Culham Court is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

house at

Remenham Remenham is a village and civil parish on the Berkshire bank of the River Thames opposite Henley-on-Thames in southern England. It is particularly well known for the steep approach, known as Remenham Hill or White Hill (due to the chalky nature ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; in the 17th century sometimes spelt phonetically as Barkeshire; abbreviated Berks.) is a historic county in South East England. One of the home counties, Berkshire was recognised by Queen Elizabeth II as the Royal County of Berk ...

History

Culham Court dates back to at least the medieval period. In the late 1760s, the original house was bought by London lawyer, Richard Michell, whose personal fortune was based on his marriage to an

Antigua Antigua ( ), also known as Waladli or Wadadli by the native population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua and Bar ...

n sugar heiress, but it burnt down whilst being repaired. The current house was built in 1771 by the architect

Sir William Chambers __NOTOC__ Sir William Chambers (23 February 1723 – 10 March 1796) was a Swedish-Scottish architect, based in London. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. Biog ...

, for Robert Mitchell. In 1893, the house was tenanted by Sir Henry Barber, 1st Baronet and his wife. He died in 1927 and she in 1933. Later owners included the newspaper owner

Cecil Harmsworth King Cecil Harmsworth King (20 February 1901 – 17 April 1987) was Chairman of Daily Mirror Newspapers, Sunday Pictorial Newspapers and the International Publishing Corporation (1963–1968), and a director at the Bank of England (1965–1968). Bio ...

. In 1949, the house was bought by the financier Michael Behrens, later co-owner of

Ionian Bank The Ionian Bank (IB) was a British overseas bank that investors established in 1839 to operate in the Ionian Isles, which was then a British Protectorate. It served also as the central bank of the United States of the Ionian Islands. IB later exp ...

, and his wife Felicity. Their artist son

Timothy Behrens Timothy John Behrens (2 June 1937 – 2017) was a British painter who spent most of his professional life as a painter and a writer abroad, in Greece, Italy, and Spain. Early life Timothy John Behrens was born in London on 2 June 1937, the so ...

grew up there, and would entertain friends including

Hugh Casson Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect. He was also active as an interior designer, as an artist, and as a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for t ...

and

Edward Ardizzone Edward Jeffrey Irving Ardizzone, (16 October 1900 – 8 November 1979), who sometimes signed his work "DIZ", was an English painter, print-maker and war artist, and the author and illustrator of books, many of them for children. For ''Tim All ...

. Behrens died in 1989, but Felicity lived there until 1996. In 1997, the house was bought by

Sir Martyn Arbib ''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...

for his daughter, Annabel (married to businessman Paddy Nicoll). Arbib bought it for £12 million, and in 2006, they sold it to Swiss-born British billionaire

Urs Schwarzenbach Urs Ernst Schwarzenbach, CStJ (born 1948) is a UK-based Swiss financier. In May 2020, the ''Sunday Times'' estimated his net worth at £978 million. Early life Urs Schwarzenbach was born in Thalwil in 1948, and raised in Küsnacht. He is ...

for £35 million, £10 million above the asking price.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Culham Court, Berkshire Grade II* listed buildings in Berkshire Buildings and structures on the River Thames Houses completed in 1771 Grade II* listed houses Country houses in Berkshire Remenham