“The subject of the remuneration to be made to Mr. Barry, as the architect selected for superintending the erection of the New Houses of Parliament, having been pressed upon the attention of this Board, in consequence of the opinions expressed at different times in both Houses of Parliament against the principle of remunerating architects by a commission or percentage upon the amount of their estimates, we beg leave to state to your Lordships, that in deference to those opinions, we have given the subject our best and most mature consideration; and that having carefully considered all the circumstances of this case, the extent and importance of the building, the nature and description of the several works, the very large amount of expenditure contemplated in Mr. Barry’s estimate, and the period within which it is proposed that such expenditure should be incurred,—we are therefore of opinion, that the sum of 25,000l. will be a fair and liberal remuneration for the labour and responsibility to be imposed on Mr. Barry in the superintendence, direction, and completion of the intended edifice.
(Signed) “Duncannon,
B. C. Stephenson,
A. Milne.”
A request on the part of the architect to be informed of the principle on which the sum of 25,000l. was calculated, having been refused, he addressed the following reply to the office:—
Foley Place, 22nd April, 1839.
“Sir,—As the Board has not deemed it right to make me acquainted with the principle upon which the amount of remuneration for my services in respect of the intended New Houses of Parliament has been determined, I cannot, of course, form any opinion, and will not question the correctness of the data upon which it is founded. I make no doubt, however, that the proposed amount, although very far short of the customary remuneration which has hitherto been paid to architects for extensive public works, is considered by the Board to be liberal under all the circumstances of the case; and therefore, with this impression, I have no wish to do otherwise than bow to its decision. In so doing, however, I cannot, in justice to myself and the profession to which I belong, refrain from expressing most decidedly my opinion that the amount is very inadequate to the great labour and responsibility that will devolve upon me in the superintendence, direction, and completion of the intended edifice; and I trust when this is made manifest, as I feel sure it will be, upon the completion of any considerable portion of it, that there will not be any indisposition on the part of the Board (especially if the work should prove to be satisfactory to the public at large) to award to me the remainder of the remuneration which has hitherto been customary on similar occasions.
“I am, &c.,
(Signed) “Charles Barry.”
To this letter no rejoinder was made. On January 2nd, 1841, the architect again addressed the office, stating that “the time was now arrived when some permanent arrangement must be made for the measuring and making out the accounts of work executed,” and requesting authority to make the requisite arrangements, the expense of which he conceived “to be included under the head of contingencies.” The office replied (January 18th) that this duty belonged to the architect as such, and that the expense was provided for in the professional remuneration already fixed. To this statement, on January 28th, the architect replied, pleading that the expense of measurement had been borne by the Board whenever less than five per cent. had been paid to the architect. He received a formal reply, declining to alter the view already taken by the office, and the correspondence was closed.
It is on the letters of Mr. Barry above referred to, particularly on that of April 22nd, 1839, that the case of the Government against him mainly depends. It is clear that his case would have been far stronger, had he at once ventured to refuse the 25,000l. offered him, standing upon the invariable custom of the profession, and the fact that his appointment had been made, and the work carried on for more than nineteen months, before any such conditions were mentioned. On the other hand, it is equally clear that he was placed in a position of much difficulty by the action of the Government. He was already thoroughly absorbed in the work, and had devoted much time and trouble to its commencement. His success in the competition had excited great and almost unexampled opposition and misrepresentation; he knew, therefore, that he had enemies, who would gladly seize any opportunity to produce a breach between him and the Government, especially on a subject on which public opinion was at least greatly divided. It appeared to him very hard that he should be placed in such a position. It was natural that he should endeavour to take a middle course, and to accept the terms under a protest, which would leave the matter open for future consideration. It may be added that the Government, by tacitly receiving a letter, which contained such a protest, and expressed a hope of such future reconsideration, must bear some of the responsibility of the unsettled state in which the question was left, and of the controversy which accordingly arose.
The whole matter now remained in abeyance for eight years, during which time the work proceeded. It had been supposed that the building would be completed in about six years, and at an expense of about 707,000l. But, as has been elsewhere shown, from various causes, some wholly beyond the architect’s control, some for which he was responsible, and for which the approval of the Government and of Parliamentary Committees had been obtained, the time occupied in building was greatly protracted, and the expense proportionately increased. It was conceived by Mr. Barry and by his friends that the “bargain” made with the Office of Works, if it had ever had any legal value, had now vitiated by the entire change of the circumstances on which it was originally based, and that the time was come when the whole matter must be re-opened. Accordingly he addressed a letter on February 6th, 1849 to the Commissioners for the superintendence of the completion of the New Palace, which contains a full and forcible statement of his case. It will be found in the Appendix. Its substance must be stated here.