Basic Biographical Details

Name: Peter Paul Pugin
Designation:  
Born: 1851
Died: March 1904
Bio Notes: Peter Paul Pugin was born in 1851, the youngest son of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and his third wife Jane Knill. (He was baptised Edmund Peter but did not take the additional name Paul until he grew up). He began practice as the junior partner in Pugin & Pugin. The senior partner was his half-brother Edward Welby Pugin, born in London on 11 March 1834, eldest son of A W N Pugin and his second wife Louisa Burton. Brought up in his father's office, Edward was his father's 'right hand man' by the age of sixteen, keeping the practice going through his father's periodic fits of madness from February 1852 onwards. When their father died on 14 September of that year, Peter Paul was only one year old, Edward eighteen and Cuthbert Welby (also born to Louisa) twelve. The sole beneficiary of their father's will was his widow, Jane Knill; on the advice of the stained-glass manufacturer John Hardman Powell who had married Pugin's eldest daughter Anne, Jane Pugin moved both household and practice to Birmingham partly to be near their main patron the 17th Earl of Shrewsbury, but in 1856 the Earl died. The Pugin family resettled in Gordon Square, London, in the same year becoming sufficiently prosperous to resume full occupation of the Grange at Ramsgate by 1861.

In 1857, when Peter Paul was six, Edward opened a branch office in Liverpool and formed a partnership with the Irishman James Murray, who had already been practising their. In 1860 Edward formed a second partnership with his brother-in-law George Coppinger Ashlin and opened a Dublin office for Irish work. The Murray partnership was, however, dissolved in 1860, Murray thereafter practising on his own account until his early death, and in 1862 Edward merged his practice with that of the older and well-established Joseph Aloysius Hansom. That partnership closed acrimoniously in the following year.

Edward Pugin was admitted FRIBA on 16 June 1862. Two years earlier in 1860 he had founded the South East Furniture Company to manufacture his designs, the management of it being largely in the hands of his brother Cuthbert. The break-up of his partnership with Ashlin in 1869 may have been related to a much more high-risk business venture, the Granville Hotel at Ramsgate, a vast hotel and hydropathic complex. This failed in 1873 leaving Pugin bankrupt with liabilities of £187,000. He left for the United States where he quickly obtained commissions for some thirty churches and a monastery in Cuba. The English and Scottish work in hand was continued by Cuthbert and Peter Paul, who had been assisting him since the 1860s and had recently been taken into partnership, the practice becoming Pugin & Pugin.

Edward Pugin died suddenly on 5 June 1875 as a result of overwork and 'injudicious use of chloral hydrate'. He was unmarried and the main responsibility for the practice passed to Peter Paul, Cuthbert being principally concerned with the furniture making and furnishing side of the family business. Although Peter Paul's offices remained in London and Liverpool his practice was largely Scottish through Charles Eyre. Eyre came of a landed Northumbrian family and had been a parish priest at Pugin's church at Newcastle; Stephen Eyre, one of Edward Pugin's clerk of works, was probably a relative. Charles Eyre was appointed administrator of the Catholic church in the Glasgow area from 1869 and Archbishop of Glasgow when the Catholic hierarchy was re-created in 1878. Although Peter Paul's earlier churches were strongly influenced by his father and brother, by the 1880s he had developed a very recognisable curvilinear Gothic style, usually in red sandstone with elaborate altarpieces in coloured marbles.

Peter Paul Pugin married the third daughter of the Catholic builder John Bird of Hammersmith in 1886. They had five children, but none entered the practice. Peter Paul died in March 1904, the firm being continued by his nephew Sebastian Pugin Powell, born in 1866, the son of John Hardman Powell. He became a member of the firm in 1884, but it is not clear at what date he became a partner.

Cuthbert lived on in retirement at Ramsgate until March 1928. Sebastian Pugin Powell died in 1949, but the practice was continued by his cousin Charles Henry Cuthbert Powell, born 1874, until his death in 1958.

