John Harris (curator) - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

John Frederick Harris OBE (born 1931) is an English curator, historian of architecture, gardens and architectural drawing

Architectural drawing

An architectural drawing or architect's drawing is a technical drawing of a building that falls within the definition of architecture...

s, and the author of more than 25 books and catalogues, and 200 articles. He is a Fellow and Curator Emeritus of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects

Royal Institute of British Architects

The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...

, founding Trustee of SAVE Britain's Heritage

SAVE Britain's Heritage

SAVE Britain's Heritage has been described as the most influential conservation group to have been established since William Morris founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings in 1877. It was created in 1975 - European Architectural Heritage Year - by a group of journalists,...

and SAVE Europe's Heritage, and founding member and Honorary Life President of the International Confederation of Architectural Museums

International Confederation of Architectural Museums

The International Confederation of Architectural Museums is an organisation of architectural museums, centres and collections, dedicated to fostering links between all those interested in promoting the better understanding of architecture....

Career

John Harris left school at the age of 14 in 1946. He travelled and took on miscellaneous jobs, before starting his proper career in 1954 working in an antiques shop, Collin and Winslow. In 1956 he joined the Royal Institute of British Architects

Royal Institute of British Architects

The Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...

(RIBA) Library and Drawings Collection in London, becoming curator of its British Architectural Library's Drawings Collection from 1960–86. This included the establishment in 1972 of a permanent home for the Drawings Collection in the James Adam designed house at 21 Portman Square (moved to the V&A Henry Cole Wing in 2002), next door to and sharing with the Courtauld Institute at Home House, 20 Portman Square (moved to Somerset House

Somerset House

Somerset House is a large building situated on the south side of the Strand in central London, England, overlooking the River Thames, just east of Waterloo Bridge. The central block of the Neoclassical building, the outstanding project of the architect Sir William Chambers, dates from 1776–96. It...

in 1989). Harris founded and organised 42 exhibitions at the Heinz Gallery, on the ground floor of 21 Portman Square, opened in 1972, designed by Stefan Buzas and Alan Irvine, given by Mr and Mrs Henry J Heinz II, being the first purpose built gallery for the display of
architectural drawings in the English speaking world. The Gallery was purchased in 2000 by the Irish Architectural Archive

Irish Architectural Archive

The Irish Architectural Archive was established in 1976 by Dr Edward McParland and Nicholas Robinson to collect and preserve material of every kind relating to the architecture of Ireland, and make it available to the public...

and moved in 2003-4 to the ground floor of their relocated premises at 45 Merrion Square, Dublin, which opened to the public in 2005. RIBA's Drawings Collection Gallery was re-established in 2004 as part of the joint V&A and RIBA

Riba

Riba means one of the senses of "usury" . Riba is forbidden in Islamic economic jurisprudence fiqh and considered as a major sin...

Architecture Partnership, creating the Architecture Gallery in Room 128 at the V&A.

Harris was a co-curator of the seminal Destruction of the Country House exhibition

Destruction of the Country House exhibition

The Destruction of the Country House 1875-1975 was an exhibition held at the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1974, curated byV&A Director Roy Strong with John Harris and Marcus Binney .The exhibition included a "Hall of Destruction", decorated with falling columns and illustrations of some...

held at the V&A in 1974, with Sir Roy Strong

Roy Strong

Sir Roy Colin Strong FRSL is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London...

and Marcus Binney

Marcus Binney

Marcus Binney, CBE is a British architectural historian and author. He is best known for his conservation work regarding Britain's heritage.-Early and family life:...

, which gave impetus to the movement to conserve British country houses and the founding in 1975 of SAVE Britain's Heritage

SAVE Britain's Heritage

. He was editor of Studies in Architecture 1976–99. In 1996 he was a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Center, Getty Villa

Getty Villa

The Getty Villa in Pacific Palisades, California, USA, is one of two locations of the J. Paul Getty Museum. The Getty Villa is an educational center and museum dedicated to the study of the arts and cultures of ancient Greece, Rome, and Etruria...

