John Cornforth A Passion for Houses

DR AWING RO OM DISP L AYS

John Cornforth A Passion for Houses Material on the Georgian Town House from the Cornforth Library Donation

8 February – 27 May 2016

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Introduction This display is the second in a series featuring material drawn from the Paul Mellon Centre’s own Research Collections. The present selection draws upon the Cornforth Library Donation of books and journals held at the Centre, and focuses on material relating to the town house in the Georgian period.

The larger London town houses of the aristocracy, many grand enough to be known as palaces, were as significant as their country houses for the display of wealth through the elegance of architecture, grandeur of decoration and luxury of furnishings.

Front cover of Item 15 The smaller houses of the middle classes were also important venues for the display of owners’ taste and wealth. These were growing in number during the Georgian period as cities, particularly London, expanded.

John Lawley Cornforth (1937 –2004) was an architectural historian, and a leading authority on the 17th- and 18thcentury country house. He was architectural editor of Country Life magazine, and a regular contributor of articles, both on country and town houses. He also worked for the National Trust for many years in various roles, formal and informal. His influence in the field was wide ranging, encompassing work for government bodies, museums and charities as well as extensive personal and professional networking. His personal library was a rich resource for the study of architecture and interior decoration.

The Paul Mellon Centre’s Library has strong collections on architectural history and has collected books on the Georgian town house for many years. In addition to Front cover of Item 11

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systematic acquisition through regular purchases, the Research Collections are fortunate to have benefitted over the years from significant donations and bequests from private individuals. John Cornforth’s personal working library was donated to the Paul Mellon Centre, through the auspices of the National Trust, in August 2004, shortly after his death. The Centre’s already extensive holdings on the history of the town and country house, as well as the previously small collection on 18th-century decorative arts, were greatly increased by the selection of nearly 800 books and journals from Cornforth’s collection.

The present display consists largely of materials donated from Cornforth’s collection but also includes a number of works about Cornforth or written by him, drawn from the rich holdings of the Centre’s Library.

Front cover of Item 14 2

Upright display case

John Lawley Cornforth 1937-2004 John Cornforth was born on 2nd September 1937 and grew up at Haywood Abbey, Staffordshire, very close to Shugborough Hall, a grand house in which he played as a child and which inspired his early interest in country houses and architectural history in general. An only child, he pored over issues of Country Life, even before he could read and, not sharing his parents’ interest in country pursuits, developed a passion for architecture through visits to local historic buildings and trips to London. He attended Repton School, where he discovered Avray Tipping’s 9-volume English homes series in the library, and progressed to Corpus Christi College, Cambridge where he read history. At Cambridge he attended fine art seminars given by Michael Jaffé (1923-1997) who became a lifelong friend, and was responsible for convincing Cornforth that he wanted to become an art historian.

After graduating he volunteered in the British Museum print room and wrote a trial article for Country Life, leading to a career there spanning over 40 years, during which he was architectural editor from 19671977. In 1965 he joined the Historic Buildings Committee of the National Trust, beginning a long association

Front and back covers of Item 10

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with the Trust which only ended with his death. Cornforth was active in furthering the cause of architectural history in many ways, serving as a trustee and Chair of the Marc Fitch Fund for over thirty years, acting as a trustee of the Georgian Group, as well as sitting on the Historic Buildings Council for England.

Throughout his career he had a number of other roles including helping the government plan the interior decoration of its embassies overseas including those in Paris and Rome, advising on temporary exhibitions and museum displays, giving opinions on the decoration of historic houses, as well as writing books and an influential report Country Houses of Britain : can they survive?. A convivial man, one of his key roles was acting as an éminence grise in the field of architectural history; influencing behind the scenes, hosting dinner parties, and making introductions.

Throughout his life Cornforth collected books on architectural history. Some of these he acquired from friends and colleagues including, in particular, the interior decorator John Fowler (1906-1977) (item nos. 14, 21, 22 & 23) and the architectural historian Christopher Hussey (1899-1970) (item nos. 15 & 17). Although Cornforth did not, on the whole, annotate his books 4

he inserted stylish bookplates; an earlier quite ornate version depicting classical ruins and a later one with simple calligraphy, designed by Reynolds Stone (from item nos. 18 & 19). Cornforth had planned to leave his library to the National Trust but agreed at the Trust’s request to donate it to the Paul Mellon Centre where it would be more accessible. He died on 5th May 2004 after a short illness but his legacy lives on, in the books and articles he wrote, the houses he advised on, an annual lecture series held at Christie’s and even a Farrow & Ball paint colour, Cornforth White.

