Sharpe, Paley and Austin are the surnames of architects who practised in Lancaster, Lancashire, England, between 1835 and 1946, working either alone or in partnership. The full names of the principals in their practice, which went under various names during its life, are Edmund Sharpe (1809–77); Edward Graham Paley (1823–95), who practised as E. G. Paley; Hubert James Austin (1841–1915); Henry Anderson Paley (1859–1946), son of Edward, usually known as Harry Paley; and, for a very brief period, Geoffrey Langshaw Austin (1884–1971), son of Hubert. The firm's commissions were mainly for buildings in Lancashire and what is now Cumbria, but also in Yorkshire, Cheshire, the West Midlands, North Wales, and Hertfordshire.
Offices of the practice in Castle Hill, Lancaster, from 1860 until it closed in 1946
Edmund Sharpe
Holy Trinity Church, Blackburn, (1837–48) Sharpe's largest church
Hornby Castle to which Sharpe and Paley made additions and alterations between 1847 and 1852
Edmund Sharpe was an English architect, architectural historian, railway engineer, and sanitary reformer. Born in Knutsford, Cheshire, he was educated first by his parents and then at schools locally and in Runcorn, Greenwich and Sedbergh. Following his graduation from Cambridge University he was awarded a travelling scholarship, enabling him to study architecture in Germany and southern France. In 1835 he established an architectural practice in Lancaster, initially working on his own. In 1845 he entered into partnership with Edward Paley, one of his pupils. Sharpe's main focus was on churches, and he was a pioneer in the use of terracotta as a structural material in church building, designing what were known as "pot" churches, the first of which was St Stephen and All Martyrs' Church, Lever Bridge.
Sharpe, c. 1860
William Whewell, Professor of Mineralogy when Sharpe was studying at Cambridge
St Mark's Church, Witton, one of Sharpe's earliest churches
St Michael's Church, Kirkham showing Sharpe's steeple