, Santa Monica. Harris also played a crucial role in the establishment of the Canadian Centre for Architecture

Canadian Centre for Architecture

The Canadian Centre for Architecture is a museum of architecture and research centre in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Phyllis Lambert is the Founding Director and Chair of the Board of Trustees, and Mirko Zardini is the Director and Chief Curator....

in Montreal and the Heinz Architecture Centre in the Carnegie Museum of Art

Carnegie Museum of Art

The Carnegie Museum of Art, located in the Oakland neighborhood of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is an art museum founded in 1895 by the Pittsburgh-based industrialist Andrew Carnegie...

, Pittsburgh. He was a member for ten years of Mr Paul Mellon’s London Acquisitions Committee. Harris worked on the Victoria and Albert Primary Galleries Project (1996–2001). He has been on the Board of Trustees of The Architecture Foundation

The Architecture Foundation

The Architecture Foundation was Britain's first independent architecture centre. Established in 1991, it aims to promote contemporary architecture.The Architecture Foundation has organised public exhibitions, design initiatives, competitions and debates....

. He is a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London

Society of Antiquaries of London

The Society of Antiquaries of London is a learned society "charged by its Royal Charter of 1751 with 'the encouragement, advancement and furtherance of the study and knowledge of the antiquities and history of this and other countries'." It is based at Burlington House, Piccadilly, London , and is...

. He is an expert on Palladian architecture

Palladian architecture

Palladian architecture is a European style of architecture derived from the designs of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio . The term "Palladian" normally refers to buildings in a style inspired by Palladio's own work; that which is recognised as Palladian architecture today is an evolution of...

, and has written about, among many others, Lord Burlington, William Kent

William Kent

William Kent , born in Bridlington, Yorkshire, was an eminent English architect, landscape architect and furniture designer of the early 18th century.He was baptised as William Cant.-Education:...

and Sir William Chambers.

Harris is married to American historian and author Dr Eileen Harris

Eileen Harris

Dr Eileen Harris is an American/English architectural historian and author. She is an expert on Robert Adam and is Honorary Librarian and Consultant to the Adam Project at Sir John Soane's Museum in London.-Early and family life:...

(from circa 1961), has a son, Lucian, and a daughter, Georgina, and lives in London and Badminton, Gloucestershire.

Books – Author (in reverse chronology)

Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages (2007) Yale University Press, ISBN 0300124201, ISBN 978-0300124200.

Badminton: The Duke of Beaufort, His House (2007).
Echoing Voices: More Memories of a Country House Snooper (2002) John Murray, ISBN 0719564832, ISBN 978-0719564833. Large print edition (2003) Ulverscroft, ISBN 0753199084, ISBN 978-0753199084. Paperback edition (2003) John Murray, ISBN 0719564921, ISBN 978-0719564925. Paperback large print edition (2004) Ulverscroft, ISBN 0753199092, ISBN 978-0753199091.
No Voice from the Hall: Early Memories of a Country House Snooper (1998) John Murray, ISBN 0719555671, ISBN 978-0719555671. Large print edition (1998) ISIS Large Print Books, ISBN 0753154528, ISBN 978-0753154526. Paperback edition (2000) John Murray, ISBN 0719561493, ISBN 978-0719561498.
Sir William Chambers: Catalogues of Architectural Drawings in the Victoria and Albert Museum (1997) with Stephen Astley, Janine Barrier, and Gertrud Siedmann, edited by Michael Snodin, V&A Publications, ISBN 1851771824, ISBN 978-1851771820.
Inigo Jones: Complete Architectural Drawings (1989) Studies in Architecture, Zwemmer, ISBN 0302006087, ISBN 978-0302006085.
Architectural Drawings in the Collection of the Cooper-Hewitt Museum (1987) with Nancy Aakre and Lisa Taylor, Cooper-Hewitt Museum, ISBN 0910503206, ISBN 978-0910503204.