Cornforth’s bookplates Above Designed by Reynolds Stone Right Designer unknown

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Please note LR = Library reference AR = Archive reference

John Lawley Cornforth 1937-2004 1

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John Cornforth, “A memoir and bibliography”, Furniture History XLII (2006): 206-247

Clive Aslet, “John Cornforth, September 2, 1937 – May 5, 2004: the architectural writer, furniture historian and connoisseur John Cornforth began working for Country Life in 1961; his last article was published on April 15. Clive Aslet remembers with gratitude an irreplaceable figure”, Country Life CXCVIII, No. 20 (May 13, 2004): 114-117

LR: JOURNALS-F

A short professional autobiography with an extensive bibliography, published posthumously. It shows the number and broad subject coverage of his writings, particularly for Country Life. Illustrated with a pencil and watercolour drawing of the author working in his flat

by John Ward from the National Portrait Gallery.

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St Paul’s church, Covent Garden.

A service of Thanksgiving for the life and work of John Lawley Cornforth CBE, 2 September 1937 – 5 May 2004, 12 noon, Friday 2 July 2004 AR: PMC 40/5

Amongst the hymns, prayers and readings from the Bible were quotes from Daniel Defoe and John Ruskin, as well as readings of Cornforth’s writings about the English country house including one from Country houses in Britain: can they survive?

Page 206-207 of Item 1

LR: JOURNALS-C

Illustrated obituary with quotes from Cornforth’s friends and associates, for example, from Christopher Gibbs (1938-): “John was passionate about the 18th century, and thought civilisation ended with the Industrial Revolution. He loved especially the fragile, delicate garnishings of great, preferably untouched, houses, and of their departed proprietors”.1

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Work for Country Life Cornforth’s first article in Country Life, on Woodperry, Oxfordshire, was published in January 1961. At first freelance, he went on to become a staff writer, then architectural editor from 1967-1977, only stepping down to devote more time to writing books. His final article, on Chicheley Hall, Buckinghamshire, appeared in April 2004, just before his death.

In total he wrote over 500 articles for the magazine over more than 40 years. Although most were on country houses, he also wrote on the town house and town planning including “The house of St Barnabas in Soho, London”, 6 July 1961, “The fate of Georgian Dublin”, 23 October 1969 and “Old Grosvenor House, London”, 15 November 1973. For Country Life annual he wrote about

Pomfret Castle, 18 Arlington Street, in “A countess’s London castle”2.

His growing interest in interior decoration led to a number of articles on the subject, prompting letters of complaint as readers felt it was too ‘low-brow’3 for the magazine.

His articles and books on interiors resulted in the subject becoming more accepted academically.

Country Life published a series of books between the 1950s and 1970s entitled English country houses, edited by Christopher Hussey. The series included volumes on the Georgian period

by Hussey and the Baroque by James Lees-Milne as well as Oliver Hill and Cornforth’s English country houses: Caroline 1625-1685, published in 1966.

Frontispiece and title page of Item 4 8

Detail of frontispiece of Item 4 showing The Double Cube Room, Wilton House, Wiltshire

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Oliver Hill and John Cornforth, English country houses: Caroline 1625-1685 (London: Country Life, 1966)

John Cornforth, “A pantheon in Piccadilly: The Royal Academy of Arts recently reopened its spectacular Fine Rooms, including those created

by Lord Burlington. John Cornforth considers the design and decoration of what was one of the finest city palaces of its day”, Country Life CXCVIII, No. 14 (Apr. 1, 2004): 74-79

LR: 728.82(41) ENG

Cornforth’s first book, commissioned

by Country Life and written with the architect Oliver Hill (1887-1968), was part of the English country houses series. Christopher Hussey, architectural editor at Country Life, brought Cornforth and Oliver Hill together as both had approached him wanting to write a book. He assumed they would not get on, however the resulting book, sumptuously illustrated, was an academic success and the process of writing it proved to be an enriching experience for Cornforth.

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John Cornforth. London interiors: from the archives of Country Life London: Aurum, 2000 LR: 728.3 COR

The one book by Cornforth focusing particularly on the London town house, it draws on the Country Life photographic archive of early 20th century photographs and illustrates many Georgian town house interiors subsequently lost or destroyed.

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LR: JOURNALS-C

Published just before his death, this was Cornforth’s last article on a town house written for Country Life.

In it he writes sadly that: “Forty years ago, it was much easier to gain access into some of the most impressive town houses in London’s West End to see the remainder of what was once a large number of fine interiors and extraordinary art collections. It used to be possible to push open doors and ask to see a painted staircase or a good plaster ceiling, but no longer are the architecturally curious to be indulged-they are to be kept at bay.

Occasionally however, on a Winter’s evening a spectacular ceiling still winks at passers by through a window and it is possible to catch a glimpse of dramatic decoration, such as that of Kent’s Great Room at 44 Berkeley Square or a splendid interior such as that at the recently restored Spencer House.”4 Front cover of Item 5

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Work for the National Trust Cornforth’s long association with the National Trust began in 1965 when he was recruited to sit on its Historic Buildings Committee.

He later went on to join the Trust’s Properties Committee and Arts Panel. He was involved with vetting the numerous houses offered at a period when many were under threat and he advised behind the scenes on decorative schemes and paint colours as well as how to interpret the houses for the public. His work at Country Life dovetailed with that at the National Trust as for example when an article he wrote in 1986 on the gardens at Stowe prompted a benefactor to make the donation that allowed the Trust to acquire them.

Despite advising on many properties, such as Kedleston (item no. 9), he only wrote three guidebooks to National Trust Houses, those for Clandon Park (item no. 8), Sudbury Hall, and Wallington Hall. He also acted as a mentor to two generations of National Trust curators.

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Front cover of Item 8

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Hermione Sandwith and Sheila Stainton with an introduction by John Cornforth, The National Trust manual of housekeeping, Rev. ed. (London: Viking in association with The National Trust, 1991)

Kedleston Hall, Derbyshire (Great Britain: The National Trust, 1999, reprinted with corrections 2002)

LR: 72.025 SAN

The second edition of this useful reference book, updated in the light of the devastating fire at Uppark in 1989, deals with the preservation and handling of the decorative arts within the historic house environment.

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John Cornforth, “The house”, in Clandon Park, Surrey. ([London]: The National Trust, 1973): 13-24

LR: 728 KED (PAMPHLET)

Kedleston Hall was a house very close to Cornforth’s heart.

According to Fiona Reynolds, Director of the National Trust at the time of his death: “John Cornforth … died in May, still an active member of the Trust’s Properties Committee and Arts Panel, and in the middle of advising us on the restoration and decoration of many properties including Saltram in Devon, Wordsworth’s childhood home in the Lakes and Kedleston in Derbyshire”.5

LR: 728 CLA (PAMPHLET)

One of only a very few guides to National Trust houses written

by Cornforth, despite his long association with the Trust.

Clandon was redecorated under the direction of John Fowler, Cornforth’s friend, from 1968-1970.

Sadly the house was gutted by fire in April 2015, and awaits restoration.

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Work for other organisations Beyond his work at Country Life and the National Trust, Cornforth was heavily involved with other organisations including public bodies and charities.

From the early 1970s he was a member of the Historic Buildings Council for England, the grant-giving predecessor of English Heritage, where he learnt about grant applications for property repairs, the Acceptance-in-lieu scheme and other tax issues which he was then able to write articles about. He was always willing to offer advice to property owners on such matters.

In the 1980s he was asked by the Government to advise on the furnishing and decoration of British embassies, working on those in Paris and Rome. He worked behind the scenes at the Victoria & Albert Museum on the re-display of the British Galleries, which opened in 2001, and which include the panelling from the music room removed from Norfolk House, St James’s Square, London.

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Throughout his career he wrote a number of books on country houses, town houses and decoration. These include the seminal Country houses in Britain: can they survive? : an independent report (1974) (item no. 10), London interiors from the archives of Country Life (2000) (item no. 5) and the Paul Mellon Centre’s own publication Early Georgian interiors (2004) (item no. 11).

Cornforth served as a trustee of the Marc Fitch Fund from 19682001 and was its Chairman for many years. On his retirement in 2001 the Fund’s council members proposed a tribute and Cornforth put forward the idea of a book of inventories to provide a primary resource for the interpretation of the historic interior. The book was in preparation at the time of his death and, published posthumously, it formed a fitting tribute to him (item no. 12).

