Lights, camera, action!
Country Life UK|September 11, 2024
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
Lights, camera, action!

ONE day in January 1938, Christopher Hussey, then Editor of COUNTRY LIFE, went to visit Birchens Spring near Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, a newly built country house in the Chilterns designed for C. Rissik by John Campbell, a little-known English architect, and built by Messrs William Hartley of Slough. Writing in COUNTRY LIFE (January 29 and February 5, 1938), Hussey was greatly impressed by the originality and maturity of Birchens Spring’s design, which combines ‘something of the provincial Roman villa, something of the English manor house, and something, too, of “modern”’. Why, he wondered, had we never heard of Campbell before? The answer was simple—‘because he was not here’. At least, not that often, his life story reveals.

John Archibald Campbell (1878–1948) was born in Wolverhampton, where he studied and later taught at the School of Art. In 1902, he met Heinrich Pössenbacher, the son of a Munich interior decorator, who offered him a job as chief designer. In July 1914, Campbell was appointed regius professor of Architecture at the Kunstgewerbeschule in Munich, Germany.

However, the outbreak of war that year saw him interned for the duration before being repatriated to Britain in August 1918.

Between 1922 and 1928, Campbell was a partner in Falconer, Baker & Campbell, based at Amberley in the Cotswolds, where the practice designed several houses in the Arts-and-Crafts tradition. The partnership was dissolved in 1928, after which Campbell opened an office in Berlin.

However, the economic depression of 1931 forced his return to England where he settled in Cornwall. Here, between 1934 and 1939, he built three houses, similar in style to Birchens Spring, on the headland at Chapel Point, Mevagissey. It was typical of the ill luck that dogged his life that Campbell fell from the cliff and died in August 1948, when returning to Chapel Point after posting the papers for a planning appeal to continue the development.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 11, 2024-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 11, 2024-Ausgabe von Country Life UK.

Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.

WEITERE ARTIKEL AUS COUNTRY LIFE UKAlle anzeigen
Tales as old as time
Country Life UK

Tales as old as time

By appointing writers-in-residence to landscape locations, the National Trust is hoping to spark in us a new engagement with our ancient surroundings, finds Richard Smyth

time-read
2 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024
Do the active farmer test
Country Life UK

Do the active farmer test

Farming is a profession, not a lifestyle choice’ and, therefore, the Budget is unfair

time-read
3 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024
Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin
Country Life UK

Night Thoughts by Howard Hodgkin

Charlotte Mullins comments on Moght Thoughts

time-read
2 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024
SOS: save our wild salmon
Country Life UK

SOS: save our wild salmon

Jane Wheatley examines the dire situation facing the king of fish

time-read
3 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024
Into the deep
Country Life UK

Into the deep

Beneath the crystal-clear, alien world of water lie the great piscean survivors of the Ice Age. The Lake District is a fish-spotter's paradise, reports John Lewis-Stempel

time-read
4 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024
It's alive!
Country Life UK

It's alive!

Living, burping and bubbling fermented masses of flour, yeast and water that spawn countless loaves—Emma Hughes charts the rise and rise) of sourdough starters

time-read
4 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024
There's orange gold in them thar fields
Country Life UK

There's orange gold in them thar fields

A kitchen staple that is easily taken for granted, the carrot is actually an incredibly tricky customer to cultivate that could reduce a grown man to tears, says Sarah Todd

time-read
3 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024
True blues
Country Life UK

True blues

I HAVE been planting English bluebells. They grow in their millions in the beechwoods that surround us—but not in our own garden. They are, however, a protected species. The law is clear and uncompromising: ‘It is illegal to dig up bluebells or their bulbs from the wild, or to trade or sell wild bluebell bulbs and seeds.’ I have, therefore, had to buy them from a respectable bulb-merchant.

time-read
3 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024
Oh so hip
Country Life UK

Oh so hip

Stay the hand that itches to deadhead spent roses and you can enjoy their glittering fruits instead, writes John Hoyland

time-read
4 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024
A best kept secret
Country Life UK

A best kept secret

Oft-forgotten Rutland, England's smallest county, is a 'Notswold' haven deserving of more attention, finds Nicola Venning

time-read
3 Minuten  |
November 13, 2024