See a slideshow of Hardman of Birmingham images

Take the silver toast rack pictured here. It turned up in an auction in Australia where specialists rightly believed it was designed by that master of gothic, A.W.N. Pugin. But in the absence of any documentary evidence, they couldn’t prove it.

In the course of their research, the auctioneers turned to one of Pugin’s suppliers, the Birmingham-based John Hardman & Co.

Founded in 1838, it was Hardman who created much of the Pugin-designed furnishings,

enamel work, embroidery, metalwork and, most especially, stained glass for the Gothic Revival movement that was so strong during the mid-19th century.

By coincidence, Hardman specialists were at the time concentrating on another auction on the other side of the world.

In a glitzy Los Angeles sale was property from the Italian Renaissance-style Malibu home of superstar Cher, a noted collector and devotee of Pugin’s gothic works of art.

Hardman were most interested in securing a pair of Gothic Revival painted brass chandeliers and a matching pair of floor-standing lamps made by the company to Pugin’s design, which Cher had acquired for her dining room.

Coincidentally, in Cher’s library was a folio of important Pugin drawings used to illustrate the second volume of his “Examples of Gothic Architecture”, one of the seminal 19th century books on the Gothic Revival style.

In addition to providing fascinating insight into the preparatory work for the book, the drawings were also must-have archival material for the Hardman specialists.

When the bidding started, Hardman secured the chandeliers, the lamps and the drawings and went home happy.

And the toast rack? Amazingly, there among drawings was one featuring the very same toast rack, cancelling out all doubt that Pugin himself had designed it. When the Australian auction took place, Hardman bought the toast rack too.

And the full circle part of this tale? It would be wonderful to be able to write that these rediscovered treasures once graced the rooms of Chirk Castle.

That’s not the case. However, Pugin did remodel the interior of the National Trust-owned property on the outskirts of Wrexham in North Wales.

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin (1812-1852) was one of the most influential architects and designers of the 19th century.

As a 15-year-old he designed a set of gothic chairs for George IV and subsequently went on to act as architect for the New Palace of Westminster (the House of Commons) after a disastrous fire destroyed the original building.

In the event, Pugin designed everything from the façade of Big Ben down. In doing so he presented Hardman with one of the firm;’s most important commissions: producing the stained glass and complete range of metalwork from inkstands and umbrella-stands to chandeliers and the jewelled and enamelled ornaments of the Royal Throne.

Pugin pioneered an appreciation of medieval art and architecture and established in his writings and design manuals the principles upon which the 19th century Gothic Revival was based.

His ideas were adopted and developed by followers as diverse as William Morris and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Pugin virtually invented modern concepts of interior and industrial design.

A master in the use of colour, pattern and ornament, with no fear of modern technology, he was also a prolific product designer, creating furniture and woodwork, silver, metalwork and jewellery, pottery and tiles, textiles and wallpapers, and books, all of which reflected his desire to adapt the principles of medieval art to the modern world.

At that time, Chirk was the home of Colonel and Mrs Robert Myddleton Biddulph (1805-1852). Looking to follow fashion, they turned to Pugin to imbue the property with a Medievalist decorative style and they engaged Hardman to supply the metalwork, wallpaper, curtains, stained glass and furniture, all with Gothic motifs.

There could be no better setting in the region for the current exhibition and it’s worth catching before it moves on.

John Hardman left his partnership in the Birmingham family button-making business to found his company in 1838, quickly establishing a reputation for fine craftsmanship which found its way into ecclesiastical and secular buildings all over the world.

His friendship with Pugin was a key factor in his success. Pugin, who was an only child, regarded Hardman as the brother he never had, and shared with him not only his ideas but the details of his often tragic personal life.

By 1845, a showroom had been set up in Great Charles Street, in Birmingham, and illustrated catalogues brought international business to the door.

The willingness of Pugin and Hardman to use the manufacturing techniques developed in the city during the Industrial Revolution meant products were widely available and affordable, at a time when Victorian England was fascinated by the art and architecture of the Middle Ages.

The pair were the dominant figures in the creation and furnishing of the Medieval Court at the Great Exhibition of 1851.

Though openly despising the Crystal Palace as “the green monster” and “a beastly place to show off Gothic work”, they seized the opportunity to enthrall visitors with Gothic spires, twinkling candles, the warm glow of stained glass, and the smell of incense.

Many of the world’s cathedrals, churches and civic buildings contain windows designed and made by Hardmans, and overseas commissions and conservation projects are still the main contributors to the continued success of the company.

It is possible to visit the firm’s Birmingham studios by prior arrangement (telephone 0121 429 7609), while a new book has been written by the firm’s archivist and researcher Michael Fisher, to celebrate the company’s 170th anniversary in 2008.

“Gothic Forever! – A History of John Hardman & Company” will be available from Landmark Publishing in the new year (telephone: 01335 347349).

But forget the unlikely storyline (or lack of it), Kate Beckinsale’s amazing hydraulic teeth and the bloody special effects. Go and revel instead in the glorification of everything gothic. And if there isn’t a modern day revival in interest in gothic antiques, I’ll eat my bat!