Carlo Fontana: The Drawings at Windsor Castle (1987).
The Design of the English Country House (1985) Trefoil Publications Ltd, hardcover, ISBN 0862940672, ISBN 978-0862940676.
The Architect and the British Country House, 1620–1920 (1985) American Institute of Architects Press, paperback, ISBN 0913962759, ISBN 978-0913962756.
Great Drawings from the Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects (1983) with Jill Lever and Margaret Richardson, Trefoil Publications Ltd, ISBN 0862940362, ISBN 978-0862940362. Also ISBN 0862940370, ISBN 978-0862940379.
William Talman: Maverick Architect (1982) Genius of Architecture Series, Allen and Unwin, ISBN 0047200243, ISBN 978-0047200243. Paperback edition (1982) ISBN 0047200251, ISBN 978-0047200250.
The Palladians (1982) Rizzoli, paperback, ISBN 0847804208, ISBN 978-0847804207.
Lost Houses of Scotland (1980) with Marcus Binney and Emma Winnington, Save Britain's Heritage, ISBN 0905978056, ISBN 978-0905978055.
The Artist and the Country House (1979) Sotheby Parke Bernet, ISBN 0856670537, ISBN 978-0856670534.
A Garden Alphabet (1979) compiled by John Harris in association with The Victoria and Albert Museum for the Garden Exhibition, Octopus Books, ISBN 0706410823, ISBN 978-0706410822.
Gardens of Delight, The Rococo English Landscape of Thomas Robins The Elder (1978) with natural history notes by Dr Martyn Rix, 2 volumes, Basilisk Press, limited edition of 515 copies, based on the 1975-6 RIBA exhibition.
The Destruction of the Country House: 1875–1975 (1974) with Roy Strong and Marcus Binney, Thames & Hudson Ltd, ISBN 0500240949, ISBN 978-0500240946.
Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects: Colen Campbell (1973) Gregg Revivals, ISBN 0576155624, ISBN 978-0576155625.
Catalogue of the Drawings Collection of the Royal Institute of British Architects: Inigo Jones and John Webb (1973) Gregg Revivals, ISBN 0576155594, ISBN 978-0576155595.
A Country House Index (1971) An index to over 2000 country houses illustrated in 107 books of country views published between 1715 and 1872, together with a list of British country house guides and country house art collection catalogues for the period 1726–1880, Pinhorns Handbooks No 7, ISBN 0901262102, ISBN 978-0901262103. 2nd edition (1979) Pinhorns, ISBN 0901262218, ISBN 978-0901262219.
Catalogue of British Drawings for Architecture, Decoration, Sculpture and Landscape Gardening In American Collections 1550–1900 (1971) Irvington Pub, ISBN 083980766X, ISBN 978-0839807667.
Sir William Chambers: Knight of the Polar Star (1970) with J. Mordaunt Crook and Eileen Harris, Zwemmer, ISBN 0302020764, ISBN 978-0302020760.
Georgian Country Houses (1968) Royal Institute of British Architects Drawings Series, Country Life Books, ISBN 0600431525, ISBN 978-0600431527.
Lincolnshire (1964) Buildings of England series, with Nikolaus Pevsner, Penguin. Revised by Nicholas Antram in 1970 and 1989.
Regency Furniture Designs from Contemporary Source Books, 1803–26 (1961) Master Hands Series, Tiranti, ISBN 0854586385, ISBN 978-0854586387. A collection of pattern books with various comparative plates of 1744 to 1812 (1961) Tiranti, ASIN: B0000CKZQR.
English Decorative Ironwork from Contemporary Source Books, 1610–1836 (1960) Master Hands Series, Tiranti, ISBN 0854586083, ISBN 978-0854586080. A collection of drawings and pattern books (1960) Tiranti, ASIN: B0000CKJ8B.

Books – Editor

Catalogue of the Drawings by Inigo Jones, John Webb and Isaac De Caus at Worcester College, Oxford (1979) edited with A.A. Tait, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198173628, ISBN 978-0198173625.
The Rise and Progress of the Present Taste in Planting: Parks, Pleasure Grounds, Gardens, etc: A Facsimile (1970) Oriel Press, ISBN 0853621047, ISBN 978-0853621041.
Country Seat: Studies in the History of the British Country House (1970) Presented to Sir John Summerson
John Summerson
Sir John Newenham Summerson CH CBE was one of the leading British architectural historians of the 20th century....

on His Sixty-Fifth Birthday Together with a Select Bibliography of His Published Writings, edited with Howard Colvin
Howard Colvin
Sir Howard Montagu Colvin, CVO, CBE , was a British architectural historian who produced two of the most outstanding works of scholarship in his field.-Life and works:...

