Sir George Gilbert Scott (July 13, 1811 – March 27, 1878) was an English architect of the Victorian Age, chiefly associated with the design, building and renovation of churches and cathedrals.
Born in Gawcott, Buckinghamshire, he was inspired by August Pugin to join the Gothic revival of the Victorian era, his first notable work being the Martyrs' Memorial on St Giles in Oxford (1841).
Other designs by him include:
- two lodge houses at Great Barr Hall, near Birmingham (pre-1863)
- St John the Baptist's Church, Eastnor , Herefordshire (1852)
- formal gardens at Lanhydrock House, near Bodmin, Cornwall (1857, assisted by Richard Coad)
- Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Whitehall, London (1861-1868)
- the Albert Memorial (1862)
- The Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in St. John's, Newfoundland (1847)
- St Pancras Station (1865)
- the main building of the new campus of the University of Glasgow (1870), often called the "Gilbert Scott Building" in his honour
One of Scott's major interests was medieval church architecture. He was involved in the restoration of several cathedrals (including those at Chichester, Gloucester, Wakefield and Exeter), plus Pershore Abbey, Great Malvern Priory and St. Margaret's, Westminster, and designed the chapels of Exeter College, Oxford and St John's College, Cambridge.
Lichfield Cathedral's ornate West Front was extensively renovated by Scott from 1855 - 1878. He restored the Cathedral to the form he believed it took in the Middle Ages, working with original materials where possible and creating imitations when the originals were not available. It is recognised as some of his finest work.
Knighted in 1872, he died in 1878 and was buried in Westminster Abbey.
His sons George Gilbert Scott Junior and John Oldrid Scott and grandson, Giles Gilbert Scott, were also prominent architects.
