Harold Falkner FRIBA (1875–1963) was a notable British architect in the early 20th century and is now considered a leading exponent of the

vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

and the Arts & Crafts in architecture. Most of his surviving buildings are in West Surrey. Falkner in his final years

Biography

Early career

Falkner attended

Farnham Grammar School Farnham Grammar School is now called Farnham College which is located in Farnham, Surrey, southern England. History The grammar school was created at some time before 1585 (the date of a donation being made by a Richard Searle "to the maintenan ...

and was articled first with the influential architect Sir

Reginald Blomfield Sir Reginald Theodore Blomfield (20 December 1856 – 27 December 1942) was a prolific British architect, garden designer and author of the Victorian and Edwardian period. Early life and career Blomfield was born at Bow rectory in Devon, w ...

and then with the Farnham practice of Niven & Wigglesworth who he joined in partnership in 1900 under the name of Niven, Wigglesworth & Falkner. This partnership was dissolved by 1909 and he worked mostly on his own for the remainder of his career, apart from three years in partnership with a younger Farnham-bred architect,

Guy Maxwell Aylwin Guy Maxwell Aylwin AAdipl FRIBA (1889–1968) was a British architect, practising almost wholly in the West Surrey area around Farnham. Biography Early career Aylwin was articled with the Farnham practice of Niven & Wigglesworth between 1910 ...

Later career

Based out of the modest market-town of

Farnham Farnham ( /ˈfɑːnəm/) is a market town and civil parish in Surrey, England, around southwest of London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, close to the county border with Hampshire. The town is on the north branch of the River Wey, a trib ...

, in

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

, his buildings, around 115 of them, are all in that area. A lifelong friend of

Gertrude Jekyll Gertrude Jekyll ( ; 29 November 1843 – 8 December 1932) was a British horticulturist, garden designer, craftswoman, photographer, writer and artist. She created over 400 gardens in the United Kingdom, Europe and the United States, and wrote ...

, he was a near-contemporary of

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

, many of whose buildings can be seen in the locality. He was frequently featured in the architectural press of the time and created buildings in a range of styles, from

Arts and Crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

and Queen Anne to neo-

Georgian Georgian may refer to: Common meanings * Anything related to, or originating from Georgia (country) ** Georgians, an indigenous Caucasian ethnic group ** Georgian language, a Kartvelian language spoken by Georgians **Georgian scripts, three scrip ...

and Tudor. His relative obscurity has been attributed to his refusal to adopt the

Modern Movement Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

and his rather obstinate character. His

obituary An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...

in the

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism � ...

was written by Sir

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

. His houses include Stranger's Corner (the former home of W. H. Allen), the Farnham Town Hall buildings and Bailiff's Hall (both

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 ...

), the Tudor-style "Spinning Wheel" building in the Borough. The (former) Jolly Farmer, Runfold is a fine brick and stone building and the cottages next to Manor Farm in Seale are a good essay in the sort of workers' cottages being built all over the

countryside in this period. Delarden in Moor Park is a very interesting rendered country house. Although less successful is his scheme for the Sampsons Almshouses (1933–34) on West Street, Farnham, which is not nearly as good as the Macdonalds Almshouses (1908) next door. These Almshouses were designed by Farnham's other prominent architect of the day,

Arthur Stedman Arthur J Stedman FRIBA (1868–1958) was a British architect in the Late-Victorian era, Victorian and Edwardian periods. He was a prominent architect in and around Farnham, Surrey where he was educated, lived and died. Biography Career Art ...

, who was probably his most significant rival.

Dippenhall

The Falkners had a large land ownership in this small village just a mile or so to the West of

. It was here that he realised some of his most interesting works as he built throughout his career a dozen or so important houses, using a variety of refurbishments, extensions and recycled old buildings as havens for the vernacular architecture of West Surrey. Dippenhall Houses: *Dippenhall Grange *Overdeans Court *Halfway House (Dora's Green). *Deans Knowe *The Barn *Meads *Burles *Burles Lodge *Grovers Farm *The Old Barn

Farnham and Charles Borelli

Falkner is reputed to have been a key contributor to the preservation of

as one of the best

towns in England.

Nicholas Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

disagreed with the derivation of the town as a Georgian gem and considered the town to be a reproduction of what the

Victorians In the history of the United Kingdom and the British Empire, the Victorian era was the period of Queen Victoria's reign, from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The era followed the Georgian period and preceded the Edwardian ...

thought a

town should look like. Nonetheless, with the local politician,

Charles Borelli Charles is a masculine given name predominantly found in English and French speaking countries. It is from the French form ''Charles'' of the Proto-Germanic name (in runic alphabet) or ''*karilaz'' (in Latin alphabet), whose meaning was "f ...

, his lifelong friend and collaborator, Falkner was responsible for several important works intended to preserve and enhance the town centre of

at a time when few architects respected the need to maintain this cultural heritage.

remains the town it is today, as a large part the result of their joint advocacy. Such buildings as 40, 41 and 42 The Borough, The Town Hall Buildings, 10 Castle Street, the Bush Hotel and the Bailiffs Hall exemplify his approach of careful addition, renewal and recycling.