, published by Allen Lane (the Penguin Press), ISBN 0713901136, ISBN 978-0713901139.

Books – Exhibition Catalogues

A Passion for Building: the Amateur Architect in England 1650–1850 (2007) with Robert Hradsky, for Sir John Soane's Museum, ISBN 978-0954904166.
William Kent (1685–1748): A Poet on Paper (1998) Sir John Soane's Museum.
Sir William Chambers: Architect to George III (1996) Yale University Press, ISBN 0300069405.
The Artist and the Country House: From the Fifteenth Century to the Present Day (1996) Exhibition to Benefit the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture, Sotheby's, ISBN 0962258822, ISBN 978-0962258824.
The Palladian Revival: Lord Burlington, His Villa and Garden at Chiswick (1994) Yale University Press, ISBN 0300059841, which won the Architectural Exhibition Catalogue Award of the Society of Architectural Historians in 1995.
Silent Cities (1977) An Exhibition of the Memorial and Cemetery Architecture of the Great War, with Gavin Stamp, at the RIBA Heinz Gallery, London.
Gardens of Delight: The Art of Thomas Robins (1975) RIBA Heinz Gallery, exhibition 9 December 1975 to 20 March 1976.

Headfort House and Robert Adam
Robert Adam
Robert Adam was a Scottish neoclassical architect, interior designer and furniture designer. He was the son of William Adam , Scotland's foremost architect of the time, and trained under him...

(1973) Drawings from The Collection of Mr and Mrs Paul Mellon, at the RIBA Heinz Gallery, London.

The King's Arcadia: Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones
Inigo Jones is the first significant British architect of the modern period, and the first to bring Italianate Renaissance architecture to England...

and the Stuart Court (1973) with Stephen Orgel and Roy Strong, a quatercentenary exhibition at the Banqueting House, Whitehall, London.

Books – Contributor

Precedents and Various Designs Collected by C.H. Tatham
Charles Heathcote Tatham
Charles Heathcote Tatham , was an English architect of the early nineteenth century.-Early life:...

(1982) in In Search of Modern Architecture: A Tribute to Henry-Russell Hitchcock, edited by Helen Searing, Architectural History Foundation/Mit Press Series, ISBN 0262192098, ISBN 978-0262192095.

Books – Introduction

Inside Out: Historic Watercolour Drawings, Oil Sketches and Paintings of Interiors and Exteriors 1770–1870 (2000) by Frederick Michael Pick, Stair & Company, ISBN 0953965309, ISBN 978-0953965304. Introduction titled "Architectural Drawings: A Short Historiography".
Vitruvius Britannicus, or The British architect... (1967–72), 4 volumes, reproduced works by Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell
Colen Campbell was a pioneering Scottish architect who spent most of his career in England, and is credited as a founder of the Georgian style...

, J. Badeslade, John Rocque
John Rocque
John Rocque was a surveyor and cartographer.Rocque was born no later than 1709, since that was the year he moved to England with his parents, who were French Huguenot émigrés...

, James Gandon
James Gandon
James Gandon is today recognised as one of the leading architects to have worked in Ireland in the late 18th century and early 19th century. His better known works include The Custom House, the Four Courts, King's Inns in Dublin and Emo Court in Co...

, John Woolfe, George Richardson
George Richardson (architect)
George Richardson was a Scottish architectural and decorative draftsman and writer on architecture.One of his few remaining architectural works is St Mary Magdalene's Church at Stapleford, Leicestershire, built in 1783 for the Earl of Harborough.His main output, however, was in the form of books...

, Denise Addis and Paul Breman, published by Benjamin Blom, New York.

Articles

A Dying Breed of Connoisseur, The Art Newspaper, April 2002.
Diverting Labyrinths, Country Life magazine, 11 January 1990.

Lectures

The Annual Soane Lecture (2007) Sir John Soane's Museum, London, on Moving Rooms: The Trade in Architectural Salvages.
The Andrew W Mellon Lectures (1981) on Palladian architecture in England.

External links

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