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this :
 AddressTypeDate fromDate toNotes
Item 1 of 1Victoria Street, Westminster, London, EnglandBusiness1879 *  

* earliest date known from documented sources.

Employment and Training

Employers

The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 2Edward Welby Puginc. 1860Early 1870sAssistant 
Item 2 of 2Pugin & PuginEarly 1870s1904Partner 

Buildings and Designs

This was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
 Date startedBuilding nameTown, district or villageIslandCity or countyCountryNotes
Item 1 of 671873St Mary and St Finnan RC ChurchGlenfinnan Inverness-shireScotland 
Item 2 of 671877St Mary RC ChurchCleland LanarkshireScotland 
Item 3 of 671878Franciscan Church and FriaryHutchesontown GlasgowScotlandChurch built
Item 4 of 671878St Benedict's AbbeyFort Augustus Inverness-shireScotlandCompleted conversion by Hansom including Abbey Church - also tower in east block, great staircase, chapter house etc added
Item 5 of 671880Benedictine Convent of the Perpetual Adoration, Corbelly HillDumfries DumfriesshireScotlandMain buildings and chapel (and reredos)
Item 6 of 671880School Chapel CrosshillCrosshill GlasgowScotlandproposed scheme
Item 7 of 67After 1880SS John Cantius and Nicholas RC ChurchBroxburn West LothianScotlandReredos and niche for sacraments - date not known
Item 8 of 671881Smyllum Orphanage ChapelLanark LanarkshireScotland 
Item 9 of 671881Smyllum Orphanage InstituteLanark LanarkshireScotland 
Item 10 of 671881St Francis Xavier RC ChurchCarfin LanarkshireScotland 
Item 11 of 671881St Mary's RC ChurchEskadale Inverness-shireScotlandChancel extended and stone altar added
Item 12 of 671881St Mary's RC PresbyteryCleland LanarkshireScotland 
Item 13 of 671882Our Lady and St Margaret RC Church and PresbyteryKinning Park GlasgowScotland 
Item 14 of 671882St Aloysius RC Church and PresbyterySpringburn GlasgowScotlandPresbytery
Item 15 of 671883Holy Family RC ChurchBellshill LanarkshireScotland 
Item 16 of 671883St Margaret RC ChurchJohnstone RenfrewshireScotlandEnlargement and reconstruction. Addition of transepts and sanctuary and new nave proposed, but not builtd
Item 17 of 671883St Mary's RC ChurchStirling StirlingshireScotlandDate in HS List
Item 18 of 671884RC ChurchAirdrie LanarkshireScotlandDesign only
Item 19 of 671885St John's RC Presbytery  GlasgowScotland 
Item 20 of 67c. 1885St Mary's RC ChurchFochabers MorayshireScotlandReredos
Item 21 of 671887RC School, Portland Street  GlasgowScotland 
Item 22 of 671887St Michael's RC Church and presbyteryLinlithgow West LothianScotland 
Item 23 of 671888RC School, Sandyfaulds Street  GlasgowScotland 
Item 24 of 671889Convent of Faithful Companions of JesusPaisley RenfrewshireScotland 
Item 25 of 671889St Andrew's RC Cathedral  GlasgowScotlandRenovation for use as Cathedral and church furnishings
Item 26 of 671889St Mary RC ChurchPaisley RenfrewshireScotland 
Item 27 of 671889St Peter's CollegeBearsden GlasgowScotland 
Item 28 of 671890Sacred Heart RC Presbytery  GlasgowScotland 
Item 29 of 671890Saltcoats RC ChapelSaltcoats AyrshireScotlandAltar and other fittings
Item 30 of 67Before 1890RC PresbyteryRutherglen LanarkshireScotland 
Item 31 of 67Before 1890RC PresbyteryMaryhill GlasgowScotland 
Item 32 of 67Before 1890RC SchoolsCrosshill GlasgowScotland 
Item 33 of 67Before 1890St Francis RC SchoolGorbals GlasgowScotland 
Item 34 of 67Before 1890St John's RC Schools  GlasgowScotland 
