Harold Ainsworth Peto

FRIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(11 July 1854 – 16 April 1933) was a British architect,

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in

Provence Provence (, , , , ; oc, Provença or ''Prouvènço'' , ) is a geographical region and historical province of southeastern France, which extends from the left bank of the lower Rhône to the west to the Italian border to the east; it is bo ...

, France. Among his best-known gardens are

Iford Manor Iford Manor () is a manor house in Wiltshire, England. It is a Grade II* listed building sitting on the steep, south-facing slope of the Frome valley, in Westwood parish, about southwest of the town of Bradford-on-Avon. Its Grade I registered ...

, Wiltshire;

Buscot Park Buscot Park is a country house at Buscot near the town of Faringdon in Oxfordshire within the historic boundaries of Berkshire. It is a Grade II* listed building. It was built in an austere neoclassical style between 1780 and 1783 for Edwar ...

, Oxfordshire; West Dean House, Sussex; and

Ilnacullin GarinishGarinish/Garinis

Samuel Morton Peto Sir Samuel Morton Peto, 1st Baronet (4 August 1809 – 13 November 1889) was an English entrepreneur, civil engineer and railway developer, and, for more than 20 years, a Member of Parliament (MP). A partner in the firm of Grissell and Peto, he ...

, of

Somerleyton Hall Somerleyton Hall is a country house and estate near Somerleyton and Lowestoft in Suffolk, England owned and lived in by Hugh Crossley, 4th Baron Somerleyton, originally designed by John Thomas. The hall is Grade II* listed on the National Heri ...

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk (district), East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the List of extreme points of the United Kingdom, most easterly UK se ...

, Suffolk, and of Sarah Ainsworth (née Kelsall), his father's second wife. Harold had four step-brothers and -sisters and ten brothers and sisters. Somerleyton Hall, where Harold spent his boyhood, had been rebuilt in the 1840s in

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival but which instead drew inspiration from a wide range ...

style and had a large

winter garden A winter garden is a kind of garden maintained in wintertime. History The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility would construct large conservatories that would house tropical and subtro ...

and a

parterre A ''parterre'' is a part of a formal garden constructed on a level substrate, consisting of symmetrical patterns, made up by plant beds, low hedges or coloured gravels, which are separated and connected by paths. Typically it was the part of ...

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...

; but in the 1860s his businesses ran into trouble, so that in 1863 he sold Somerleyton Hall and in 1866 became bankrupt. Briefly Harold was sent to board at

Harrow School Harrow School () is a Public school (United Kingdom), public school (English Independent school (United Kingdom), independent boarding school for boys) in Harrow on the Hill, Greater London, England. The school was founded in 1572 by John Lyon (sc ...

(1869–1871), but he left school at seventeen and did not pursue a higher education. Iford Manor - garden 04

On leaving school he was apprenticed to a joiner for nearly a year, then entered the practice of the architects J. Clements of Lowestoft. A year later he joined the London architects, Karslake and Mortimers. In 1876 Peto went into partnership with

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Ernest George – a partnership which would last sixteen years. He and George designed houses in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensington Garden ...

and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, as well as country houses. In 1883 Peto became a Fellow of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

(RIBA); but ill health compelled him to leave London. During these years he kept diaries recording his extensive travels to Italy, America, Spain and Greece. In 1892 Peto ended his partnership with Ernest George, and based himself in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

(1892–1895) and afterwards at Landford Lodge near

Salisbury Salisbury ( ) is a cathedral city in Wiltshire, England with a population of 41,820, at the confluence of the rivers Avon, Nadder and Bourne. The city is approximately from Southampton and from Bath. Salisbury is in the southeast of ...

(1896–1899). Again these were years of travel: to Egypt, Italy, Germany and France; and in 1898 he made a round-the-world tour which included Japan. In 1899 Peto purchased and moved to

in west Wiltshire, having visited it that year with his friend,

Henry Avray Tipping Henry Avray Tipping (22 August 1855 – 16 November 1933) was a French-born British writer on country houses and gardens, a garden designer, and Architectural Editor of '' Country Life'' magazine for 17 years. Early life Tipping was born in the ...

. Harold made Iford his permanent base. He re-designed and expanded the garden, trying out new ideas, and incorporating the artefacts collected during his travels around the world. The garden at Iford illustrates particularly his

Arts and crafts A handicraft, sometimes more precisely expressed as artisanal handicraft or handmade, is any of a wide variety of types of work where useful and decorative objects are made completely by one’s hand or by using only simple, non-automated re ...

approach to architecture and garden design. Garinish-Island-Italienischer Garten

Most of Peto's major commissions were executed between 1900 and 1914. His projects include work at

Easton Lodge Easton Lodge was a Victorian Gothic style stately home in Little Easton and north-west from Great Dunmow, Essex, England. Once famous for its weekend society gatherings frequented by the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VII), it was one of man ...

, Essex; West Dean House, Sussex;

Crichel House Crichel House is a Grade I listed, Classical Revival country house near the village of Moor Crichel in Dorset, England. The house has an entrance designed by Thomas Hopper and interiors by James Wyatt. It is surrounded by of parkland, which ...

, Dorset; Petwood, Lincolnshire; High Wall, Oxford;

, Oxfordshire; Hartham Park, Wiltshire; Bridge House, Surrey; Heale House, Woodford, Wiltshire;

Wayford Manor House Wayford Manor House is a country house with a garden in Britain, situated in Wayford, Somerset, England. It has been designated a Grade I listed building. House The house includes a central range which was rebuilt about 1600 on the site of an ear ...

, Somerset;

Burton Pynsent House Burton Pynsent House is a historic country-house in the parish of Curry Rivel, Somerset, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. The house was built in stages between 1565 and 1765, when it was bequeathed to William Pitt, 1st Earl of Cha ...

, Somerset and

Ilnacullin GarinishGarinish/Garinis

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ...

the Isola Bella, and at

Cap Ferrat Cap Ferrat (; en, Cape Ferrat) is a cape situated in the Alpes-Maritimes department in Southeastern France. It is located in the commune of Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat. Hospitius lived there as a recluse during the 6th century. Thus, the cape is s ...

the villas Sylvia, Maryland and Rosemary. A good example of Peto's garden architecture can be seen at West Dean House, Sussex, now housing West Dean College, where his

pergola A pergola is most commonly an outdoor garden feature forming a shaded walkway, passageway, or sitting area of vertical posts or pillars that usually support cross-beams and a sturdy open lattice, often upon which woody vines are trained. T ...

is a highlight of the gardens. Peto and Ernest George also directed an extension of the house for William James (father of poet Edward James, patron of the

Surrealist Surrealism is a cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists depicted unnerving, illogical scenes and developed techniques to allow the unconscious mind to express itself. Its aim was, according to ...

art movement); they created the Oak Room, the old dining room and the staircase, all of which can still be seen within West Dean College. Peto was also interested in interior design, and in 1907 he was commissioned to design the first-class accommodation aboard the trans-Atlantic liner ''

Mauretania Mauretania (; ) is the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It stretched from central present-day Algeria westwards to the Atlantic, covering northern present-day Morocco, and southward to the Atlas Mountains. Its native inhabitants ...

''.A. Wealleans, ''Designing Liners: A history of interior design afloat'' (2006. Routledge) Peto died at Iford Manor on 16 April (Easter Day), 1933.

References

External links

Iford Manor
{{DEFAULTSORT:Peto, Harold 1854 births 1933 deaths People educated at Harrow School People from Lowestoft Architects from London English gardeners English landscape architects Younger sons of baronets Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects

References

Further reading

External links