Charles Henry Bourne Quennell (1872–1935), was an English architect, designer, illustrator and historian. According to the heritage architect Cath Layton, "his great influence [as an architect and urban planner] can be felt in the houses and streets of London’s suburbs and across the country."Planning the peripheries: CHB Quennell and early 20th Century suburban housing, heritagearchitecture.co.uk. Retrieved 10 November 2022. His obituary in Nature noted that his books for children and young people had "strongly stimulated interest in the cultural background of the more formal study of history".

Life and career Quennell was the son of Henry Quennell, a builder, and his wife Emma Rebecca (née Hobbs), and grew up in a house at Cowley Road on the Holland Town Estate, Kennington, London.

He was articled to Newman and Newman, and worked in the offices of J. McK. Brydon and of J. D. Sedding and Henry Wilson. He obtained the National Gold medal for Architecture, and RIBA Medal of Merit and £5 in the Soane Medallion competition in 1895.RIBA Journal, 22 December 1935, page 212 He began practice in 1896 working with his brother William developing houses at Hampstead Garden Suburb and then with developer George Washington Hart.Alistair Service (1989) Victorian and Edwardian Hampstead

He designed a house for Francis Crittall, window manufacturer (Crittall Windows) at Braintree, Essex in 1908.Finn Jensen 'Modernist semis and terraces in England' p. 15

He designed a house for Walter Crittall, son of window manufacturer Francis Crittall at Braintree, Essex in 1912.Finn Jensen 'Modernist semis and terraces in England' p. 15

He co-designed a 'show house' with Walter Crittall at 156-158 Cressing Road, Braintree, Essex. the house incorporated many modernist features such as a drying yard for clothes, a scullery, a larder, fuel store, outside lavatory, living room, parlour, three bedrooms and an inside bathroom and hot press.

Discussing the leading English furniture designs of the time, Herman MuthesiusHerman Muthesius (1904) The English House wrote in his book The English House (1904): '... that inspired artist Henry Wilson and the excellent designer C. H. B. Quennell far outshine the rest of the group and produce work of high artistic sensibility.' In that book Muthesius discussed certain features of Quennell's illustrations and designs: fireplaces,Muthesius, 1904, p. 189Muthesius, 1904, p. 186 garden furnitureMuthesius, 1904, p. 123 and garden gates.Muthesius, 1904, p. 104

Positions 1912–15: Member of the Council of Royal Institute of British Architects 1914–25: Member of the Town Planning Committee of Royal Institute of British Architects 1928–30: Member of the Board of Architectural EducationElizabeth McKellar, "C. H. B. Quennell (1872-1935): Architecture, History and the Quest for the Modern", Architectural History, Vol. 50 (2007), pp. 211-246. Retrieved 10 November 2022.

Personal life He was the husband of Marjorie Quennell whom he met in 1903 at the Junior Art Worker's Guild and father of Peter Quennell. With his wife, he wrote extensively on social history.

Quennell died in December 1935.

His brother, Walter, a builder and property developer, was father of Joan Quennell, a Conservative M.P.Architectural History, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, vol. 50, pg 219, 2007Dod's Parliamentary Companion, ed. C. R. Dod and R. P. Dod, Dod's Parliamentary Companion Ltd., 1967, pg 461

