Editing Gothic Revival architecture (section)

===Ruskin and Venetian Gothic===
{{Main|Venetian Gothic architecture|High Victorian Gothic}}
[[File:Ismailiya Palace from the corner.jpg|upright=1.3|thumb|Venetian Gothic in [[Baku]], [[Azerbaijan]]]]

[[John Ruskin]] supplemented Pugin's ideas in his two influential theoretical works, ''[[The Seven Lamps of Architecture]]'' (1849) and [[The Stones of Venice (book)|''The Stones of Venice'']] (1853). Finding his architectural ideal in [[Venice]], Ruskin proposed that Gothic buildings excelled above all other architecture because of the "sacrifice" of the stone-carvers in intricately decorating every stone. In this, he drew a contrast between the physical and spiritual satisfaction which a medieval craftsman derived from his work, and the lack of these satisfactions afforded to modern, [[Industrial Revolution|industrialised]] labour.{{efn|Ruskin also had an abhorrence of the contemporary "restorer" of Gothic buildings. Writing in the Preface to the first edition of his ''The Seven Lamps of Architecture'', he remarked; "[My] whole time has been lately occupied in taking drawings from the one side of buildings, of which masons were knocking down the other".{{sfn|Ruskin|1989|p=ix}}}}{{sfn|Charlesworth|2002c|p=343}}

By declaring the [[Doge's Palace, Venice|Doge's Palace]] to be "the central building of the world", Ruskin argued the case for Gothic government buildings as Pugin had done for churches, though mostly only in theory. When his ideas were put into practice, Ruskin often disliked the result, although he supported many architects, such as [[Thomas Newenham Deane]] and [[Benjamin Woodward]], and was reputed to have designed some of the [[corbel]] decorations for that pair's [[Oxford University Museum of Natural History]].{{sfn|Dixon|Muthesius|1993|p=160}} A major clash between the Gothic and Classical styles in relation to governmental offices occurred less than a decade after the publication of ''The Stones of Venice''. A public competition for the construction of a new [[Foreign and Commonwealth Office|Foreign Office]] in [[Whitehall]] saw the decision to award first place to a Gothic design by [[George Gilbert Scott]] overturned by the Prime Minister, [[Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston|Lord Palmerston]], who successfully demanded a building in the [[Italianate architecture|Italianate]] style.{{efn|The rumour that Scott repurposed his Foreign Office design for the [[St. Pancras Renaissance London Hotel|Midland Grand Hotel]] is unfounded.{{sfn|Cherry|Pevsner|2002|p=362}}}}{{sfn|Stamp|2015|p=152}}