Vintage view: Sir George Gilbert Scott’s Gothic fantasies

Kya deLongchamps relishes a new book celebrating the work of the prolific English architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, who drew fire for his excessive Gothic fantasies.

I have kissed many a lamp post, riveted by the ornamental brickwork or Art Nouveau panels clinging to the upper stories of a forgotten Victorian treasure, usually clapped in neon signage in Cork or Dublin.

Mid to late 19th century civic and private buildings rarely get attention from touring gawkers. Over-blown, conspicuous with ornament and pushed aside in favour of the restraint of polite Georgian lines — these busy facades and interiors have long fallen out of fashion — and for most of the 20th century were truly despised in progressive architectural circles.