View source for Hugh Casson

{{Short description|British architect (1910–1999)}}
{{EngvarB|date=February 2017}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2017}}
{{use list-defined references|date=April 2013}}
{{Infobox artist
| name             = Sir Hugh Casson
| image            = Hugh Maxwell Casson.jpg
| imagesize        = 
| caption          = Casson in his office, early 1950s; vintage bromide print by [[John Gay (photographer)|John Gay]], in the photograph collection of the [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]]
| birth_name       = Hugh Maxwell Casson
| birth_date       = {{Birth date|df=yes|1910|5|23}}
| birth_place      = [[Hampstead]], [[London]], England
| death_date       = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1999|8|15|1910|5|23}}
| death_place      = [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]], London, England
| training         = 
| movement         = 
| influenced by    = 
| awards           = [[Albert Medal (Royal Society of Arts)|Albert Medal]] (1984)
| elected          = {{nobreak|President of the [[Royal Academy]], 1975}}
| spouse           = [[Margaret Casson]] (m. 1938)
| children         = 3 daughters
| education        = [[St John's College, Cambridge]]<br />[[Bartlett School of Architecture]]
| occupation       = Architect, interior designer, writer and broadcaster
| honorific_prefix = 
| honorific_suffix = [[Order of the Companions of Honour|CH]] [[Royal Victorian Order|KCVO]] [[List of officers of the Royal Academy of Arts#Presidents|PRA]] [[Royal Designers for Industry|RDA]]
}}

'''Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|CH|KCVO|PRA|RDI}} (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect,{{r|dnb|grove}} 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 [[Festival of Britain]]. From 1976 to 1984, he was president of the [[Royal Academy]].{{r|grove}}

== Life ==

Casson was born in London on 23 May 1910, spending his early years in [[British Burma|Burma]]—where his father was posted with the [[Indian Civil Service]]—before being sent back to England for education.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=Sir Hugh Casson, architect, designer, illustrator and journalist: papers, 1867-2007|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/250101/casson_aad_2008_02_20141021.pdf|website=Victoria and Albert Museum: Archive of Art and Design}}</ref> He was the nephew of the actor [[Lewis Casson]] and his wife the actress [[Sybil Thorndike]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sir Hugh Casson Interviewed by Cathy Courtney|url=https://sounds.bl.uk/related-content/TRANSCRIPTS/021T-C0408X0016XX-0000A0.pdf|website=British Library National Life Stories Leaders of National Life}}</ref> 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 [[The Bartlett|Bartlett School of Architecture]] in [[Bloomsbury]], London, and the [[British School at Athens]].<ref>{{Cite web|title=Sir Hugh Casson lecturing {{!}} Works of Art {{!}} RA Collection {{!}} Royal Academy of Arts|url=https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/work-of-art/sir-hugh-casson-lecturing|access-date=2022-02-25|website=www.royalacademy.org.uk}}</ref> He met his future wife, [[Margaret Casson|Margaret Macdonald Troup]] (1913–1995), an architect and designer who taught design at the [[Royal College of Art]],<ref>{{Cite web|last=Victoria and Albert Museum|first=Online Museum|date=2012-09-10|title=Archives of Sir Hugh Casson and Margaret Macdonald Casson|url=http://www.vam.ac.uk/content/articles/a/archives-hugh-casson-margaret-macdonald-casson/|access-date=2022-02-25|website=www.vam.ac.uk}}</ref> while they were both students.<ref name=":0" /> The couple married in 1938 and had three daughters.<ref name=Ind>{{Cite web|date=1999-08-16|title=Obituaries: Sir Hugh Casson|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituaries-sir-hugh-casson-1113219.html|access-date=2022-02-25|website=The Independent|first=Lionel|last=Esher|language=en}}</ref>

== Work ==
Before the [[Second World War]], Casson divided his time between teaching at the Cambridge School of Architecture and working in the London office of his Cambridge tutor, [[Christopher Nicholson (architect)|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.{{r|ltb}} "He does not mince his words", commented the ''Architect and Building News'' on the cover.{{cn|date=September 2021}} During the war, he worked in the [[Camouflage]] Service of the [[Air Ministry]].{{r|obit}}

Casson was appointed to his role as director of architecture of the Festival of Britain on the [[South Bank]] in 1948 at the age of 38,<ref name=hugh/> and set out to celebrate peace and modernity through the appointment of other young architects. For example, 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 decour in Westminster for the [[Coronation of Elizabeth II]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Sir Hugh Casson and the coronation |url=https://www.architecture.com/explore-architecture/inside-the-riba-collections/casson-and-the-coronation |publisher=[[Royal Institute of British Architects]]}}</ref>

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 Site]] 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.<ref name=Ind/>

Casson was a friend of members of the [[British royal family]] and is reported to have taught [[watercolour]] painting to [[Charles III|Prince Charles]].{{r|ar}} In 1955, he designed the interiors for the [[HMY Britannia|new royal yacht ''Britannia'']];{{r|grove}} he also designed interiors for suites at [[Buckingham Palace]] and [[Windsor Castle]].{{r|ar2}}

From 1953 to 1975, he was professor of [[environmental design]] at the [[Royal College of Art]], where his wife Margaret was senior tutor.{{r|dnb|bl}} 

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.<ref name=Ind/>

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 (publishing house)|John Murray]] in 1989.<ref name=betj/>

== Reception ==
After his work for the Festival of Britain, Casson was [[Knight Bachelor|knighted]] in the [[1952 New Year Honours|New Year Honours]] of 1952.{{r|obit}} He was made a [[Knight Commander]] of the [[Royal Victorian Order]] in 1978,{{r|obit}} and a [[Member of the Order of the Companions of Honour]] in 1985.{{r|gazette}}

He was elected an associate member of the [[Royal Academy]] in 1962, and a full member in 1970. He was [[treasurer]] in 1975–1976, and president from 1976 to 1984.{{r|ra2}} During 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",{{r|ra}} and a room in the Keeper's House is named after him.{{r|ra3}}

From 1982 to 2017 ''[[Private Eye]]'' magazine gave the [[List of winners of the Sir Hugh Casson Award|Sir Hugh Casson Award]], a spoof honour, to the "Worst New Building of the Year". Its name reflects Casson's reputation as an "[[The Establishment|establishment]]" [[Modern architecture|modernist]] architect who cosied up to the royal family, and was known as “Cash-in” to his detractors.<ref name="Page 94">{{cite podcast |title=Page 94: The Private Eye Podcast. Episode 13 |url=http://www.private-eye.co.uk/rss/itunes/page_94_ep13.mp3 |date=30 November 2015}}</ref>

An archive of Casson's papers is held by the [[Victoria & Albert Museum]].{{r|va}} Photographs attributed to him are held in the [[Conway Library]] at the [[Courtauld Institute of Art]], London, whose archive, of primarily architectural images, is being digitised under the wider Courtauld Connects project.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2020-06-30|title=Who made the Conway Library?|url=https://sites.courtauld.ac.uk/digitalmedia/2020/06/30/who-made-the-conway-library/|access-date=2022-02-25|website=Digital Media|language=en-GB}}</ref>

== Selected publications ==

* ''Hugh Casson's Oxford'', London : Phaidon, 1998, ISBN 0714838101
* ''Hugh Casson's Cambridge'', London : Phaidon, 1992, ISBN 0714824593
* ''Hugh Casson's London'', London : Dent, 1983, {{ISBN|0460045911}}
* ''The Tower of London : an artist's portrait'', with additional text ("An historian's viewpoint") by Richard White, London : Herbert Press in association with HM Tower of London, 1993, {{ISBN|1871569451}}
* ''Sketch book : a personal choice of London buildings, drawn 1971-1974'' with introduction by [[John Betjeman]], London : Lion and Unicorn Press, 1975, {{ISBN|0902490206}}
* ''Diary'', Hugh Casson, London : Macmillan, 1981, {{ISBN|0333311124}}
* ''Nanny Says'', as recalled by Sir Hugh Casson and [[Joyce Grenfell]], ed. Diana, Lady Avebury, London : Dobson, 1972, {{ISBN|023477715X}}
* ''Bridges'', London : Chatto, 1963.
* ''Monuments'', London : Chatto, 1963.
* ''Red Lacquer Days. An illustrated journal describing a recent journey to Peking'', London : Lion & Unicorn Press, 1956
* ''An Introduction to Victorian Architecture'', London : Art and Technics, 1948
* ''Homes by the Million. An account of the housing achievement in the U.S.A., 1940-1945'', Harmondsworth : Penguin, 1946
* ''New Sights of London: The Handy Guide to Contemporary Architecture'', London : Westminster : London Transport Publications, 1938  

Casson also illustrated many books; perhaps the most famous being ''[[The Old Man of Lochnagar]]'', [[HRH The Prince of Wales (Prince Charles)|HRH The Prince of Wales]] with illustrations by Sir Hugh Casson, London : Hamilton, 1980, {{Isbn|0241111455}}

