Quennell, Charles Henry Bourne 1872 - 1935

Charles Henry Bourne Quennell [commonly known as C.H.B. Quennell] was born in Lambeth, Surrey [now London], England on 5 June 1872. He was articled to Dudley Newman (1859-1936) and Arthur Harrison Newman (1855-1922) of Newman & Newman, London in 1890. He then worked as an assistant in succession to William Muskett Yett and John Francy Sturdy of Yett & Sturdy' C.J. Waley; JohnMcKean Brydon (1840-1901); and to John Dando Sedding (1838-1891) and Henry Wilson (1864-1934) of Sedding & Wilson in London.  In 1895 he Quennell was awarded the National Gold Medal for architectural design by the South Kensington Schools and the Silver Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects. The following year he set up his own independent practice in London in 1896.

His earliest work included large private residences in the Hampstead Heath and Hampstead Garden Suburb area of London for his brother William Quennell and the West Heath Land Co. He also designed many houses in Kent and elsewhere. In 1906 he was responsible for redesigning the interior of Grosvenor Gallery (Speaight's Gallery) in New Bond Street, London. In 1907 he designed St. John the Evangelist Church in Upper Edmonton, north London. Other works included Aultmore House in Inverness-shire; and a housing scheme at Braintree in Essex, for Crittall Manufacturing Co.

Two photographs of the studio at 'Tigbourne Court' in Witley, Surrey designed by Quennell are illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1907 (p.56); two photographs and a ground-floor plan of 'Clive House' in Roehampton, designed by him are featured in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1908 (illustrations B65, B66); a dining room designed by him is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1909 (p,21); a photograph and plan of 'The New House' in Chelmsford designed by him is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' (p.68); a  photograph and a ground-floor plan of a house at Bickley, Kent, is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1911 (p.67); a photograph and floor plan of a house at Bickley Park, designed by him is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1912 (p.59); photograph and floor plan of a house at Hampstead, designed by him is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1913 (p.55); photographs of the garden front, entrance front and dining room of a house at Hampstead designed by him are illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1914 (pp.38, 39); photographs and plans of Wythes House' in Bickley, Kent, and Templehill House, in Hampstead are illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1915 (pp.104, 105); a photograph of a house at Chelmsford designed by him is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1924 (p.26), a photograph of a house at Highgate, London, designed by him is illustrated in 'The Studio Yearbook of Decorative Art' 1925 (p.25); and two photographs and floor plans of 'Glasfryn' and 'Bernor', two houses on Sheldon Avenue, Hampstead Lane London, and a photograph of of the drawing room of 'Brandon House' in The Avenue, Hampstead, London, designed by him are illustrated in 'Decorative Art' 1928 (pp.24, 25, 84).

Quennell was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1908. In addition to his work as an architect, Quennell designed garden furniture for the J.  White Pyghtle of Bedford. He was also author of 'The Cathedral Church of Norwich' (London: G. Bell & Sons, 1898), and 'Modern Suburban Houses: A Series of Examples Erected at Hampstead and Elsewhere' (London: B.T. Batsford, 1906), and co-author, with his wife, the painter and illustrator Marjorie Quennell (née Courtney, 1883-1972), of numerous books in Batsford's  'Everyday Things' and 'Everyday Life' series. He exhibited at the Royal Academy in London and the Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts between 1898-1914.  C.H.B. Quennell died at his home, Crabtrees, Berkhamsted, Hertfordshire on 5 December 1935.