Sir Giles Gilbert Scott

A very English Architect
WHAT the architect Pugin failed " to do in the 19th century, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who died in London this week at the age of 79, attained in a brilliant manner in the 20th.
Both sought to permeate the churches they built with the spirit of English medieval Gothic. Pugin succeeded in making almost perfect copies: Scott adds light, spaciousness. and the stamp of a personality that intended to show that one could be modern while remaining traditional at one and the same time Thus. the Protestant Cathedral of Liverpool apart, one can see his best church effect in the nave of Downside Abbey, and in his design for the completion of Ampleforth church which is equally satisfying.
Most Catholic work up and down the country which he designed is similarly a tribute to his remarkable genius.
But perhaps one of the finest achievements of his, outside church circles, is London's Waterloo Bridge where strength and simplicity of line blend with a respect for traditional style which made Scott a very English architect.
He was educated at Beaumont, was given the contract for the building of his greatest church. Liverpool's Anglican Cathedral. at the age of 23, and was knighted in 1924.
Among Sir Giles Gilbert Scott's other works are the restoration of Chester Cathedral. the memorial chapel for Charterhouse school. the new Bodelian Library at Oxford, and additions to Magdalen College, also the Power Station at Battersea in London and the new House of Commons and Guildhall, London.
The paradox that the Catholic, Gilbert Scott, should build the Protestant Cathedral of Liverpool while the Protestant Lutyens should build the Catholic Cathedral of the same city, has often been commented on.