Culham Court is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

house at

Remenham Remenham is a village and civil parishes in England, 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 ...

in the English county of

Berkshire Berkshire ( ; abbreviated ), officially the Royal County of Berkshire, is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Oxfordshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the north-east, Greater London ...

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 local population, is an island in the Lesser Antilles. It is one of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region and the most populous island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua ...

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-British architect. Among his best-known works are Somerset House, the Gold State Coach and the pagoda at Kew. Chambers was a founder member of the Royal Academy. ...

, for Robert Mitchell. In 1893, the house was tenanted by

Sir Henry Barber, 1st Baronet Sir William Henry Barber, 1st Baronet (9 November 1860 – 2 July 1927), known as Henry Barber, was a wealthy solicitor and property developer who made his fortune expanding Birmingham's sprawling suburbs, building and renting out 5,000 propert ...

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). B ...

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

Ionian Bank The Ionian Bank was a bank of issue established in 1839 in London to operate in the United States of the Ionian Islands, which was then a British protectorate. The bank moved its head office in Greece from Corfu (city), Corfu to Athens in 1873, ...

, and his wife Felicity. Their artist son Timothy Behrens grew up there, and would entertain friends including

Hugh Casson Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect, also active as an interior designer, an artist, and a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for the 1951 Fest ...

and

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

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

Sir Martyn Arbib Sir Martyn Arbib (born 27 June 1939) is a British businessman who founded and led the Perpetual fund management company during the late 20th century. Early life Arbib was born in Hendon on 29 June 1939, and attended Felsted School, Essex. H ...

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 17 September 1948) is a Swiss billionaire, financier and art collector. He is the founder of ''Interexchange'', the largest foreign exchange agency, in Switzerland. His fortune is estimated between 1.5 and 2 ...

for £35 million, £10 million above the asking price. The Christ the Redeemer Chapel at Culham Court, designed by Craig Hamilton Architects and completed in 2010, was consecrated with a performance of

James MacMillan Sir James Loy MacMillan, TOSD (born 16 July 1959) is a Scottish classical composer and conductor. Early life MacMillan was born at Kilwinning, in North Ayrshire, but lived in the East Ayrshire town of Cumnock until 1977. His father is Jam ...

’s ''The Culham Motets'' (2015).https://www.culhamchapel.co.uk/about-

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