His commission for the Ecclesiological model church in Margaret Street made Butterfield almost immediately one of the major architects of the mid-century. — Paul Thompson (1971)
It is a remarkable fact, and one which is keenly suggestive of this paradoxical age of art, that Mr. Butterfield's professional followers are the most conservative in their opinions, the most exclusive in their taste, and the stanchest admirers of traditional English Gothic among contemporary architects, and yet there is no one who in some respects has more deliberately discarded tradition than their leader. But then he has done so consistently. There is a sober earnestness of purpose in his work widely different from that of some designers, who| seem to be tossed about on the sea of popular taste, unable, apparently, to decide what style they will adopt, and trying their hands in turn at French, at Italian, and what not, with no more reason than a love of change or a restless striving after effect. He does not care to produce showy buildings at a sacrifice — even a justifiable sacrifice — of constructive strength. To the pretty superficial school of Gothic, busy with pinnacles, chamfers, and fussy carving, he has never condescended. He has his own (somewhat stern) notions of architectural beauty, and he holds to them whether he is planning a cottage or a cathedral. His work gives one the idea of a man who has designed it not so much to please his clients as to please himself. In estimating the value of his skill, posterity may find something to smile at as eccentric, some- thing to deplore as ill-judged, and much that will astonish as daring, but they will find nothing to despise as commonplace or mean. — C. L. Eastlake (1872)
General
- Biography of William Butterfield, by Paul Waterhouse (1901)
- Victorian Rogue Architecture
- John Keble and the Oxford Movement
Architectural Works (churches, chapels and colleges)
- All Saints, Margaret Street: Exterior
- All Saints, Margaret Street: Interior
- Church of St. Augustine, London: Exterior
- Church of St. Augustine, London: Interior
- Church of St. Augustine, London: Pulpit
- ( Church of St. Augustine, London: The church's Victorian and later stained glass)
- Keble College, Oxford: Exterior
- Keble College, Oxford: Pusey Quad
- Keble College, Oxford: Liddon Quad including the Hall
- Keble College, Oxford: The Chapel Exterior
- Keble College, Oxford: The Chapel Interior
- St. Alban's Church, London
- Balliol College Chapel, Oxford
- Winchester College Chapel
- St Paul's, Covent Garden (renovations)
- St Augustine's Church, Cardiff
- Church of St Alban the Martyr
- St Mary Magdalene, Enfield (I)
- St Mary Magdalene, Enfield (II)
- St Matthew's Church, Ashford, Surrey
Architectural Works (houses)
Work in other media
- Church of St. Augustine, London: Painted tiles with types and antitypes of Christ
- Three scenes with types of Christ, All Saints Margaret Street (tile painting)
- The Nativity, All Saints Margaret Street (tile painting)
- Mosaics in Keble College Chapel, Oxford
Bibliography
All Saints Margaret Street's own website.
Brandwood, Geoff. "High Anglicanism and High Places: The Rise of William Butterfield." In Howell and Saint. 17-33.
Crook, J. Mordaunt. The Dilemma of Style: Architectural Ideas from the Picturesque to the Post-Modern. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1987.
Eastlake, Charles L. A History of the Gothic Revival. London: Longmans, Green; N.Y. Scribner, Welford, 1972. [Copy in Brown University's Rockefeller Library]
Hersey, George L. High Victorian Gothic: A Study in Associationism. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins U. P., 1972.
Hill, Rosemary. "Butterfield, William (1814–1900), architect and designer." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Online ed.
_____. "A perplexing and challenging character: Butterfield the Man." In Howell and Saint. 7-15.
Howell, Peter, and Andrew Saint, eds. In Butterfield Revisited. Studies in Architecture and Design. The Victorian Society Journal. 6 (2017).
"Keble's Architecture." Keble College.
Kerr, Colin. "Restoring All Saints' Margaret Street: Discoveries and Reflections." In Howell and Saint. 123-141.
Thompson, Paul Richard. William Butterfield, Victorian Architect. London: Routledge, 1971 / Cambridge: MIT Press.
Last modified 10 March 2017