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Mr Barry's War

Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament after the Great Fire of 1834

Caroline Shenton

Sequel to the award-winning The Day Parliament Burned Down - this is the story of the re-building of the Houses of Parliament after the great fire of 1834
The creation of one of the most famous buildings in the world: a masterpiece of Victorian architecture, a spectacular feat of civil engineering, and one of the London landmarks
The story of how the greatest building programme in Britain for centuries produced the world's most famous secular cathedral to democracy
A tale of the most nightmarish construction project of the Victorian era, involving feats of building technology and civil engineering never seen before, in the face of immense practical and political odds

Mr Barry's War

Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament after the Great Fire of 1834

Caroline Shenton

Description

When the brilliant classical architect Charles Barry won the competition to build a new, Gothic, Houses of Parliament in London he thought it was the chance of a lifetime. It swiftly turned into the most nightmarish building programme of the century. From the beginning, its design, construction and decoration were a battlefield. The practical and political forces ranged against him were immense.

The new Palace of Westminster had to be built on acres of unstable quicksand, while the Lords and Commons carried on their work as usual. Its river frontage, a quarter of a mile long, needed to be constructed in the treacherous currents of the Thames. Its towers were so gigantic they required feats of civil engineering and building technology never used before. And the interior demanded spectacular new Gothic features not seen since the middle ages.

Rallying the genius of his collaborator Pugin; flanking the mad schemes of a host of crackpot inventors, ignorant busybodies and hostile politicians; attacking strikes, sewage and cholera; charging forward three times over budget and massively behind schedule, it took twenty-five years for Barry to achieve victory with his 'Great Work' in the face of overwhelming odds, and at great personal cost.

Mr Barry's War takes up where its prize-winning prequel The Day Parliament Burned Down left off, telling the story of how the greatest building programme in Britain for centuries produced the world's most famous secular cathedral to democracy.

Mr Barry's War

Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament after the Great Fire of 1834

Caroline Shenton

Prologue
FIRE (1834-1837)
1: A New Tooth
2: A Clump of Thistles
3: A Beautiful and Appropriate Design
WATER (1837-1843)
4: A Clear Understanding
5: A Bondage Worse than the Egyptians
6: A Very Heavy Expence
AIR (1844-1852)
7: A Regular Fix
8: A Very Difficult Work
9: A Metropolitan Asylum
EARTH (1852-1860)
10: A Monstrous Failure
11: A More Cunning and Intriguing Man
12: The Great Work
Epilogue
Select Bibliography
Index

Mr Barry's War

Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament after the Great Fire of 1834

Caroline Shenton

Author Information

Caroline Shenton, Director of the Parliamentary Archives

Caroline Shenton was Director of the Parliamentary Archives at Westminster from 2008 to 2014, and prior to that was a senior archivist at Parliament and The National Archives at Kew. Her first book, The Day Parliament Burned Down, won the inaugural Political Book of the Year Award in 2013. It was also shortlisted for a number of other prizes, including the Longman-History Today Prize, and was a Book of the Year for the Daily Telegraph, New Statesman, Daily Mail, and Herald Scotland. This is its sequel.

Mr Barry's War

Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament after the Great Fire of 1834

Caroline Shenton

Reviews and Awards

"A very worthwhile addition to the bookshelves of aficionados of Victorian design and architecture." - Chris Pond, Context

"a real jewel, finely wrought and beautiful, just like the Palace of Westminster it describes." - Lucy Worsley, Books of the Year 2016, BBC History Magazine

"vividly written ... an authoritative and lively account of the political and artistic machinations involved in the creation of one of the capital's most familiar landmarks." - Ian Critchley, Sunday Times

"not only a fascinating read but a timely one, too" - Tony Rennell, Daily Mail

"If Shenton's first book was like a grotesque Gothic novel, this is an epic, with a hero at its heart." - William Whyte, Literary Review

"Shenton seeks [...] to correct the historical record and succeeds definitively" - Rosemary Hill, Times Literary Supplement

"This is a wonderful tale, brilliantly told. I shan't ever look at the Houses of Parliament quite the same again and can't wait to visit soon with new knowledge from this exceptional book." - Mike Paterson, London Historians

"Shenton brilliantly outlines how from conception to completion, the design and construction of the new Palace of Westminster were a fearsome battleground ... [Parliamentary] colleagues who want to consider the current options and challenges should read Caroline Shenton's Mr Barry's War." - Keith Simpson, Total Politics

Mr Barry's War

Rebuilding the Houses of Parliament after the Great Fire of 1834

Caroline Shenton

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'What a chance for an architect!' Charles Barry exclaimed as he watched the old Palace of Westminster burning down in 1834. When he then went on to win the competition to design the new Houses of Parliament he thought it was the chance of a lifetime. Instead it turned into the most nightmarish building project of the nineteenth century. What 'lessons learned' might the brilliant classical architect draw up today based on his experiences?

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