Casson's biography was published in 2000.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Manser|first=José.|title=Hugh Casson : a biography|date=2000|publisher=Viking|isbn=0-670-87115-X|location=London, England|oclc=43879658}}</ref> 

== References ==
{{Reflist|30em|refs=

<ref name=ar>P.D. (1999). [https://search-ebscohost-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=2518443&site=ehost-live Hugh Casson 1910-1999]. ''Architectural Review''. '''206''' (1232): 37. {{Subscription required}}.</ref>

<ref name=ar2>Neil Bingham (2016). [https://search-ebscohost-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=115453253&site=ehost-live Hugh Casson 1910-1999 Margaret Casson 1913-1999]. ''Architectural Review'', May 2016: 83. {{Subscription required}}.</ref>

<ref name=betj>John Betjeman, Sir Hugh Casson (ill.) (1989), ''The Illustrated "Summoned by Bells"''. London: John Murray, {{ISBN|0719546966}}.</ref>

<ref name=bl>[http://sounds.bl.uk/Oral-history/Architects-Lives/021M-C0467X0082XX-0001V0 National Life Stories, 'Casson, Hugh (1 of 2) National Life Stories Collection: Architects' Lives', The British Library Board, 1991]. Retrieved 10 April 2018</ref>

<ref name=dnb>Alan Powers (2004). [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/72656 Casson, Sir Hugh Maxwell (1910–1999)]. ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (online edition). Oxford University Press. {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/72656}}. {{Subscription required}}.</ref>

<ref name=hugh>[http://www.sirhughcasson.com/pages/biog.html Sir Hugh Casson, CH KCVO PRA RDI RIBA FSIAD, architect... painter... author, 1910 – 1999]. Sir Hugh Casson Ltd. Accessed March 2012.</ref>

<ref name=gazette>[http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/49969/supplements/18 Supplement to the London Gazette 31 December 1984]. ''The London Gazette'' '''49969''': 18. Accessed March 2012.</ref>

<ref name=grove>Alan Powers (2003). [https://www-oxfordartonline-com.wikipedialibrary.idm.oclc.org/groveart/view/10.1093/gao/9781884446054.001.0001/oao-9781884446054-e-7000014611 Casson, Sir Hugh (Maxwell)]. ''Grove Art Online''. Oxford: Oxford University Press. {{doi|10.1093/gao/9781884446054.article.T014611}}. {{subscription required}}.</ref>

<ref name=ltb>Hugh Casson (1938). ''New Sights Of London''. London: London Passenger Transport Board.</ref>

<ref name=obit>Lionel Esher. [https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/obituaries-sir-hugh-casson-1113219.html Obituaries: Sir Hugh Casson]. ''The Independent'', 17 August 1999. Accessed March 2012.</ref>

<ref name=ra>[https://web.archive.org/web/20150603082436if_/https://summer.royalacademy.org.uk/Information/3 "Prizes"]. London: Royal Academy of Arts. Archived 3 June 2015.</ref>

<ref name=ra2>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210306232715/https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/hugh-casson-pra Sir Hugh Casson PRA (1910–1999)]. London: Royal Academy of Arts. Archived 6 March 2021.</ref>

<ref name=ra3>[https://web.archive.org/web/20210804133413/https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/keepers-house The Keeper's House]. London: Royal Academy of Arts. Archived 4 August 2021.</ref>

<ref name=va>[https://web.archive.org/web/20090917192705/http://www.vam.ac.uk/collections/architecture/architecture_features/casson_archives/index.html Archives of Sir Hugh Casson and Margaret Macdonald Casson]. London: Victoria and Albert Museum. Archived 17 September 2009.</ref>


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{{s-start}}
{{s-culture}}
{{s-bef |before=[[Walter Thomas Monnington|Sir Thomas Monnington]]}}
{{s-ttl |title=[[List of officers of the Royal Academy of Arts#Presidents (PRA)|President of the Royal Academy]] |years=1976–84}}
{{s-aft |after=[[Roger de Grey]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{Camoufleurs}}
{{Royal Academy of Arts}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Casson, Hugh}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:1999 deaths]]
[[Category:20th-century English architects]]
[[Category:Academics of the Royal College of Art]]
[[Category:Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge]]
[[Category:Alumni of the Bartlett]]
[[Category:Architects from London]]
[[Category:Camoufleurs]]
[[Category:Knights Bachelor]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:People educated at Eastbourne College]]
[[Category:People from Chelsea, London]]
[[Category:People from Hampstead]]
[[Category:Royal Academicians]]
[[Category:Royal Designers for Industry]]