Bernard Feildan

The following obituary for Sir Bernard Feilden, contributed by our Fellow John Fidler, first appeared in the Guardian on 21 November 2008.

Sir Bernard Melchior Feilden, architect, born 11 September 1919; died 14 November 2008: distinguished and prolific conservation architect whose work had global significance

Bernard Feilden, who has died aged 89, was one of the world's best-known, most highly respected and influential conservation architects. Towering over his profession for nearly half a century, this mid-career latecomer to conservation designed some of the most inventive building repairs of the 20th century, influenced the direction of architectural training, consulted and taught internationally to great effect, and authored key texts in the field.

Bernard Melchior Feilden was a twin son with four brothers, born to Robert and Olive Feilden in Hampstead, London. His early years were spent in Canada, where his father (who had been gassed in the first world war) took the family for the sake of his health. His father drowned in a lake there, witnessed by the boy, and the family returned to Britain when Bernard was nine.

He inherited his interest in architecture from his grandfather, Brightwen Binyon (1846-1905), an Ipswich architect and former pupil of Alfred Waterhouse. Bernard won an exhibition from Bedford school to the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London and completed his training at the Architectural Association after the second world war. During hostilities, he served in Iraq, Iran, India and Italy with the Bengal Sappers of the Indian Army.

After qualifying in 1949, Feilden worked for the Norwich architectural practice of Edward Boardman and Son. There he designed the Trinity United Reformed church, which last year became only the second postwar building in the city to be given listed status. In 1954, he set up his own practice in Norwich with David

Mawson, after a shooting accident cost him his left eye. Feilden and Mawson Architects grew over the next 50 years to become a large practice involved in domestic, industrial, commercial and educational projects.

But it was 14 years after qualifying as an architect, in mid-career, at the age of 44, that Feilden first received his calling to conservation. Noted already by 1963 for his work in a practice of sensitive housing architects and for contributing ideas for the new campus at the University of East Anglia, Feilden received a call out of the blue from the Bishop of Norwich, Launcelot Fleming, who was on the board of trustees for the new university: "Bernard, want a job? The dean tells me that his cathedral architect has just died and ..."

In awe, but unphased, Feilden set to work on one of the most challenging conservation problems of the period: how to deal with the wobbling, cracked stone spire of Norwich cathedral. Armed with a telescope and humility, Feilden consulted local masonry contractors and conservation specialists such as the superintending architect of the ancient monuments division of the Ministry of Works in London and the Architecte en chef des monuments historiques nationaux, in France. Thereafter, with his engineer, he devised a clever internal spring-loaded tensioning system to resist the wind. For the rest of his life, he advocated specialising in building conservation only at a mid-career: "Become a good architect first, and then become a good conservation architect," was his maxim.

During the 1960s and 70s, he was responsible for a number of church, country house and university repair projects, and for the conservation works at York Minster. He was also surveyor to the fabric of St Paul's Cathedral. In 1975, he devised a plan to save the historic centre of Chesterfield from destruction, work that won him a Europa Nostra medal.

In 1968 Feilden was made a fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects and from 1972 until 1977 sat on the institute's council, where he was instrumental in establishing the body's first conservation committee and developing its policy towards postgraduate, mid-career training in building conservation. With his contemporary and fellow conservation architect Donald Insall, he set up the Conference on Training in Architectural Conservation (Cotac) in 1972 and became its chairman the following year.

Through the 1960s and 70s, Feilden lectured frequently on the master's degree course at the Institute of Advanced Architectural Studies at York University in the King's Manor, which he had converted for this purpose in 1963. Later he was external examiner for the course. He also donated funds for a laboratory and lent his name to the Hamlyn-Feilden fellowship to bolster technical training. Feilden also lectured regularly in the architectural conservation course at the Intergovernmental International Centre for the Study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property in Rome (Iccrom) from 1972 to 1994, and served as its director-general from 1977 to 1981. As a result of his work in Rome, and based on previous discussions on Cotac, Feilden's ideas influenced the International Council on Monuments and Sites and the publication of its guidelines on education and training in the conservation of monuments, ensembles and sites in 1993. It remains the basis of much international practice today.

Feilden was president of the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association in 1975 and, one year later, president of the Surveyors Guild. From 1981 to 1987, he was president of the UK committee of the International Council on Monuments and Sites. He was appointed a member of the Ancient Monuments Board for England (1964-77); and served the Church of England on the Cathedrals Fabric Commission (1990-95), and on the cathedral fabric committees for Bury St Edmunds and Ely (1990-2006).