Partnership with Guy Maxwell Aylwin

He also did much work in collaboration with the prominent Farnham architect,

with whom he was in partnership between 1927 and 1930 under the name of Falkner & Aylwin, including rebuilds of many local

pub A pub (short for public house) is a kind of drinking establishment which is licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption on the premises. The term ''public house'' first appeared in the United Kingdom in late 17th century, and was ...

s for Courage's brewery, including the Seven Stars on East Street. Guy Maxwell Aylwin was from a family of local architects, father and son, much like his contemporary,

and son, Leonard. Aylwin, like the younger Stedman was apprenticed at the offices of

Sir Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memoria ...

, who was raised just outside

and built many of his earliest and most successful projects there. Falkner, Stedman and Aylwin are the three locally born Arts & Crafts architects who contributed most to the area's cultural heritage in this period.

Roderick Gradidge and Michael Blower

A number of his projects have been altered, restored and extended by the twin and eminent skills of architects,

Michael Blower Michael Blower MBE AAdipl FRIBA FRSA (born 1929) is a notable British architect, activist for the preservation and restoration of England's cultural heritage and accomplished watercolourist and recorder of England's townscapes. Most of his buil ...

and

Roderick Gradidge Roderick Gradidge AA Dipl. ARIBA (3 January 1929 – 20 December 2000) was a British architect and writer on architecture, former Master of the Art Workers Guild and campaigner for a traditional architecture. Career Gradidge was an evangelist ...

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

, such as Overdeans Court, The Priory, Merlewood and Tancreds Ford (for the author

Ken Follett Kenneth Martin Follett, (born 5 June 1949) is a British author of thrillers and historical novels who has sold more than 160 million copies of his works. Many of his books have achieved high ranking on best seller lists. For example, in the ...

). The latter was the subject of two fine articles in Country Life by

Clive Aslet Clive Aslet (born 15 February 1955) is a writer on British architecture and life, and a campaigner on countryside and other issues. He was for many years editor of '' Country Life'' magazine. He is Visiting Professor of Architecture at the Universi ...

.Country Life 17 & 24 November 1983

Personal life

Harold Falkner was born into a wealthy land-owning family in the

town of

on 28 November 1875, just five months after his father's death. The family settled at 24 West Street,

in 1883 and it was in this house that the young boy remained, running his architectural practice there until his death at the age of 88 on 30 November 1963. He was never married and had no surviving children, his estate passing to his sister's family.

Legacy

Part of his archive and some of his architectural drawings survive and are housed in the Farnham Museum. Some of his archive can also be found in Stedman Blower Architects archive, in the hands of the Blower Foundation. The houses of Dippenhall remain his most lasting legacy and within a few hectares stand a dozen or so buildings designed, built and altered by him throughout his career. Fortunately most are Grade 2

Listed Buildings 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 ...

and will remain along with his significant contribution to the town centre of

, and the restoration and sensitive infill projects that he designed.

Gallery

Image:Deans-Knowe---Dippenhall-HF.jpg, Deans Knowe, Dippenhall, Surrey Image:Ash War Memorial, Surrey - geograph.org.uk - 115862.jpg, Ash War Memorial, Surrey File:Bailiffs Hall, The Borough, Farnham, Surrey.jpg, Drawing by Jill Maxwell Aylwin of he father Guy's restoration of the Bailiffs Hall undertaken with Harold Falkner in the mid 1930's File:The McConnell House, Farnham, Surrey.jpg, The McConnell House, Farnham, Surrey by Falkner & Aylwin, 1928 File:The Sampsons Almshouses, West Street, Farnham.jpg, The Sampsons Almshouses, West Street, Farnham by Harold Falkner Image:Stranger's Corner.jpg, One of Falkner's designs – Stranger's Corner,

File:The Red Lion Pub, Sunningdale, Berkshire.png, The Red Lion Pub, Sunningdale, Berkshire by Falkner & Aylwin for Courage Brewery (1931) File:12 Downing Street, Farnham.png, Former Alliance Pub, 12 Downing Street, Farnham by Falkner & Aylwin (1929)

References

Bibliography

* ''West Surrey Architects'', by Christopher Budgen. Woking: Heritage of Waverley, 2002 (paperback, ). * ''Harold Falkner: More Than an Arts & Crafts Architect'', by Sam Osmond. Chichester: Phillimore, 2003 (paperback, ). * ''The Surrey Style'', by Roderick Gradidge. Kingston:

Surrey Historic Buildings Trust The Surrey Historic Buildings Trust (sometimes abbreviated as SHBT) is a charitable organisation founded in 1980 that works to preserve the architectural heritage of Surrey, in the south east of England. History The Trust was formed in 1980, wi ...

, 1991 (paperback, ). * ''The Buildings of England: Surrey'', by Ian Nairn & Nicholas Pevsner. London: Yale University Press, 2002 2nd ed (hardback, ). * ''Dream Houses: The Edwardian Ideal'', by Roderick Gradidge. Constable, 1980 (hardback, ).

External links

*The Blower Foundation (for cultural connection) is a registered UK Charity devoted to cultural heritage and expression an

hold an archive of drawings and buildings designed by Falkner and have an online gallery of his buildings. *Stedman Blower Architect

hold additional correspondence, archives and detailed information on further projects in so far as they have been involved in works to some dozen or so of his remaining buildings. *Farnham Museu

hold additional correspondence and archives, salvaged from a skip after his death and the closure of his offices in West Street, Farnham. {{DEFAULTSORT:Falkner, Harold 1875 births 1963 deaths Architects from Surrey People from Farnham Arts and Crafts architects Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects