Michael Blower

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

AAdipl

FRIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

FRSA The Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA), also known as the Royal Society of Arts, is a London-based organisation committed to finding practical solutions to social challenges. The RSA acronym is used m ...

(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 buildings, drawings, paintings and the subjects of his activism are in West Surrey. Michael Blower Portrait

Biography

Family and Early life

The Blower family are recorded in Shrewsbury, Shropshire over several centuries from around the early 1500's, largely members of the property owning merchant classes who held local power through the City's independent institutions in contrast to the

Gentry Gentry (from Old French ''genterie'', from ''gentil'', "high-born, noble") are "well-born, genteel and well-bred people" of high social class, especially in the past. Word similar to gentle imple and decentfamilies ''Gentry'', in its widest c ...

, who held political power from their landholdings in the countryside and exercised the highest political offices of the County and Nation, such as High Sheriff and Knight of the Shire (MP). Sons (and now daughters) of the Blower family have been hereditary Freemen of the City since before the time of the

Great Reform Act The Representation of the People Act 1832 (also known as the 1832 Reform Act, Great Reform Act or First Reform Act) was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom (indexed as 2 & 3 Will. IV c. 45) that introduced major changes to the electo ...

of 1832 and Michael's great-grandfather and grandfather John had built up a successful business in the middle to late 1800's as cabinetmakers and house furnishers there, later run by John's younger brother Benjamin after John's untimely and early death. John was an Alderman of the City of Shrewbsury and Benjamin was a sometime Mayor and their former business premises, J&B Blower, now house the City Museum, and the name 'Blowers Repository' remains emblazoned across the stone facade. John had nine children - Michael's father Frank in the middle - with his wife Catherine

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is south-east of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 87,889 as of 2011. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, c ...

, kin of the Corbets, families that were amongst the most powerful landed gentry of the County from the time of the Norman Conquest through to the 19th C political emancipation that so transformed the nation. Frank was a horseman and fought in the Great War as a Captain of the

Royal Horse Artillery The Royal Horse Artillery (RHA) was formed in 1793 as a distinct arm of the Royal Regiment of Artillery (commonly termed Royal Artillery) to provide horse artillery support to the cavalry units of the British Army. (Although the cavalry link r ...

, seeing action on the Western Front, in North Africa and the Middle East. After the War, he remained in Belgium and settled in Brussels, where he was part of a vanguard rebuilding horse racing in the country and where he met his wife, Kathleen 'Kitty' (Tree) Waring. Michael was born the middle of three children in Brussels and raised in the neighbourhood of Ixelles, with French as his first language. In 1939 and as a British Citizen by birth, Michael fled Belgium with his family before the advance of the German Army and left on the last civilian boat to leave the country as war began. He attended a number of schools as the family settled into English life during the chaos of war but spent a happy six years at Douai Abbey School, moving onto the Portsmouth College of Art to study architecture.

Early career

After Portsmouth, Michael moved to London and the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...

(AA) and while on Scholarship, he was selected as one of the UK's delegates to CIAM IX Conference in

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, led by the architect Maxwell Fry and attended by such luminaries as Le Corbusier and Fernand Léger amongst others. After the AA and as a fluent French speaker, he was selected to act as

project architect In architecture, a project architect (PA) is the individual who is responsible for overseeing the architectural aspects of the development of a design, production of the construction documents ( plans), and specifications. The position generally ...

for the British Pavilions at Brussels World Expo 1958, working with designers

Felix Samuely Felix James Samuely (3 February 1902 – 22 January 1959) was a Structural engineer. Born in Vienna, he immigrated to Britain in 1933. Worked with Erich Mendelsohn on the De la Warr Pavilion, Bexhill-on-Sea (1936), the British Pavilion for the B ...

, Howard Lobb, Edward Mills, Sir

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 James Gardner. Blower spent a short period in the late 1950s working at an architectural practice in Minneapolis (US), by the name of Willard Thorsen. In the early 1960s he was an associate at Guildford architects, Scott Brownrigg & Turner, where he assisted the completion of the

Yvonne Arnaud Theatre The Yvonne Arnaud Theatre is a theatre located in Guildford, Surrey, England. Named after the actress Yvonne Arnaud, it presents a series of locally produced and national touring productions, including opera, ballet and pantomime. The theatre ...

in Guildford among other projects. In 1964 he joined Leonard Stedman as a partner at AJ & LR Stedman, which later took the name of Stedman & Blower.

Stedman & Blower Architects

The practice had been founded by Farnham's most eminent architect of the time, Arthur Stedman in 1895. After his death in 1958, the practice was continued by Leonard Stedman, his son. Michael took over the practice in its entirety in 1968 on the latter's retirement. He was awarded First Prize by the

RICS The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) is a global professional body for surveyors, founded in London in 1868. It works at a cross-governmental level, and aims to promote and enforce the highest international standards in the val ...

/''

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'' for the preservation of ''The Tanyard'', Farnham's oldest house in 1982 and an

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

Award for ''The New House'' with Roderick Gradidge in 1998. The practice is now known as Stedman Blower Architects and is one of the world's oldest architectural practices continuously operating.

Roderick Gradidge

Blower completed a number of fine restorations and extensions to country houses in Surrey in the 1980s and 1990s. He did these in a loose partnership with the prominent Chiswick-based architect, Roderick Gradidge. Their first projects were on Voysey's ''New House'' in Haslemere and on

Detmar Blow Detmar Jellings Blow (24 November 1867 – 7 February 1939) was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocracy, and later he became es ...

's ''Charles Hill Court'' for an Austrian industrialist. From there, they went on to

Harold Falkner 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 and the Arts and Crafts Movement, Arts & Crafts in architecture. Most of his surviving build ...

's ''Tancreds Ford'', which they designed and built for the writer

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 ...

and his first wife, and which was published in two articles in Country Life. Next came ''The New House'', reputedly designed by Hugh Thackeray Turner and for which they jointly won a RIBA Award, which was also published in Country Life. Just prior to Roderick's death, they were working on a project at ''Combe Court'', which was completed by Michael Blower and his son Robert, through their architectural practice, Stedman Blower.

John Clenshaw

John Clenshaw (1928–2018) was a life long employee of Michael, first joining the practice as a young apprentice in 1947 when both Arthur and Leonard Stedman were working in partnership. He became an Associate with Michael and remained in the service of the practice into semi-retirement in the late 2000s, an almost unique record of singular service of over 60 years.

Activism and public service

Blower was mayor of

Waverley Borough Council Waverley may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Waverley'' (novel), by Sir Walter Scott ** ''Waverley'' Overture, a work by Hector Berlioz inspired by Scott's novel * Waverley Harrison, a character in the New Zealand soap opera ''Shortland Stre ...

in 1995 and served as a borough councillor and Surrey

County Councillor A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irela ...

for over 20 years, representing the ward of Farnham. He was for long involved in the recording, preservation and valuing of West Surrey's architectural heritage through his involvement over 40 years with the Farnham (Buildings preservation) Trust Ltd and the Farnham Society, for which he served variously as president and chairman. He was influential in arguing for the preservation of the ''Farnham Pottery'', the last working bottle kiln in England, the ''Brightwells Gardens'' and the Redgrave Theatre in the town centre. He also ran a weekly column called ''Environmental Viewpoint'' in the Farnham Herald Newspaper between 1986 and 1991, with Susan Farrow. The articles, over two hundred and sixty in number, explored the architectural and cultural heritage of the area around Farnham. The column received a national publishers' award. In the New Years Honours 2020, he received an

for services to Farnham and the local community. In August 2022, he was added to the ‘Farnham Wall of Famous People’ by order of the Farnham Town Council.

Personal life

After his studies at university, he did two years'

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

in Singapore and was commissioned in the Royal Engineers. After an interval working in Brussels and in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he returned to the UK with his young family in late 1959 and settled in West Surrey. His great grandfather was the prominent American Jurist, philanthropist and

US Ambassador Ambassadors of the United States are persons nominated by the president to serve as the country's diplomatic representatives to foreign nations, international organizations, and as ambassadors-at-large. Under Article II, Section 2 of the U.S ...

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

and

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at the turn of the 20th century, Judge

Lambert Tree Lambert Tree (November 29, 1832 – October 9, 1910) was a United States state court judge, ambassador, and patron of the arts. The Tree Family of America and Early life The Tree family of America were amongst the first colonists from Engla ...

. His mother's half-brother was the Conservative MP

Ronald Tree Arthur Ronald Lambert Field Tree (26 September 1897 – 14 July 1976) was a British Conservative Party politician, journalist and investor who served as the Member of Parliament (MP) for the Harborough constituency in Leicestershire from 1933 t ...

, his first cousins the horse trainer

Jeremy Tree Arthur Jeremy Tree (21 December 1925 – 7 March 1993) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse trainer. Background Born into a prominent London family, Tree was always known by his middle name, Jeremy. His father was Ronald Tree, an American-born ...

, painter Michael Lambert Tree and 1960's supermodel

Penelope Tree Penelope Tree (born 2 December 1949) is an English fashion model who rose to prominence during the swinging sixties in London. Family Penelope Tree is the only child of Ronald, a British journalist, investor and Conservative MP, and Marietta Pe ...

. He married Bernadette Muûls (1933-2019), also Brussels-born, niece of the prominent Belgian diplomat and sometime Belgian Ambassador to (West) Germany and the UN in Geneva, Baron Fernand Muûls, in 1958. He was elected

Fellow A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context. In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements. Within the context of higher education ...

RIBA in 1969 and Fellow RSA in 1987. Blower has filled over 200 sketchbooks with thousands of drawings of the people and places of West Surrey. Some of these have been published. There are three surviving sons (of four), two daughters and 11 grandchildren. The eldest child, Patrick Blower (b 1959), MA is the noted British cartoonist and illustrator, formerly Evening Standard diary cartoonist (having taken over from Raymond Jackson 'JAK') and Sunday Times feature cartoonist. He is currently the chief political cartoonist at The Telegraph and has been a contributor to the BBC, Guardian Online and Private Eye over many years. Robert Blower (b 1960), BA DipArch RIBA studied architecture and urban design at the Universities of Greenwich, Westminster, Kingston and The South Bank, all in London. Robert joined Stedman Blower Architects in 1990. He ceased being involved in the day-to-day operation of the practice in 2007, but continues as an architect. The youngest son Damien, also an architect, has been the Principal of Stedman Blower since 1996. Michael is an hereditary Freeman of the City of Shrewsbury following generations of Blowers before him. Major John Blower, soldier, explorer and landscape conservationist was a cousin.

Gallery

File:30-36 South Street, Farnham, Surrey.png, Elevational line drawing of 30-36 South Street, Farnham, Surrey prior to demolition in 1990, by Michael Blower

Legacy

The major part of his archive and of his architectural drawings survive and are maintained by The Blower Foundation. Some of his archive can also be found in the Stedman Blower Architects archive, also held by the Blower Foundation.

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, 1991 (paperback, ). *'' The Architecture of Expo 58'' by Rika Devos & Mil De Kooning (eds). Dexia/Mercatorfonds, 2006 (ISBN). *'' Walk Around Farnham'' by Michael Blower. Frith Book Company Ltd, 2005 (). *'' Farnham Portrait'' by Michael Blower & Susan Farrow. Ashgate Editions, 1989 (). *'' Farnham – Moments in View'' by Michael Blower & Susan Farrow. 1988 (). *'' Aldershot Sketchbook'' by Michael Blower & Susan Farrow. Emerald Art, 1992. *'' The Mayor's Sketchbook – Book 1'' by Michael Blower. Waverley BC, 1995. *'' The Mayor's Sketchbook – Book 2'' by Michael Blower. Waverley BC, 1996 (). *'' The Mayor's Sketchbook – Book 3'' by Michael Blower. Waverley BC, 1996 (). *'' Farnham, A report of the Listed Buildings Working Party'' by Michael Blower. Farnham UDC, 1971. *'' An Illustrated History of Godalming'' by Geoff Covey & Michael Blower. Waverley BC, 1993.

External links

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

holds an archive of drawings and buildings designed by both Blowers and have an online gallery of their buildings. *Stedman Blower Architect

hold additional correspondence, archives and detailed information on further projects. {{DEFAULTSORT:Blower, Michael 1929 births 20th-century English architects Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture Arts and Crafts architects People from Farnham Architects from Surrey Living people Preservationist architects Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects Members of the Order of the British Empire