Item 35 of 67Before 1890St Margaret's RC Presbytery  GlasgowScotland 
Item 36 of 67c. 1890St Patrick RC Schools  DundeeScotland 
Item 37 of 671891Holy Family and St Ninian RC ChurchKirkintilloch DunbartonshireScotland 
Item 38 of 671891St Bridget RC ChurchBaillieston GlasgowScotland 
Item 39 of 671892Holy Redeemer Chapel School and PresbyteryClydebank Dunbartonshire Architect of Presbytery
Item 40 of 671892St Andrew's RC Cathedral  GlasgowScotlandMain altar and side altars
Item 41 of 671893St Agnes RC ChurchLambhill GlasgowScotland 
Item 42 of 67c. 1893St Mary's RC ChurchInverness Inverness-shireScotlandAdvised on design of altar and reredos - executed by Carruthers
Item 43 of 671894St Aloysius RC ChurchChapelhall LanarkshireScotland 
Item 44 of 671895St Joseph RC ChurchBlantyre LanarkshireScotland 
Item 45 of 671895St Mary's RC Church and presbyteryLanark LanarkshireScotlandLady chapel altar
Item 46 of 671896St Augustine's RC Church and presbytery, LangloanCoatbridge LanarkshireScotland 
Item 47 of 671896St Gregory RC ChurchPreshome BanffshireScotlandNew sanctuary with reredos
Item 48 of 671896St Mary RC Church and presbytery, BarrowfieldCoatbridge LanarkshireScotland 
Item 49 of 671896St Patrick's RC ChurchCoatbridge LanarkshireScotland 
Item 50 of 67Before 1896St Patrick's RC Church, Presbytery and halls  DundeeScotlandDesign - not executed
Item 51 of 67c. 1896St Aloysius RC Church and PresbyterySpringburn GlasgowScotlandHigh altar
Item 52 of 671897St John RC Church  GlasgowScotland 
Item 53 of 671898St Patrick RC Church and PresbyteryAnderston GlasgowScotland 
Item 54 of 671898St Patrick RC Church and presbytery, ShieldmuirWishaw LanarkshireScotland 
Item 55 of 671899St Laurence's RC ChurchGreenock RenfrewshireScotland 
Item 56 of 671900Our Lady of Good Aid RC ChurchMotherwell LanarkshireScotlandBuilt original church
Item 57 of 671900St Joseph's RC Church  DundeeScotlandReredos and baldacchino
Item 58 of 671900St Mary Immaculate RC Church and PresbyteryPollokshaws GlasgowScotlandNorth aisle extended
Item 59 of 671900St Mary Star of the Sea RC ChurchLeith EdinburghScotlandAlterations - North aisle
Item 60 of 67c. 1900(?)St Joseph's RC ChurchWemyss Bay RenfrewshireScotlandDate uncertain
Item 61 of 67c. 1900St Patrick RC ChurchDumbarton DunbartonshireScotlandDesign only - superseded by Dunn & Hansom
Item 62 of 671901Holy Redeemer RC Church and PresbyteryClydebank DunbartonshireScotland 
Item 63 of 671901St Mary's RC Church and presbyteryLanark LanarkshireScotlandReredos and high altar
Item 64 of 671902St Peter's CollegeBearsden GlasgowScotlandChapel constructed
Item 65 of 671903St Peter RC Church and PresbyteryDowanhill GlasgowScotland 
Item 66 of 671904St Andrew's RC Cathedral  GlasgowScotlandRemoval of galleries and insertion of sanctuary screens
Item 67 of 671904St Mary RC ChurchPaisley RenfrewshireScotlandAddition - plans dated

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this :
 Author(s)DateTitlePartPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 2Attenbury, Paul and Wainwright, Clive1994Pugin: a Gothic passion London & New Haven: Yale University Press and the Victoria & Albert Museum 
Item 2 of 2Wedgwood, Alexandra1985A W N Pugin and the Pugin family   

Periodical References

The following periodicals contain references to this :
 Periodical NameDateEditionPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 1Builder19 March 1904  p316