Benjamin Ferrey: Gothic Revival Architect
By (Author) Harry Spain
Unicorn Publishing Group
Unicorn Publishing Group
22nd January 2026
22nd January 2026
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Architecture: professional practice
Biography: historical, political and military
720.92
Hardback
176
Width 190mm, Height 245mm
Benjamin Ferrey (1810-1880) is remembered today as the childhood friend and biographer of A.W.N. Pugin, but that represents only one episode in a fascinating career spanning some of the most eventful decades in architectural history. After showing early promise as a draughtsman, Ferrey was sent to train in London under Pugins father. There he found himself at the forefront of a newly flourishing Gothic Revival. From the Pugin school, a long and varied career followed during which Ferrey worked on a series of major churches, houses, and public buildings including the National Gallery and Bagshot Park. After the death of his estranged childhood friend, Ferrey set about recording the life of Pugin and thus became his first biographer. However, until now Ferrey has suffered the fate of many biographers and faded into relative obscurity.
Harry Spain is an Oxford-based Architectural Historian with a special interest in the Gothic Revival and church building in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Harry has lectured widely both in Oxford and further afield and currently holds a position Pusey House, Oxford overseeing the upkeep of the historic buildings there.