Small is beautiful

An 1830s schoolhouse has been reworked to create a perfect smaller country house. John Martin Robinson admires the skill of the craftsmanship and the character of the building

- John Martin Robinson

Church Cottage, Humbleton, East Yorkshire The home of Digby Harris

THE houses of architects always have a special interest, as they reveal much about their occupants’ taste and approach to professional practice. Church Cottage at Humbleton is no exception. It is the Yorkshire home of Digby Harris, who, for many years, was a senior partner in the Bridlington-based practice of Francis Johnson & Partners, until his recent retirement. The firm, founded by the late Francis Johnson (1911–95) in the 1930s, was a leading purveyor of traditional classical architecture in Britain for nearly 100 years and is best known for its country houses, many of which have been featured in COUNTRY LIFE.

Mr Harris joined the firm in 1989, towards the end of Johnson’s life. He had studied architecture at Newcastle University and he has maintained the unique spirit of the practice, producing good-looking, unflashy, literate classical buildings like a latter-day Carr of York. He worked with Francis Johnson on Hilborough House in Norfolk, a large flintfaced building of 1990–97 for the late Hugh van Cutsem, and has been responsible for many independent works such as the reconstruction of Selaby Hall in Co Durham for the present Lord Barnard, Home Farm at Hartforth, North Yorkshire, for Sir Josslyn Gore-Booth and Wootton Hall in Staffordshire for the Hon Johnny Greenall. He most recently worked on a new Palladian gateway for the Netherhampton entrance to the park at Wilton House for the Earl of Pembroke.