C. H. B. Quennell Explained

C. H. B. Quennell
Birth Name:Charles Henry Bourne Quennell
Nationality:British
Education:Architecture

Charles Henry Bourne Quennell (1872–1935), was an English architect, designer, illustrator and historian. According to the heritage architect Cath Layton, "his great influence [as an architect and urban planner] can be felt in the houses and streets of London’s suburbs and across the country."[1] His obituary in Nature noted that his books for children and young people had "strongly stimulated interest in the cultural background of the more formal study of history".[2]

Life and career

Quennell was the son of Henry Quennell, a builder, and his wife Emma Rebecca (née Hobbs),[3] and grew up in a house at Cowley Road on the Holland Town Estate, Kennington, London.

He was articled to Newman and Newman, and worked in the offices of J. McK. Brydon and of J. D. Sedding and Henry Wilson. He obtained the National Gold medal for Architecture, and RIBA Medal of Merit and £5 in the Soane Medallion competition in 1895.[4] He began practice in 1896 working with his brother William developing houses at Hampstead Garden Suburb and then with developer George Washington Hart.[5]

He designed a house for Francis Crittall window manufacturer at Braintree, Essex in 1908.[6]

He designed a house for Walter Crittall son of window manufacturer Francis Crittall at Braintree, Essex in 1912.[7]

He co-designed a 'show house' with Walter Crittall at 156-158 Cressing Road, Braintree, Essex. the house incorporated many modernist features such as a drying yard for clothes, a scullery, a larder, fuel store, outside lavatory, living room, parlour, three bedrooms and an inside bathroom and hot press.

Discussing the leading English furniture designs of the time, Herman Muthesius[8] wrote in his book The English House (1904):'... that inspired artist Henry Wilson and the excellent designer C. H. B. Quennell far outshine the rest of the group and produce work of high artistic sensibility.' In that book Muthesius discussed certain features of Quennell's illustrations and designs: fireplaces,[9] [10] garden furniture[11] and garden gates.[12]

Positions

Personal life

He was the husband of Marjorie Quennell whom he met in 1903 at the Junior Art Worker's Guild and father of Peter Quennell. With his wife, he wrote extensively on social history.

Quennell died in December 1935.

His brother, Walter, a builder and property developer, was father of Joan Quennell, a Conservative M.P.[14] [15] [16]

Architectural works

Bibliography

Works in collaboration

External links

Notes and References

  1. https://www.heritagearchitecture.co.uk/blog/2020/chb-quennell Planning the peripheries: CHB Quennell and early 20th Century suburban housing
  2. C. H. B. Quennell . 10.1038/137058b0 . Nature . 1936 . 137 . 3454 . 58 . 7529052 . free .
  3. Oxford Index. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . 2004 . ref:odnb/98233 . 10.1093/ref:odnb/98233 . 978-0-19-861411-1 .
  4. RIBA Journal, 22 December 1935, page 212
  5. Alistair Service (1989) Victorian and Edwardian Hampstead
  6. Finn Jensen 'Modernist semis and terraces in England' p. 15
  7. Finn Jensen 'Modernist semis and terraces in England' p. 15
  8. Herman Muthesius (1904) The English House
  9. Muthesius, 1904, p. 189
  10. Muthesius, 1904, p. 186
  11. Muthesius, 1904, p. 123
  12. Muthesius, 1904, p. 104
  13. Elizabeth McKellar, "C. H. B. Quennell (1872-1935): Architecture, History and the Quest for the Modern", Architectural History, Vol. 50 (2007), pp. 211-246. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  14. Architectural History, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 50, pg 219, 2007
  15. Dod's Parliamentary Companion, ed. C. R. Dod and R. P. Dod, Dod's Parliamentary Companion Ltd., 1967, pg 461
  16. Web site: Dictionary of Scottish Architects - DSA Architect Biography Report (September 15, 2021, 1:55 am).
  17. Academy Architecture; Volume 15, 1899, page 137
  18. Academy Architecture; Volume 15, 1899, page 120
  19. Muthesius, 1904, p. 134
  20. Bromley Urban District Council Plans No 3437, 1905
  21. Small Country Houses of To-day, Edited by Lawrence Weaver, 1911, pages 130–3
  22. Architectural Review, March 1905
  23. The Builder, 25 March 1927, page 480
  24. Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 3890, November 1907
  25. Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 3735, January 1907
  26. Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 3814, June 1907
  27. Bromley Urban District Council Plan no 4255, March 1910
  28. Bromley Urban District Council Plans dated 22 September 1910
  29. Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 4387, March 1911
  30. Web site: Read the House History of Bossington Hall luxury B&B. 2 July 2021.
  31. Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 4471, January 1912
  32. Modern Building Record, 1912
  33. Academy Architecture; ii, 1913, pages 34 -5
  34. Architectural Review No.51, 1922, pages 154–5,
  35. The Architects' Journal, 19 May 1926
  36. Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 4609, February 1913
  37. Architectural Review, January 1919, pages 64–66
  38. The Buildings of England, Buckinghamshire, N. Pevsner, E. Williamson and G. K. Brandwood
  39. The Architects' Journal, 3 January 1923
  40. Daylight Saving in the Suburbs, Victorian Society walk notes
  41. Homes and Garden magazine, June 1931, page 23
  42. Conservation Today, David Pearce, 1989
  43. Women's Suffrage Supplement, 3 November 1910
  44. The Architects' and Builders' Journal, 1 January 1919, page 3
  45. The Architects' Journal, 9 April 1919
  46. The Architects' Journal, 19 October 1921

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "C. H. B. Quennell".

Except where otherwise indicated, Everything.Explained.Today is © Copyright 2009-2024, A B Cryer, All Rights Reserved. Cookie policy.