Peter Bicknell

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This article is about the British architect. For the Canadian motor racer, see Pete Bicknell.

Peter Bicknell (16 June 1907 – 31 May 1995) was a British architect, author, exhibition curator and mountaineer. He practised as an architect in Cambridge with H. C. Hughes as Hughes and Bicknell, including commissions for the University of Cambridge and its colleges, notably Fen Court at Peterhouse (1939) and an extension to the Scott Polar Research Institute (1968), as well as commercial buildings and private houses. His designs were predominantly Modernist in style. He lectured in architecture and art history at the Cambridge School of Architecture, and was a fellow of Downing College.

In the 1980s, after retiring from his architectural practice, Bicknell curated art history exhibitions at the

Skye
in just over 8 hours. His books include British Hills and Mountains (1947) and Picturesque Scenery of the Lake District 1752–1855 (1990).

Early life and education

Peter Bicknell was born on 16 June 1907 in

Newcastle Breweries and a noted amateur mountaineer. He had an older sister and two younger brothers.[3] He attended Oundle School, Northamptonshire, and then read architecture at Jesus College, Cambridge from 1926.[1][2]

Hughes and Bicknell architectural practice

Bicknell returned to Cambridge in 1935 to practise as an architect as the junior partner of Henry Castree Hughes (1893–1976).[1][2][4][5] Many of Hughes and Bicknell's commissions were in Cambridge, including projects for the university and colleges,[1][2] commercial buildings[6][7] and private houses.[4][8] Their works were mainly Modernist in style, which was unusual in Cambridge before the Second World War.[6][9][10] Notable examples include Fen Court, Peterhouse (1939),[2][6][9][11] described in its grade II listing as "the only pre-war Cambridge college accommodation building in the International Modern style and the forerunner to other college buildings constructed at both Oxford and Cambridge after the war";[10] as well as an extension to the Scott Polar Research Institute (1968).[2][4][12] Commercial buildings include Essex House on Regent Street (1936)[7] and 31–39 Fitzroy Street (1959–60).[13] On a smaller scale, the house Bicknell designed for himself and his wife on Newton Road is described by Janet Adam Smith as a "small masterpiece" with a "cunning design" integrating the garden with the building to make it appear to be located in the countryside.[4]

Other projects within the county include works for the Dean and Chapter of

Wildfowl Trust at Slimbridge, Gloucestershire,[2][4] including building Scott House (mid-1950s) for the conservationist Peter Scott, a friend of Bicknell's, which Bicknell also extended in around 1977 with an observation tower.[15] Other Hughes and Bicknell projects outside Cambridgeshire include a cricket pavilion at Oundle School, Northamptonshire,[1] and a housing estate at Hilgay, Norfolk.[2] Bicknell also built a house in Brigsteer in the Lake District for his sister Ellen.[4]

Academia

Bicknell was an academic at the

David Roberts, as "the backbone of the post-war generation of teachers".[9] He was knowledgeable about architectural history, following studies with Edward Prior and Geoffrey Webb, and studied contemporary and historical architectural styles in Britain and elsewhere.[2] He was a fellow of Downing College.[1][2]

Exhibitions

In 1981, around the time of his retirement from architectural practice, Bicknell curated an exhibition at the

Burlington Magazine, Gage appreciates the inclusion of such unusual items as a Claude glass, headed hotel notepaper and a children's game, and praises the "instructive" placement of initial sketches together with the final print.[16]

The success of this venture led to what his Times obituary describes as a "rewarding second career" in museum and bibliographic work, relating to his passion for depictions of mountain landscapes in art.[2] Several further art history exhibitions followed during the 1980s, at the Fitzwilliam and at Grasmere in the Lake District, in collaboration with Robert Woof and Jane Munro.[2][4] He also co-organised an exhibition of books and artworks for the Alpine Club (1981).[4] He edited the Illustrated Wordsworth Guide (1984)[1][4] and compiled the bibliography Picturesque Scenery of the Lake District 1752–1855 (1990),[17] which established itself as a definitive reference.[2][4] He served as a trustee of the Wordsworth Trust, which maintains Dove Cottage, the Grasmere home of Dorothy and William Wordsworth.[1][2][4]

Mountaineering

Bicknell followed his father as an amateur mountaineer, with his first experiences coming on family holidays in the Alps from 1924.

Skye in under 12 hours (gaining the main ridge record of 8 hours 1 minute[19]), beating the time of the first single-day traverse by Leslie Shadbolt and Alastair C. McLaren in 1911; he was accompanied for part of the climb by the physiologist, Alan Hodgkin.[4][19]

Bicknell contributed the book British Hills and Mountains (1947) to Collins' Britain in Pictures series, with his own illustrations in pen-and-ink and watercolours.[1][2][4] He served as president of the Climbers' Club in 1951–54.[4]

Personal life

In 1936, Bicknell married

Sadler's Wells Ballet.[1][2][4] Mari Bicknell founded a ballet school in Cambridge.[1] The couple had four children, a son and three daughters.[1][2] In the 1930s, Bicknell occupied a flat above Essex House on Regent Street, designed and built by Hughes and Bicknell.[7] For forty years from around 1939, the family lived at Finella – a prominent house on the Backs that had been remodelled by Raymond McGrath and split into two by Hughes and Bicknell[1][2] – and later at a house designed by Bicknell on Newton Road.[4] In addition to collecting books and artworks (see above), he amassed a fine collection of lustreware.[1]

In May 1995, Peter Bicknell fell ill while visiting his eldest daughter Caroline in France; he died in hospital at Avignon on 31 May 1995.[1][4]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t Leonard Miall (6 June 1995). Obituary: Peter Bicknell. The Independent
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Anon. (22 June 1995). Peter Bicknell. The Times (65300), p. 23
  3. ^ C.A.E. (1927). Mr. Raymond Bicknell. Alpine Journal 39 (235): 299–307 (copy)
  4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v Janet Adam Smith (1996) Peter Bicknell (1907–1995), Alpine Journal 101 (345): 318–21
  5. ^ a b Bicknell, Peter 1907 – 1995. Biographical Dictionary of British and Irish Architects 1800–1950, AHRnet (accessed 17 September 2022)
  6. ^
    Twentieth Century Society
    (accessed 17 September 2022)
  7. ^ a b c Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 35, 319
  8. ^ Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 35, 186
  9. ^ a b c d Andrew Saint (2006). The Cambridge School of Architecture: a Brief History, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge (accessed 18 September 2022)
  10. ^ a b Fen Court at Peterhouse, National Heritage List for England, Historic England (accessed 18 September 2022)
  11. ^ Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 35, 174
  12. ^ Bradley & Pevsner, pp. 265–66
  13. ^ Bradley & Pevsner, p. 323
  14. ^ American Military Cemetery, National Heritage List for England, Historic England (accessed 18 September 2022)
  15. Twentieth Century Society
    (accessed 16 October 2022)
  16. ^
    JSTOR 880494
  17. Times Literary Supplement
    (4577), p. 1386
  18. ^ a b Anon. (1927). Accidents in 1927: The accident on the Southern Aiguille d'Arves. Alpine Journal 39 (235): 344–47
  19. ^
    ISBN 9780954070441

Source

External links
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