Front cover of Item 12

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John Cornforth, Country houses in Britain: can they survive? : an independent report (London: Commissioned by the British Tourist Authority and published for them by Country Life, 1974)

John Cornforth, Early Georgian interiors (London; New Haven: Published for The Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 2004)

LR: 728.82(41) COR

This important report inspired and influenced the landmark The destruction of the country house, 1875-1975 exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1974.

It was written at a time when the future of many historic houses was in doubt. This, the author’s own copy, is, unlike the majority of his library, heavily annotated throughout.

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LR: 747 COR

Cornforth’s last book, almost complete at his death and published posthumously, is an updating of his earlier book on the subject: English decoration in the 18th century written with John Fowler. A number of London town houses are referenced including Pomfret Castle (18 Arlington Street), 22 Arlington Street, 44 Berkeley Square, as well as Chesterfield, Norfolk, and Spencer Houses. Prints of many of the photographs from the book were donated to the Paul Mellon Centre to form part of the Decorative Painting sequence in the Centre’s Photographic Archive.

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Tessa Murdoch, ed., Noble households: eighteenth-century inventories of great English houses: a tribute to John Cornforth (Cambridge: John Adamson, 2006) LR: 728.82(41) MUR

Published as a fitting tribute to Cornforth and in gratitude for his work as trustee of the Marc Fitch Fund, 1968-2001. It includes inventories of the London town houses Montagu House, Bloomsbury (1709 and 1733); Montagu House, Whitehall (1746); Thanet House (1760); and Marlborough House (1740).

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Farrow & Ball, Colours ([Dorset]: Farrow & Ball, 2014) [Private collection] As a demonstration of his abiding influence in the field of interior decoration, a Farrow & Ball colour, Cornforth White no. 228, was named “in memory of John Cornforth, architectural historian and author of the landmark publication ‘English decoration in the 18th century’. White & light tones undercoat.”6

Title page of Item 11

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Small flat display case Books from the Cornforth Library Donation 14

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Stanley C. Ramsey, Small houses of the late Georgian period, 1750-1820 (London: Technical Journals, 1919)

E. Beresford Chancellor, The private palaces of London: past and present (London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner, 1908)

LR: 728.3 RAM

A short study of small town house exteriors, heavily illustrated with fine black and white plates. Reprinted in 1919 and 1924. A second volume on details and interiors followed in 1923. Republished as one volume in 1972. Houses of this type were rapidly disappearing even when the first edition was published.

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A. E. Richardson & H. Donaldson Eberlein, The smaller English house of the later Renaissance 1660-1830: an account of its design, plan, and details (London: Batsford, 1925) LR: 728.3 RIC

The first edition of this title, the purpose of which was to “classify the smaller types of houses of the Later Renaissance in England and to present a series of examples, many of which have hitherto been unknown”.7 Illustrated with black and white photographs, drawings and plans.

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LR: 728.3 CHA

Reprinted in 2012 with its companion volume, The history of the squares of London (1907), this book was originally published at a time of great change in London when a number of the great town houses and palaces of the nobility were being demolished. The author was given privileged access to the houses enabling him to describe the collections and decoration as well as the buildings themselves. In the 1920s and 1930s many of the houses documented in the book were demolished, for example, Devonshire, Grosvenor, Norfolk and Chesterfield Houses. Others were damaged during the Second World War, for example, Holland, Portman and Bridgewater Houses.

Above Frontispiece and title page of Item 15 Below Plate xi of Item 16

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J. Alfred Gotch, The English home from Charles I to George IV: its architecture, decoration and garden design (London: B. T. Batsford, [1918])

H. Avray Tipping, English homes. Period V, volume 1: early Georgian, 1714-1760 (London: Country Life, 1931)

LR: 728 GOT

An illustrated historical survey of the exteriors, interiors and decorative features of houses of the period, with sections on smaller houses and town houses.

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Nathaniel Lloyd, A history of the English home: from primitive times to the Victorian period, 3rd impression (London: The Architectural Press, 1951)

LR: 728.82(41) TIP (LARGE)

Part of a 9-volume set published between 1920 and 1937, discovered

by Cornforth at his school, Repton, and thus inspiring his interest in architectural history. Arranged by and predominantly covering the English country house, the town house is discussed in the detailed introduction. H. Avray Tipping was architectural editor of Country Life.

