Jeremy Musson

Jeremy Musson discusses with Ivan six things which should be better known.

Jeremy Musson is an author of many books on the country house and historic buildings and related subjects, How to Read A Country House, English Ruins, The Drawing Room, Up and Down: Stairs the history of the country house servant, and a contributor or contributing editor to many more, including with Prof Sir David Cannadine, The Country House: Past, Present and Future.

Born in London in 1965, he grew up in London and Surrey, and after a law degree, at University College, London, and an M Phil in renaissance history, at the Warburg Institute, he worked for the Victorian Society as an architectural adviser, before moving to the National Trust, in East Anglia, as a junior curator. From 1995, he worked for Country Life magazine, as architectural writer and then architectural editor.

Since 2007, he has been an independent author, expert and consultant, advising on the care of numerous historic buildings, including St Paul’s Cathedral, Bevis Marks Synagogue, Red House, Chartwell - Churchill’s country home - and Oxburgh Hall and Hardwick Hall, as well as advising on a number of new architectural projects in sensitive contexts. An occasional television presenter on architectural subjects, he was the presenter and co-writer of the two BBC 2 series of The Curious House Guest.

A Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries, he also teaches for the University of Cambridge, the University of Buckingham and New York University (London programmes). He sits on the FAC for Ely Cathedral, is a trustee of the Historic Houses Foundation, and is chair of the Hall Bequest Trust. He is also a former Trustee of the Stowe House Preservation Trust and the Pevsner Book Trust. He is married with two grown up daughters, has lived in Cambridge since 1993, and is an active member of the Champion of the Thames Rowing Club in Cambridge.

1. Stanway https://www.stanwayfountain.co.uk/

2. The Dennis Severs House https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jul/25/dennis-severs-house-recreates-his-eccentric-tours-based-on-found-tapes

3. The churchyard garden, Little St Mary’s Church in Cambridge https://www.parksandgardens.org/places/little-st-marys-churchyard

4. The Compton Mortuary Chapel https://www.wattsgallery.org.uk/visit/explore-our-site/watts-cemetery-chapel

5. Homes Sweet Homes by Osbert Lancaster https://www.houseandgarden.co.uk/gallery/osbert-lancaster

6. Friendships by Mark Girouard https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-writer-who-goes-where-historians-dont-dare/

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