Philip Tilden

Tilden was born on 31 May 1887,[1] the son of William Augustus Tilden, a prominent chemist who discovered synthetic rubber.[2] Educated at Bedales and Rugby,[2] Tilden joined the Architectural Association in 1905, leaving in 1908 to become an articled pupil to Thomas Edward Collcutt,[3] with whom he later went into partnership. By 1917, he had established his own practice and for the next twenty years worked almost exclusively for a small circle of rich, interconnected, patrons for whom he designed, or re-constructed, country houses, gardens, chapels and churches, castles and a vast tower that was intended to sit on top of Gordon Selfridge's department store on Oxford Street, London.[4]

His best known works, apart from the unexecuted design for the Selfridges tower, were all for politicians: from 1918 to 1923 he designed the Moorish Courtyard, compared by Honor Channon to a "Spanish brothel",[5] and the gardens and swimming pools at Port Lympne for Lloyd George's secretary, Philip Sassoon[6] and may also have worked for Sassoon at Trent Park. Later in 1920s he completely reconstructed Chartwell Manor for Winston Churchill and during the same period built Bron-y-de, at Churt in Surrey, as a country house for David Lloyd George.[7]

By the late 1920s, Tilden's career had peaked: near bankruptcy, following some failed speculative developments;[8] combined with a mental breakdown, which Bettley attributes to Tilden's attempting to reconcile his homosexuality with his marriage to Amalia Broden, a Swedish author;[9] led to his leaving London entirely and moving to Devon. The latter part of his career was spent mainly in the West Country, where he undertook the restoration of a number of, mostly, less important country houses for a variety of less eminent clients. Examples include the reconstruction of Antony House in Cornwall and of Sydenham House in Devon.[10]

Many of Tilden's buildings now enjoy Listed Building status although this is sometimes due to the fame of their owners, or to work that pre-dated Tilden, rather than to his own efforts: examples include Port Lympne Mansion, Grade II* listed as at 29 December 1966;[11] Chartwell, Grade I listed as at 16 January 1975[12] and Antony House, Grade I listed as at 21 July 1951.[13]

In 1954 Tilden published his autobiography, True Remembrances: the memoirs of an architect. Bettley considered it highly unreliable.[14] Philip Tilden died on 25 February 1956 at Shute, Devon.[15] His obituary in The Times, described him as "an architect with a talent for restoring old buildings, though of a somewhat lush and luxurious taste."[15]

• Allington Castle, Kent, 1917–33, reconstruction for Sir Martin Conway[16]
• Antony House, Cornwall, 1945–47, alterations for Sir John Carew Pole[16]
• Bron-y-de, Churt, Surrey, 1922–28, house for David Lloyd George,[16] destroyed by fire in 1968
• Chartwell, Kent, 1923–24, alterations for Winston Churchill[17]
• Cherkley Court, Leatherhead, Surrey, 1926, alterations for Lord Beaverbrook[16]
• Garsington Manor, Oxfordshire, 1925–26, terrace and loggia for Lady Ottoline Morrell[16]
• Luscombe Castle, Devon, alterations for Sir Peter Hoare[18]
• Luton Hoo, Hertfordshire, 1947, repairs after wartime use[19]
• Port Lympne Mansion, Kent, 1918–23, alterations for Sir Philip Sassoon[20]
• Prussia Cove, Cornwall, 1911–14, house for T.T. and Brian Behrens[17]
• Saltwood Castle, Kent, 1930s, reconstruction for Sir Martin Conway[21]
• Shrigley Hall, Cheshire, 1935–38, chapel for the Salesian Brothers[17]

• Aslet, Clive (1985). The Last Country Houses. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300034741.
• Bettley, James (1987). Lush and Luxurious: the life and work of Philip Tilden 1887–1956. Royal Institute of British Architects. OCLC 466189961.
• Tilden, Philip (1954). True Remembrances: The memoirs of an architect. London: Country Life. OCLC 636818090.