Pugin & Pugin

Pugin & Pugin (fl. 1851–c. 1958) was a London-based family firm of church architects, founded in the Westminster office of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812–1852). The firm was succeeded by his sons Cuthbert Welby Pugin (1840–1928) and Peter Paul Pugin (1851–1904) after the death of their elder brother, Edward Welby Pugin (1834–1875). They were later joined by Sebastian Pugin Powell and Charles Henry Cuthbert Purcell until the latter’s death in 1958.[1]

Sanctuary of the Sacred Heart Church, Liverpool designed in the 1890s

The firm worked exclusively in the Gothic Revival style, and produced many buildings, alterations and furnishings for the Roman Catholic Church, such as the sanctuary of the Sacred Heart Church, Liverpool and the presbytery of the Sacred Heart Church in Bridgeton, Glasgow, a category A Listed Building.

There are reputedly about a hundred buildings by the firm in Australasia, built from the mid 1850s onwards, for the Roman Catholic Church. All but one are in Australia, the singular example in New Zealand is the 1890s Bishop's Palace in Saint Mary's Bay, Auckland, commissioned by Bishop Luck. John Luck (1840-1896) had been a personal friend of A.W. Pugin having made his acquaintance while being Abbot of the monastery at Ramsgate, near A.W. Pugin's house, the Grange.