John Raphael Rodrigues Brandon

[3] Both Raphael and Joshua Brandon were keen adherents of the Neo Gothic style and they jointly produced a series of three works on Early English ecclesiastical architecture that became and remained architectural pattern books for the whole 19th century: serves the one useful and necessary purpose of showing practically and constructively what the builders of the middle ages really did with the materials they had at hand, and how all those materials, whatever they were, were made to harmonise.

[4]In the 1840s, Raphael and Joshua designed several stations and engine-houses in the style of medieval manor houses on the London and Croydon Railway, disguising chimneys as early Gothic church bell-towers.

Thomas Hardy, who worked briefly for Brandon, based his description of Henry Knight's chambers in his novel A Pair of Blue Eyes on his office at Clement's Inn.

[20][21] Paying tribute to Brandon shortly after his death, Charles Barry said[2] ...the most important work which he executed, and the one which brought him chiefly into notice as an ecclesiastical architect, was the Catholic Apostolic Church in Gordon Square.

But we must remember that it was begun at a period when the study of Gothic architecture was still immature, and when in the interest of our art it was better to copy correctly than to design with an originality which might not bear the test of criticism.