Sharpe, Paley and Austin

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Sharpe, Paley and Austin were a Lancaster-based architectural practice that worked from 1835 to 1946. Over more than a century the firm changed its name as its leaders changed, first as Sharpe and Paley, then Paley and Sharpe, and later as Austin and Paley, then Austin, Paley and Austin, and finally Austin and Paley after Hubert Austin’s death. The principals were Edmund Sharpe (1809–1877), Edward Graham Paley (1823–1895, usually called E. G. Paley), Hubert James Austin (1841–1915), Henry Anderson Paley (1859–1946, known as Harry Paley), and, briefly, Geoffrey Langshaw Austin (1884–1971), son of Hubert. Their commissions were mainly in Lancashire and what is now Cumbria, but also reached into Yorkshire, Cheshire, the West Midlands, North Wales and Hertfordshire.

The firm’s main specialty was churches. They designed new churches, restored older ones, and added to or altered existing ones. They also built country houses and made changes to existing homes. Almost all of their church designs were Gothic Revival, though some of Sharpe’s earliest churches and a few later works used other styles. In the early years the firm used Early English and Decorated features; E. G. Paley introduced Perpendicular elements, and after Hubert Austin joined, Perpendicular became the dominant style. The practice used a wider variety of styles for country houses, including Elizabethan and Jacobean influences, along with Gothic. Toward the end of the 19th century they absorbed Aesthetic and Arts and Crafts ideas as well.

Not all work was large-scale. As the leading architectural practice in North West England, they also designed schools, vicarages, hospitals, factories, hotels, shops, railway stations and war memorials.

Edmund Sharpe started the practice in 1835 in his mother’s house in Lancaster. He had learned architecture by study and travel rather than formal training. In 1838 Edward Paley joined as a pupil and became a partner. Sharpe’s early commissions were mainly churches, including St Mark in Witton and St Saviour’s in Cuerden, followed by other chapels and then larger, grander churches such as Christ Church in Walmsley and Holy Trinity in Blackburn. He also explored innovative uses of terracotta in church construction. Sharpe mentored other pupils, including Thomas Austin and John Douglas, who later set up their own practices.

Paley gradually took over many commissions. Between 1851 and 1867 he designed or rebuilt around 36 new churches, mostly for the Church of England. He also did secular work such as remodelling Hornby Castle and the Furness Abbey Hotel, along with schools and other buildings. A major project was the Royal Albert Asylum in Lancaster (1868–73). He also designed railway stations and the large Barrow-in-Furness buildings that fit the town’s rapid growth.

Hubert Austin joined Paley in 1867. Under their partnership, the firm produced important new churches in industrial Lancashire, such as St Chad in Kirkby and St John the Evangelist in Cheetham, Manchester. They rebuilt parts of existing churches and designed many village churches and country churches, as well as work at Sedbergh School and various country houses. In 1884 they submitted plans for a Liverpool cathedral; the project did not proceed, but Barrow’s growth continued to supply many commissions.

In 1886 Paley’s son Henry (Harry) became a partner, and the practice continued as Austin and Paley. After Edward Paley’s death in 1895, Hubert Austin’s son Geoffrey Langshaw joined briefly, and then the firm operated mainly as Austin and Paley with Paley as the leading designer. Hubert Austin died in 1915, leaving Harry Paley running the firm largely on his own with assistants. The practice continued to design new churches, restore older ones and work on schools and other buildings, but there were few major country houses or public buildings after 1900. The last major urban churches were built in the early 20th century, and the firm’s later projects included war memorials after World War I. The office closed in the mid-1940s, with Paley’s death in 1946.

The Sharpe, Paley and Austin team is remembered for high-quality church architecture and for helping to popularize the Perpendicular style within Gothic Revival. Critics notably praised their work: the German observer Hermann Muthesius placed their church designs among the finest in England, and Nikolaus Pevsner regarded Hubert Austin as a genius and noted the firm’s late-Victorian churches as among the highest standards in Europe. The practice is often described as a provincial Lancashire dynasty that achieved national recognition, especially for its churches.