middlesex, 1883 St Michael's parish church, Aldbourne, Wiltshire: restoration, 1863–67 1864 St Sebastian, Heathland, Wokingham, Berkshire, 1864Pevsner, 1966, page 154 Merton College, Oxford: Grove Building, 1864Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 164 St Andrew's parish church, Blunsdon St Andrew, Wiltshire: restoration: 1864–68Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 118 Christ Church, Emery Down, Hampshire, 1864 1865 St George's parish church, Wootton, Northamptonshire: restoration, 1865Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 470 St Lawrence's Church, Godmersham, Kent: restoration, 1865 St Augustine's, Queen's Gate, London, 1865 St Augustine's parish church, Penarth, Glamorgan, 1865–66. SS. Peter & Paul parish church, Heytesbury, Wiltshire: restoration, 1865–67Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 266 Holy Saviour church, Hitchin, Hertfordshire, 1865 1866 St Anne's church, Dropmore, Littleworth, Buckinghamshire, 1866Pevsner, 1960, page 112 All Saints' parish church, Rangemore, Staffordshire, 1866–67 St Peter's parish church, Highway, Wiltshire, 1866–67Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 268 1867 Holy Trinity Chapel, Known as the 'Tait Chapel', Fulham Palace, London. St Barnabas' parish church, Horton-cum-Studley, Oxfordshire, 1867Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 656 St Mary's parish church, Beech Hill, Berkshire, 1867Pevsner, 1966, page 84 Little Faringdon, Oxfordshire: Rectory, 1867Sherwood & Pevsner, 1974, page 685 St Mary's parish, Lower Heyford, Oxfordshire: remodelling of Old Rectory, 1867 (now Tall Chimneys) 1868 The Royal Hampshire County Hospital, Winchester, Hampshire, 1868 St John's Church, Dalton, North Yorkshire St Paul's Church, Wooburn, Buckinghamshire: alterations, 1869 1869 St Alban the Martyr church, Holborn, London, 1862; St Mary Brookfield, Dartmouth Park Road, Tufnell Park, London NW5, 1869–75 St Peter's Cathedral, Adelaide, South Australia, 1869–1902Marsden, Susan, Paul Stark and Patricia Sumerling, Heritage of the City of Adelaide, Adelaide 1990, pp. 347-349 1870 All Saints' parish church, Whiteparish, Wiltshire: restoration, 1870Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 571 St Leonard's parish church, Broad Blunsdon, Wiltshire: rebuilding, 1870Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 144 Church of St Peter, Great Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire: restoration, 1870–71 The Rectory (now Butterfield House), formerly attached to Church of St Mary the Virgin, Baldock, Hitchin Street, Baldock, Hertfordshire, 1870–1873 1871 St Margaret of Antioch, Barley, Hertfordshire, 1871 additions St Paul's, Covent Garden, London, 1871–2: interior alterations 1872 St Mary's Church, Milstead, Kent: restoration, 1872 St Mary's parish church, Purton, Wiltshire: restoration, 1872Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 374 Saint Mary at Stoke parish church, Ipswich, Suffolk, 1872 1873 St Michael and All Angels' parish church & school, Poulton, Gloucestershire, 1873Verey, 1970, pages 370–371 St Mary's parish church, Dinton, Wiltshire: restoration, 1873–75Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 182 Church of St Peter, Clyffe Pypard, Wiltshire: restoration, 1873–75 1874 All Saints' parish church, Braunston, Northamptonshire: restoration, 1874Pevsner & Cherry, 1973, page 120 All Saints' church, Babbacombe, Devon 1874 St Denis' church, East Hatley, Cambridgeshire: restoration, 1874 St George's parish church, West Harnham, Salisbury, Wiltshire: restoration, 1874Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 563 St George's Church, Morebath 1874–75 St Mary's School, Wantage, Berkshire (now Oxfordshire), 1874–75Pevsner, 1966, page 254 St Margaret's parish church, Knook, Wiltshire: restoration, 1874–76Pevsner & Cherry, 1975, page 283 1875 Rugby School, Warwickshire: Chapel and Quadrangle, 1875 Shaw-cum-Donnington School, Shaw, Berkshire, 1875Pevsner, 1966, page 357