Another variation was at one time thought of with a view to giving more prominence to the main entrance. To a mere porch Mr. Barry had always an objection. It appeared to him a mere excrescence. Accordingly he tried the effect of advancing the centre, inserting a bay window over the entrance, and raising the centre of the parapet into a gable. But he never could make up his mind to advance the centre of an architectural composition. He maintained that the advanced portion must destroy, by its effect in perspective, the apparent size of the building, and this he considered an unpardonable artistic fault. At Birmingham this feeling was increased by his consciousness that the frontage was already somewhat small, and accordingly he felt compelled to leave the entrance as it now appears. He
was not altogether satisfied with its effect; but nothing would have compensated him for the loss of breadth and unity in composition.
The plan of the interior is perfectly simple. Almost the whole of the centre is occupied by two grand school-rooms, which are probably almost unequalled in magnificence of size and proportion. Few class-rooms were required by the original instructions, but some have been recently added by Mr. E. M. Barry.
Of the two principles of school arrangement, the architect will naturally prefer that, which throws most of the space into great school-rooms, and so gives greater scope for artistic effect. In practice the two systems may claim a certain balance of advantages. But in a grammar-school, where from the nature of the case many of the assistant masters are likely to be young and inexperienced, the preponderance of advantage seems to incline in the same direction which architectural taste would suggest. For in this case the advantage, both in guidance and support, to be derived from the presence of the head, and the “swing” of the great machine, probably outweighs all considerations on the other side of greater quiet and convenience. How far the plan at Birmingham was due to the architect, and how far determined by the instructions which he received, I do not know.
The school was completed in 1836. It attracted great attention and considerable admiration from the public and from the critics. The architect himself felt that the study of Gothic principles and details, for which it was the occasion, had been of the greatest service to him, especially in the competition for the New Palace, on which he was even then preparing to enter.
There was also another reason which made him look back with pleasure to this work. It was in connection with it that he first made the acquaintance of Mr. Pugin, whose assistance he secured in making out some of the drawings for details. The acquaintance ripened into friendship, a friendship unclouded by a single misunderstanding, and closed only by the death of his gifted coadjutor. Here, also, it was his good fortune to discover Mr. Thomas (afterwards so well known for his work at the New Palace of Westminster) working as an ordinary stone-carver. Mr. Barry at once saw his remarkable talent, and resolved to give it a more worthy sphere for development.
Alterations at Dulwich College.—His other Gothic works were of minor scale and importance. In March 27th, 1830, he was appointed to the surveyorship of Dulwich College, an office then less important than it has now become by the extraordinary increase of the value of the college property, but one in which he always took great pleasure, and experienced great kindness from the Master and Fellows of the old foundation. In the next year, 1831, he was called upon to design and carry out the erection of a new wing to the College, and of a small school for the education of the twelve foundation boys and others. The wing then erected has been since so much altered and enlarged as altogether to change its character. For the new constitution given to the College in 1858, by which the small school contemplated in the original foundation has been expanded into a large public school, absorbing the greater part of the endowment, has necessitated changes and enlargements on every side. Sir C. Barry’s own office expired with the old constitution, but the new Board of Governors elected from a number of candidates his eldest son Charles, who had for several years previously assisted him at Dulwich. He has been called upon, not only to erect the new schools on a scale of considerable grandeur, but also to remodel the whole existing College buildings for the accommodation of additional almspeople. In the course of this process it has been necessary greatly to alter the wing built by Sir Charles, which in itself was simple, and presented no marked features of design.