Hugh Casson

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Sir Hugh Casson
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Royal Academy
, 1975

Royal Academy.[2]

Life

Casson was born in London on 23 May 1910, spending his early years in

Burma—where his father was posted with the Indian Civil Service—before being sent back to England for education.[3] He was the nephew of the actor Lewis Casson and his wife the actress Sybil Thorndike.[4] Casson was educated at Eastbourne College in East Sussex, then at St John's College, Cambridge (1929–31), where his subject was architecture, after which he spent time at the Bartlett School of Architecture in Bloomsbury, London, and the British School at Athens.[5] He met his future wife, Margaret Macdonald Troup (1913-1995), an architect and designer who taught design at the Royal College of Art,[6] while they were both students.[3] The couple had three daughters.[7]

Work

Before the

Christopher (Kit) Nicholson. He wrote the book New Sights of London in 1938 for London Transport, championing modern architecture within reach of London, while remaining critical of the UK's record in innovative building.[8] "He does not mince his words", commented the Architect and Building News on the cover.[citation needed] During the war, he worked in the Camouflage Service of the Air Ministry.[9]

Casson was appointed to his role as director of architecture of the Festival of Britain on the

Modernist design of the Royal Festival Hall was led by a 39-year-old, Leslie Martin. Casson's Festival achievements led to his being made a (Knight Bachelor) in 1952. The following year he designed street decorations in Westminster for the Coronation of Elizabeth II.[11]

After the war, and alongside his Festival work, Casson went into partnership with young architect Neville Conder. Their projects included corporate headquarters buildings, university campuses, the Elephant House at London Zoo, a building for the Royal College of Art (where Casson was Professor of Interior Design from 1955 to 1975, and later served as Provost), the Microbiology Building (Belfast), and the master planning and design of the Sidgwick Avenue arts faculty buildings for the University of Cambridge, including the Austin Robinson Building which houses the Faculty of Economics as well as the Marshall Library of Economics. This latter project lasted some thirty years.[7]

Casson was a friend of members of the

watercolour painting to Prince Charles.[12] In 1955, he designed the interiors for the new royal yacht Britannia;[2] he also designed interiors for suites at Buckingham Palace and Windsor Castle.[13]

From 1953 to 1975, he was professor of environmental design at the Royal College of Art, where his wife Margaret was senior tutor.[1][14]

In the 1980s Casson became a television presenter, with his own series, Personal Pleasures with Sir Hugh Casson, about stately homes and places he enjoyed.[7]

Casson supplied watercolour illustrations for a new edition of

Sir John Betjeman's verse autobiography Summoned by Bells (1960); The Illustrated "Summoned by Bells" was published by John Murray in 1989.[15]

Reception

After his work for the Festival of Britain, Casson was

He was elected an associate member of the

Summer Exhibition the academy awards an annual Hugh Casson Drawing Prize "for an original work on paper in any medium, where the emphasis is clearly on drawing",[18] and a room in the Keeper's House is named after him.[19]

From 1982 to 2017 Private Eye magazine gave the Sir Hugh Casson Award for the "Worst New Building of the Year".[20]

An archive of Casson's papers is held by the

Courtauld Institute of Art, London, whose archive, of primarily architectural images, is being digitised under the wider Courtauld Connects project.[22]

Selected publications

Casson also illustrated many books; perhaps the most famous being

Casson's biography was published in 2000.[23]

References

  1. ^ . (subscription required).
  2. ^ . (subscription required).
  3. ^ a b "Sir Hugh Casson, architect, designer, illustrator and journalist: papers, 1867-2007" (PDF). Victoria and Albert Museum: Archive of Art and Design.
  4. ^ "Sir Hugh Casson Interviewed by Cathy Courtney" (PDF). British Library National Life Stories Leaders of National Life.
  5. ^ "Sir Hugh Casson lecturing | Works of Art | RA Collection | Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  6. ^ Victoria and Albert Museum, Online Museum (10 September 2012). "Archives of Sir Hugh Casson and Margaret Macdonald Casson". www.vam.ac.uk. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  7. ^ a b c "Obituaries: Sir Hugh Casson". The Independent. 16 August 1999. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  8. ^ Hugh Casson (1938). New Sights Of London. London: London Passenger Transport Board.
  9. ^ a b c Lionel Esher. Obituaries: Sir Hugh Casson. The Independent, 17 August 1999. Accessed March 2012.
  10. ^ Sir Hugh Casson, CH KCVO PRA RDI RIBA FSIAD, architect... painter... author, 1910 – 1999. Sir Hugh Casson Ltd. Accessed March 2012.
  11. ^ "Sir Hugh Casson and the coronation". Royal Institute of British Architects.
  12. ^ P.D. (1999). Hugh Casson 1910-1999. Architectural Review. 206 (1232): 37. (subscription required).
  13. ^ Neil Bingham (2016). Hugh Casson 1910-1999 Margaret Casson 1913-1999. Architectural Review, May 2016: 83. (subscription required).
  14. ^ National Life Stories, 'Casson, Hugh (1 of 2) National Life Stories Collection: Architects' Lives', The British Library Board, 1991. Retrieved 10 April 2018
  15. .
  16. ^ Supplement to the London Gazette 31 December 1984. The London Gazette 49969: 18. Accessed March 2012.
  17. ^ Sir Hugh Casson PRA (1910–1999). London: Royal Academy of Arts. Archived 6 March 2021.
  18. ^ "Prizes". London: Royal Academy of Arts. Archived 3 June 2015.
  19. ^ The Keeper's House. London: Royal Academy of Arts. Archived 4 August 2021.
  20. ^ "Page 94: The Private Eye Podcast. Episode 13" (Podcast). 30 November 2015.
  21. ^ Archives of Sir Hugh Casson and Margaret Macdonald Casson. London: Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived 17 September 2009.
  22. ^ "Who made the Conway Library?". Digital Media. 30 June 2020. Retrieved 25 February 2022.
  23. OCLC 43879658
    .
Cultural offices
Preceded by President of the Royal Academy
1976–84
Succeeded by