The first gothic revival began in England during the 18th century as romantic interest in medieval art became a fashionable pastime. The next revival, which occurred in the 19th century, resulted in what was subsequently described as “the most widespread and influential artistic movement which England has ever produced”.

Gothic furniture was inspired by the architectural ornament, the pointed arches of stained glass windows and the pinnacled towers of medieval churches and tombs.

Robert Adam and Thomas Chippendale were early devotees of the Gothic style, but arguably the most significant designer of Victorian Gothic furniture was a 15-year-old boy!

Not just any boy, though. In later life, he single-handedly designed every detail of both the interior and exterior of the new Houses of Parliament after a fire destroyed the original building.

His name was Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin and he became the inspired pioneer of the Gothic Revival – the influence of which is still felt today.

Pugin’s life was to be tragically short but prodigiously energetic and the fruits of his labour remain in both fine art and architecture that is extravagant but not always attractive.

A.W.N. Pugin (1812-1852) was essentially an architect, but he rejected the excesses of the Regency period and other styles that had gone before, choosing instead the refined essentials of more simple lines.

He took his lead from his father, Augustus Charles (1762-1832) a French émigré who worked as a draughtsman and watercolourist.

Examples of the latter’s furniture designs, while limited in number, show a distinct leaning towards the gothic and his son was clearly inspired.

His son’s involvement in his business began early in 1827, just as George IV was giving up his London home, Carlton House.

The young Pugin was working at the time for the firm of furniture makers Morel and Seddon. Nicholas Morel had been employed as “Upholder Extraordinary” to the Prince Regent (subsequently George IV) on a variety of commissions, the first being the sumptuous oriental frivolity, the Brighton Pavilion in 1795.

In partnership with Robert Hughes, Morel supervised the furnishing of Carlton House (1810-1812) and, by the express command of the King, was subsequently employed at Windsor Castle with George Seddon, whose partner he became in 1827.

Although much of the furniture from Carlton House was dispersed, various pieces were selected for use at Windsor and in his uncompleted autobiography, Pugin wrote “began to make drawings of furniture in Carlton palace for Mr Morel previous to their removal to Windsor Castle”.

These drawings were almost certainly intended to be incorporated into the room designs for Windsor, prepared that year for the King’s approval by Morel and Seddon, along with the architect, Sir Jeffry Wyatville.

Later the same year, on June 26, 1827, Pugin’s autobiography records more of his involvement: “Went to design and make working drawings for the gothic furniture of Windsor Castle at £1. 1s. per day for the following rooms. The Long gallery, the coffee room, the vestibule anti-room, halls, grand staircase, octagon room in the Brunswick tower, and Great Dining Room”.

Immediately after George IV’s death in June 1830, the government disputed Morel and Seddon’s bill – of just over £200,000 – for the work undertaken at Windsor, on the grounds that it far exceeded their original estimate.

In their defence, the firm argued that had been impossible to make accurate projections for such a large commission, and their account of the work reveals details of men being obliged to labour through the night, as well as fascinating evidence of an all-out strike on the part of the royal decorators, which cost the firm “many thousands of pounds”. In the end, and after much wrangling, the bill was settled at £179,300 18s 9d.

Pugin, meanwhile, was keeping busy. At about the same time, he was also designing silver for the royal goldsmiths Rundell and Bridge and by the 1830s, he was heavily committed to architecture, insisting on archaeological sincerity and truthfulness to the materials he employed.

He attempted to make his designs look like medieval originals, whereas other designers latching on to the gothic revival merely paid lip service to the movement by adding angles and points to contemporary shapes.

By 1835, he had written his first treatise on design – “Gothic Furniture in the Style of the 15th Century”, followed by “Designs for Iron and Brass Work” the following year and “The True Principles of Pointed or Christian Architecture” in 1841.

Pugin also designed gothic ceramics for Minton, heraldic wallpapers, heavy but impressive jewellery and ecclesiastic plate, furniture and furnishings for churches built to his specification.

One noted Pugin design contract was for the Medieval Court at the Great Exhibition of 1851, but his tour de force was the Houses of Parliament in 1836-7.

Working around the clock and without so much as a clerk or assistant, he designed every detail from the facade of Big Ben down to the inkpots and umbrella stands – all, of course, in high gothic style.

Strangely, though, he subsequently decried the frivolity of his early work. In his autobiography he wrote: “Everything is crocketed with angular projections, innumerable mitres, sharp ornaments, and turreted extremities … I have perpetrated many of these enormities in the furniture I designed some years ago for Windsor Castle … all my knowledge of pointed architecture was confined to a tolerably good notion of details in the abstract; but these I employed with so little judgement or propriety, that, although the parts were correct and exceedingly well executed, collectively they appeared a complete burlesque of pointed design.”

Clearly Pugin worked himself into an early grave. He died insane, aged 40, in 1852, after a nervous breakdown eight months earlier.

I wonder what he would have made of the Van Helsing movie sets!

Picture shows: A grandly gothic revival carved oak armchair, circa 1870. Note the positively architectural features of the arched back. It’s worth £2,000-1,500 Photo: Sotheby’s

antiques@chris-proudlove.co.uk