Lot 212
CHARLES SPOONER (1862-1938)
ARCHITECTURAL DESIGNS FOR COTTAGES IN SUSSEX, HERTFORDSHIRE, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE & DORSET
Auction: Day One | Lots 1 to 229 | Wed 15th April 2026 from 10am
Description
DESIGN FOR A COTTAGE AT WESTDOWN, BURWASH WEALD IN SUSSEX and DESIGN FOR ADDITIONS TO A TIMBER BUILT COTTAGE AT WESTDOWN, BURWASH WEALD, SUSSEX, 2 sheets, both in pen and black ink on glassine, signed lower right, one dated 1937, 37.5cm x 57cm; DESIGN FOR A COTTAGE AT WESTMILL HERTS FOR MRS M. GREG, 2 sheets, both in pen and ink with traces of pencil, 37.5cm, x 54cm; WESTMILL, HERTFORDSHIRE, DESIGN FOR SOME ALTERATIONS TO THE SHOP FOR T. T. GREG ESQR., graphite and watercolour, signed and dated lower right, 39cm x 56.5cm; THE CHURCH OF ST MARY AT WESTMILL NEAR BUNTINGFORD IN HERTFORDSHIRE, pen and ink and watercolour, 39.5cm x 57cm, small burn-hole to foot; FARM HOUSE AT STEEPLE CLAYDON, BUCKINGHAMSHIRE, FOR HENRY ARTHUR JONES ESQUIRE, 3 sheets, numbered 1-3, comprising a block plan, floor plans, and sections, pen and ink and watercolour, each signed and dated 1893 lower right, 57cm x 39.5cm, dust-soiling to right-hand edges of 1-2, a few spots; A COTTAGE AT WORBARROW, DORSET, FOR WARWICK DRAPER ESQUIRE, 3 sheets numbered 1-3, 1-2 in pen and ink and watercolour, 3 in graphite and watercolour, each signed lower right, 56cm x 38.5cm
Provenance
From the collection of Dr Alec Hamilton, author of Charles Spooner (1862-1938): Arts and Crafts Architect (Donington, 2012).
Footnote
The lot sold with related manuscript material and correspondence, including: ‘Specification Notes for some additions and alterations to a timber built cottage at Westdown, Burwash Weald, Sussex, for Mr E. Triggs of Beckenham, Kent, June 1937’ (Charles Spooner holograph manuscript, 7 leaves of ruled foolscap paper written on rectos only, rust-damage from paperclip); [Report on the proposed installation of a chimney in Westmill church] and ‘Report on Heating & Lighting St Mary’s Church at Westmill in Hertford-Shire', May and November 1933 (Charles Spooner holograph manuscript, 2 and 3 leaves of ruled foolscap paper each written on one side only); approx. 10 letters to or from Charles Spooner relating to works at Westmill; and an additional pencilled plan apparently of Westmill church (28cm x 19cm).
Henry Arthur Jones (1851-1929), Spooner's customer for these designs for a Buckinghamshire farmhouse, was one of the leading playwrights of his day, though now largely unknown, and the subject of a disobliging quip by Oscar Wilde.
Illustrated: Hamilton, Charles Spooner, pp. 176 ('Westmill … Design for Some Alterations to the Shop …'), 185 ('Design for Additions to a Timber Built Cottage at Westdown …'), 224 ('Farm House at Steeple Claydon …'), 239 ('A Cottage at Worbarrow … No. 2').