Architectural works

1899 The Chapel, Cambridge HouseAcademy Architecture; Volume 15, 1899, page 137 1899 Design for Liskeard ChurchAcademy Architecture; Volume 15, 1899, page 120 1904 Gallops Homestead, SussexMuthesius, 1904, p. 134 1904 Campbell Mausoleum, St Mary's Cemetery, Harrow Road, Hammersmith, London 1905 Vale Cottage and Burnt Oak Cottage, Bickley Bromley Urban District Council Plans No 3437, 1905 1905 Four Beeches, 3 Denbridge Road, Bickley Small Country Houses of To-day, Edited by Lawrence Weaver, 1911, pages 130–3 1905 Phyllis Court, Rosecroft Avenue, Hampstead Architectural Review, March 1905 1905-6 St John's Church, Hall and Vicarage, Edmonton The Builder, 25 March 1927, page 480 1906 1 Denbridge Road, Bickley 1906 Barn Hawe, 2 Denbridge Road, Bickley 1906 8 Denbridge Road, Bickley 1906 The Grosvenor Gallery, 157 New Bond Street (interior) 1907 19 Woodlands Road, Bickley 1907 24 Heath Drive, Hampstead (Listed Grade II) 1907 12 Denbridge Road, Bickley Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 3890, November 1907 1907 19 St George's Road, Bickley Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 3735, January 1907 1907 Halstow, 22 St George's Road, Bickley Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 3814, June 1907 1908 Southborough House, 2 New London Rd, Chelmsford for F W Crittall 1908 10 Edward Road, Bromley 1909 21 St George's Road, Bickley 1909 Linden Oaks, 24 St George's Road, Bickley 1909 Denbridge House, Bickley 1910 Englefield, 8 Woodlands Road, Bickley Bromley Urban District Council Plan no 4255, March 1910 1910 St Mark's School, Masons Hill, Bromley, Kent Bromley Urban District Council Plans dated 22 September 1910 1911 Hadlow, 6 Woodlands Road, Bickley Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 4387, March 1911 1911 Lynch House, Allerford, Somerset, Now called Bossington Hall 1912 Deerwood, 7 Woodlands Road, Bickley Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 4471, January 1912 1912 Mowden School, The Droveway, Hove Modern Building Record, 1912 1912-4 Aultmore, Inverness-shire Academy Architecture; ii, 1913, pages 34 -5Architectural Review No.51, 1922, pages 154–5,The Architects' Journal, 19 May 1926 1913 Orchard House, 5 Woodlands Road, Bickley Bromley Urban District Council Plans no 4609, February 1913 1918–20 Houses at Braintree (1–41 Clockhouse Way and 152–194 Cressing Road) for Crittall Architectural Review, January 1919, pages 64–66 1920 Southcourt Housing Estate, Barton Hartshorn, BuckinghamshireThe Buildings of England, Buckinghamshire, N. Pevsner, E. Williamson and G. K. Brandwood 1923 Housing Scheme, Aylesbury The Architects' Journal, 3 January 1923 -?- 19–21 Holbrook Lane, Chislehurst, Kent" Daylight Saving in the Suburbs, Victorian Society walk notes -?- Crabtrees, Gravel Path, Berkhamsted -?- 'Crockies' (assisted by Thomas Tait – location unknown) Homes and Garden magazine, June 1931, page 23 1926–32 Houses at Silver End, Essex for Crittall Conservation Today, David Pearce, 1989 1926 The Manors, Silver End -?- Houses on Eastbury Road and Carew Road, Northwood, London 1931 New House, Oak Lodge, 47, Newlands Avenue, Radlett, Hertfordshire

Bibliography 1906 Modern Suburban Houses, Batsford, London, 1906 1906 A Guide to Norwich Cathedral, (Bell's Cathedral Series), 1906. 1910 "Symposium on Town Planning"Women's Suffrage Supplement, 3 November 1910 1911 "The House and its Equipment", Country Life (various articles) 1919 "Standard Types of Standardised Methods?",The Architects' and Builders' Journal, 1 January 1919, page 3 1919 "Berkhamsted War Memorial Town Improvement Scheme"The Architects' Journal, 9 April 1919 1921 "How to Revive Public Confidence in Building"The Architects' Journal, 19 October 1921

Works in collaboration Marjorie & C. H. B. Quennell, A History of Everyday Things in England, London, B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1918–1934 Volume I 1066–1449 Volume II 1500–1799 Volume III 1733–1851 Volume IV 1852–1914 Marjorie & C. H. B. Quennell, A History of Everyday Life in.., London, B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1921–1926. Everyday Life in Anglo-Saxon, Viking, and Norman times Everyday Life in Roman Britain Everyday Life in Prehistoric Times (vol. 1 The Old Stone Age, vol. 2 The New Stone Age) Marjorie & C. H. B. Quennell, Everyday Things in Greece, London, B. T. Batsford Ltd, 1929–1932. Vol 1, Homeric Greece Vol 2, Archaic Greece Vol 3, Classical Greece Marjorie & C. H. B. Quennell, The Good New Days, London, B. T. Batsford Ltd., 1935. C. H. B. & P. Quennell Somerset. (Shell Guide.) London: Architectural Press, 1938

References

External links

C H B Quennell (entry) at Dictionary of Scottish Architects

Marjorie and C.H.B. Quennell, A History of Everyday Things in England, 1066-1799 (online copy) (1918) at Wayback Machine Peter Quennell (entry) at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography Laura Carter, ‘Shall we judge him by his WORK?’: The Quennells and the primitive craftsman at Histories of Archaeology Research Network (HARN), University of Cambridge