{"product_id":"gods-architect-pugin-and-the-building-of-romantic-britain-9780713994995","title":"Gods Architect: Pugin And The Building Of Romantic Britain","description":"\u003cp\u003ePugin was one of Britains greatest architects and his short career one of the most dramatic in architectural history. Born in 1812  the son of the soi-disant Comte de Pugin  at 15 Pugin was working for King George IV at Windsor Castle. By the time he was 21 he had been shipwrecked  bankrupted and widowed. Nineteen years later he died  insane and disillusioned  having changed the face and the mind of British architecture. Pugins bohemian early career as an antique dealer and scenery designer at Covent Garden came to a sudden end with a series of devastating bereavements  including the loss of his first wife in childbirth. In the aftermath he formed a vision of Gothic architecture that was both romantic and deeply religious. He became a Catholic and in 1836 published Contrasts  the first architectural manifesto. It called on the 19th century to reform its cities if it wanted to save its soul. Once launched  Pugins career was torrential. Before he was 30 he had designed 22 churches  three cathedrals  half a dozen extraordinary houses and a Cistercian monastery. For eight years he worked with Charles Barry on the Palace of Westminster creating its sumptuous interiors  the House of Lords and the clock Big Ben that became one of Britains most famous landmarks. He was the first architect-designer to cater for the middle-classes  producing everything from plant pots to wallpaper and early flat-pack furniture. Gods Architect is the first full modern biography of this extraordinary figure. It draws on thousands of unpublished letters and drawings to recreate his life and work as architect  propagandist and romantic artist as well as the turbulent story of his three marriages  the bitterness of his last years and his sudden death at 40. It is the debut of a remarkable historian and biographer.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45279654772789,"sku":"ByrdShop_0713994991","price":73.84,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780713994995.jpg?v=1780604949","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/gods-architect-pugin-and-the-building-of-romantic-britain-9780713994995","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}