LR: 728 LLO

First published in 1931, this book became a standard reference book on the subject. Arranged chronologically with sections on exteriors and plans including entrances, windows and chimneys and interiors including ceilings, fireplaces and staircases.

Detail of frontispiece of Item 15 showing a house at Winchester

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Large flat display case Books from the Cornforth Library Donation 20

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Batty Langley, The city and country builder’s and workman’s treasury of designs, London, 1745 (Farnborough: Gregg, 1969)

Lord Kinross, 44 Berkeley Square (London, 1962)

LR: 7 LANG(B).L

A reprint of an 18th-century builders’ manual published by Gregg, a company specialising in reprints of rare architectural treatises, a number of which were received as part of the John Cornforth Library Donation. According to John Summerson, “Batty Langley, a carpenter-surveyor-architect, whose bumptious personality crops up continually on the architectural scene, published, from 1726, more than twenty books all containing good, workmanlike plates.”8 21

Arthur Stratton, The English interior: a review of the decoration of English homes from Tudor times to the XIXth century (London: B. T. Batsford, 1920) LR: 747 STR (LARGE)

A chronological survey with sections on interior details featuring fine photographic plates and plans. A number of London town houses are featured, including some that had already been demolished in 1920, such as Carrington House, demolished in 1886.

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LR: 728.3 BER

A small book on the history of 44 Berkeley Square, with a brief description of the architecture, and illustrations by Adrian Daintrey. The house, designed for Lady Isabella Finch in the early 1740s by William Kent, was described by Cornforth in Early Georgian Architecture as “one of his most brilliant creations”.9 23

Francis Lenygon. Furniture in England from 1660-1760, 2nd impression (London: B. T. Batsford, 1920) LR: 749.1 LEN (LARGE)

A well-illustrated survey of styles of furniture and furniture types (chairs, beds, tables, bookcases etc.). The author’s aim was “in conjunction with the companion volume on ‘Decoration’, to show the unity between contemporary decoration and furniture by including examples from the same house and collections”.10 The companion volume, Decoration in England: from 1660 to 1770 (London: B. T. Batsford, 1914) was also donated to the Paul Mellon Centre.

Title page of Item 23

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Catalogue of the collection of pictures and statuary of the Right Honourable John Francis Granville Scrope, Earl of Ellesmere at Bridgewater House, Cleveland Square, St James’s, London (Privately printed, 1926)

Laurence Turner, Decorative plasterwork in Great Britain.

(London: Country Life, 1927)

LR: 065 ELL

“The pictures at Bridgewater House consist of examples purchased

by Francis third and last Duke of Bridgewater in his lifetime (1736 to 1803) – including a selection from the French and Italian pictures of the Orleans Gallery, and of the pictures added to the Collection

by Francis Egerton first Earl of Ellesmere and by his successors in the Earldom”.11 A catalogue of the Bridgewater collection, which was created from purchases from the Orleans collection in 1798 and displayed in Cleveland House during the early 19th century. When Cleveland House was demolished in 1840, the collections were displayed in Bridgewater house, built on the same site. This exceptionally fine collection of old master paintings has now been dispersed to a number of national museums and galleries including the National Gallery.

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LR: 73.023.4 TUR (LARGE)

Arranged chronologically, by reign, this book features high definition black and white photographs and drawings of interiors and plasterwork, mainly in country houses, but including examples of plasterwork in larger London palaces and smaller, more modest, dwellings.

Notes 1 Op. cit. p. 116-117 2 Country Life annual 1970 3 Michael Hall “John Cornforth: Campaigning historian of English interiors”, The Independent, 7 May 2004 4 Op. cit. p. 74 5 National Trust magazine 103 (Autumn 2004), p. 9 6 Op. cit.

7 Op. cit. p. vii 8 John Summerson, edited by Howard Colvin, Georgian London (London: Published for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 2003), p. 59 9 Op. cit. p. 177 10 Op. cit. p. iv 11 Op. cit. p. iii Title page of Item 25

Acknowledgements Display and text prepared by: Charlotte Brunskill, Frankie Drummond Charig, Emma Floyd and Jenny Hill

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For more information about our research Collections see our website: www.paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk. Alternatively contact us by email at collections@paul-mellon-centre.ac.uk or phone 020 7580 0311