Name

Hubert Austin

Designation
Architect
Place of Birth
Redmarshall Co Durham
Location
Lancaster

Hubert James Austin was born at Redmarshall, Co Durham, the son of the Rector, the Rev. T. Austin on 31 March 1841. Educated at Richmond Grammar School, he was articled to his elder brother, Thomas, a Newcastle architect in 1860-1864. Upon completion of his articles he sat the Voluntary Examination in 1864 to become an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1865 he joined the office of Sir George Gilbert Scott, where he remained until 1867.First Pugin scholar in 1866. Austin may have worked on the drawings for St Pancras station. While with Scott he designed a church at Ashford in Kent. Unusually, Scott allowed the design of his young assistant to be built.

In late 1867 or early 1868 Austin joined Paley, and the practice became Paley and Austin. There were already several long-standing links between Paley and the Austin family. In 1845, Sharpe restored Redmarshall Church when Austin's father was still Rector. On this occasion, in addition to having Paley as a pupil, Sharpe also had Tom Austin working with him. This man was the eldest son of the Vicar and a good friend of E. G. Paley. Did Tom Austin, knowing that Paley was seeking a partner encourage his young half-brother (whom Paley must have met as a child) to join his old friend in Lancaster'

Austin brought to the practice great talent and energy. The firm now rapidly gained a national reputation, erecting churches, restoring ecclesiastical buildings and providing a range of other works through the North West. Pevsner has said that Austin had 'genius'" and as Paley's 'brilliant partner raised (the work of the firm) to the level of the best in the country'. Austin, endowed with these abilities, concentrated upon his work and took little or no part in public affairs except for being a Commissioner of Land Tax in 1886. He was not the gentleman amateur that Sharpe had been and had greater talent than Paley: he was an architect first and foremost. Like the other two men he was interested in ecclesiastical history and archaeology and was frequently sought after as an adviser in the restoration of medieval churches.

Socially he was a gifted musician and member of the Orchestral Society and of the Choral Society (both his wife and mother in law being well known local singers), as well as being fond of sketching and water colour painting. A very faithful member of Lancaster Parish Church, where he was vicar's warden for seven years and later sidesman, he superintended its alterations and renovations up to his death. The new porch, which he designed and paid for, was a memorial to his wife's parents Dr and Mrs James Langshaw. 

Austin married Fanny Langshaw, the niece of Edmund Sharpe, in 1870 and they had two sons and four daughters. Designed his own house, “The Knoll,” Westbourne Road, Lancaster and had Mawson lay out the garden He also had a country houses at Haversham Hall in Cumbria and later purchased Kingsworthy Court near Winchester, to which he travelled each summer to sketch and paint.

Partnerships

Name Designation Formed Dissolved Location
Austin and Paley Architectural practice 1895 1914 Lancaster
Austin Paley and Austin Architectural practice 1914 1915 Lancaster
Paley Austin and Paley Architectural practice 1886 1895 Lancaster
Paley and Austin Architectural practice 1868 1886 Lancaster