The main portions of the building might now be considered as finished, and the architect soon after was knighted by Her Majesty at Windsor. It was at a time, when he began to feel keenly the attacks made upon him, and the harassing controversies in which he had become involved. Such circumstances gave an unusual value to the honour conferred upon him by the Sovereign—almost the only official honour which in this country is offered to artistic or scientific merit, although it has to be shared with those who have no pretensions to either.
From this time the building proceeded quietly towards completion. The towers were the last finished. There was not, of course, the same pressure of necessity for their completion; the nature of the soil under their foundations demanded great care and deliberation in raising the superstructure; and their design perhaps gave more trouble to the architect than that of any other part of the building. “Nothing,” it has been truly said, “tended more to retard a general appreciation of the architectural merits of the New Palace than the necessarily slow and protracted realization of its chief vertical features and skyline.” The central tower was the first finished; next came the clock-tower; and finally the great mass of the Victoria tower received its last stone. The great flagstaff rising above was added subsequently. It was indeed the last object which engaged his professional attention in the building, and was left unfinished at his death. The drawings of the flagstaff, and the lantern-work at the base, with its screens and flying buttresses, were made by his son (E. M. Barry, Esq.) in accordance with his known intentions. But it was on a temporary wooden staff, that the great flag was hoisted “half mast high” on the day of Sir Charles’s funeral.
Section IV.—It is impossible in a life of Sir C. Barry to omit notice of the long, harassing, and unsuccessful controversy, which he carried on with the Government in relation to his remuneration for the New Palace at Westminster.
To his friends it is a painful subject; its nature and its effect upon his feelings and his health they would be glad to forget: but the true statement of the case is not only due to his memory, but also highly important, both to the architectural profession and the public. It often happens (it may probably be so in this case) that a battle lost to the individual by the influence of special circumstances, and by the use of overwhelming power against him, may prove to have been virtually won for those who come after him. It will be my endeavour to admit into the narrative as little as possible any expressions of mere opinion, and to tell the story chiefly through the main official documents put out on both sides, omitting the minuter details of the controversy, and the disputes on trivial points, which naturally arose from the antagonistic position produced by its continuance.
The question was briefly this, whether the architect of the New Palace at Westminster was entitled to the regular professional remuneration of five per cent. commission upon the outlay on the works executed under his direction; or whether there were special circumstances in the case, which justified a departure from the ordinary practice, and the remuneration of his services on a lower scale. In the course of the discussion arose another question, hardly less important to the public, whether the Treasury were justified, by their position and by their view of the requirements of the public service, in constituting themselves judges of the question in dispute, in refusing arbitration on doubtful points, and in enforcing their decision, by withholding all remuneration, until its principle should be accepted by the architect.
This is no place for discussing at any length the abstract justice and expediency of the principle of five per cent. commission regularly recognised by all architects as the method of their professional remuneration. The principle of a percentage evidently involves some considerable inequality, when it is applied to works of different characters, requiring for the same outlay very different degrees of skill, labour, and responsibility. It seems hard that the architect of a church, which requires elaborate designs, should be remunerated at the same rate as the architect, who designs a simple warehouse, or the engineer who raises great masses of brickwork, requiring but two or three simple drawings. Like other principles not wholly equitable in their operation, it is recommended by its simplicity and practicability, and, in fact, to those who regard their work as a profession, and not a trade, its commercial inequality is compensated by the corresponding inequality of artistic opportunities.
But it is certainly not an excessive rate of remuneration. Compared with the profits of the builders, who execute the work, it is absolutely insignificant; nor can the remuneration of an architect of eminence bear comparison with that of an engineer occupying the same position in his profession. The period over which the expenditure on architectural work is spread is comparatively large; the preparation of designs and working drawings, the incessant superintendence, and the duty of “measurement,” require a large and expensive staff of assistants. It is, therefore, rare that an architect “makes his fortune,” even if he is engaged in extensive works, and even if his gross receipts are considerable.
So much only is it necessary to remark on the general principle. On the particular case I must add (what will in all probability be generally allowed) that a building of a highly ornate and artistic design, carried out for a public body, whose requirements and instructions varied greatly from time to time, and requiring constant attendance on official personages and Parliamentary Committees, was one for which the regular percentage would be (to say the least) no excessive remuneration. It is true that the gross outlay was very great, but it was spread over a period of about twenty years. It absorbed almost the whole of the architect’s time, and gradually destroyed most of his private practice. After 1842 that practice, which would naturally have continued to extend, both in scale and area, began to diminish, and it is likely that pecuniarily he would have been nearly as well off, if he had been able to devote himself to private work. There was nothing in the general features of the case, which could make it right to treat it as an exceptional one.
It is therefore necessary to inquire into the special circumstances, which were held by the Government to require a deviation from the established usage.
The designs and estimates were accepted, and the works commenced on July 3rd, 1837, without any official communication with the architect on the subject of remuneration. On March 1st, 1839 (i. e. more than nineteen months after the commencement of the building) he received from the Commissioners of the Woods and Forests (the “Board of Works”) a copy of a letter from the Treasury, approving of the following recommendation from the office of Public Works,[86] and ordering it to be observed in the remuneration of the architect:—