As part of Iccrom's mission, and as a Unesco consultant, he visited, consulted and lectured in many countries, giving advice to architects and restorers in Iraq, Iran, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, China, New Zealand and Canada. He also lectured extensively in the US. He was consulted on the Taj Mahal and the Sun temple at Konarak in India, and on the Forbidden City and the Great Wall in China.

In 1986, he received the Aga Khan award for architecture for his contribution to the conservation of the dome of Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem.

Feilden was appointed OBE in 1969, CBE in 1976, and knighted in 1985. He also found time to publish An Introduction to Conservation (1979); Between Two Earthquakes (1987); Guidelines for Conservation (India) (1989); and Guidelines for Management of World Cultural Heritage Sites (1993). But he will chiefly be remembered for Conservation of Historic Buildings (1982), still the most comprehensive overview of building conservation practice. So profoundly did he believe in education and training that he gifted oversight of the publication in perpetuity to the Royal Institute of British Architects.

He married first, in 1949, Ruth Bainbridge, with whom he had two sons and two daughters. After her death in 1994, he married Tina Murdoch. She and his children survive him.

The following obituary for Sir Bernard Feilden first appeared in the Daily Telegraph on 16 November 2008.

Conservation architect who brought his skills to Britain's cathedrals, the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal

Sir Bernard Feilden, who died on 15 November 2008, aged 89, was the world's leading authority on the conservation of buildings and was once himself described as a 'monument to conservation'.

The list of monuments with which Feilden was involved both as a conservation architect and as a consultant was a roll-call of the world's most precious and important cultural sites. In Britain, his meticulous inspection techniques led to work being undertaken which saved the spire at Norwich Cathedral and the central tower at York Minister from collapse. Other buildings which benefited from his wisdom included St Paul's Cathedral, Hampton Court Palace and St Giles Cathedral in Edinburgh.

Abroad, he advised on the conservation of the dome of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem, the Taj Mahal, the Sun Temple at Konarak, and the Forbidden City and the Great Wall in China.

Feilden's Conservation of Historic Buildings, first published in 1982, remains the most important single volume on the subject to be published and the standard text on architectural conservation. The result of a lifetime's experience, it discussed the fundamental principles of conservation and provided practical information for the solution of problems in almost every climatic region of the world.

In the preface Feilden set out his guiding philosophy, which included 'unswerving respect for the aesthetic, historical and physical integrity of cultural property'. Central was the belief that architecture is a social art, and conservators needed to take into account the often competing spiritual, social and political values which buildings embody – as well as archaeological or architectural authenticity.

The Taj Mahal, for example, was in his view 'all about perfection' or the pursuit of it. The principles guiding its conservation, therefore, should be architectural harmony and unity. The general rule that conservation should involve 'minimum intervention'should not necessarily be the guiding principle in such a case, especially where alterations had removed or changed elements that contributed to the harmony of the whole. Feilden was particularly concerned about the dangers of politicians using cultural sites for propaganda purposes, which brought the risk of their becoming targets in ethnic or religious struggles.

But Feilden was never solely concerned with old buildings. In the third edition of Conservation of Historic Buildings he included a new section on the conservation of buildings of the Modern Movement. As a young architect in the 1950s he himself had designed such buildings as Trinity United Reformed Church in Norwich, a modernist take on the church of St Apollinaire near Ravenna. The first church in the city to be built after the Second World War, it now has listed building status.

He faced perhaps his greatest challenge in this field when, in 1968, he was taken on as development plan architect to oversee the completion of the initial phase of the campus of the new University of East Anglia. This followed the university's decision to replace Denys Lasdun, amid concerns over costs and funding.

Feilden was already known to the university as his firm, Feilden and Mawson, had been the architects for the university village. He was personally dismayed at the break with Lasdun, whom he much admired, but agreed to take over to 'save something from the wreck'. He decided to treat the campus as 'the most modern conservation area in the UK' and co-wrote a Guide Book for Project Architects on style and materials to 'keep the vocabulary'.

Though cost savings were made, the Lasdun aesthetic was retained, as was the concrete fabric. Feilden's own great contribution was the creation of The Square, an open centre with services round it – the University House, a street of shops, a chaplaincy and refectory. Now a lively social hub, The Square is as distinctive a part of the university as Lasdun's Ziggurats.

A twin son and one of five brothers, Bernard Melchior Feilden was born in Hampstead, London, on 11 September 1919. His father had been gassed during the First World War and the family moved for the sake of his health to Canada, returning to Britain after his death when Bernard was nine. He was then raised by his mother and aunts at Bedford.

Bernard inherited his interest in architecture from his maternal grandfather, who had been an architect and furniture designer. From Bedford School he won an exhibition to the Bartlett School of Architecture, part of University College, London, completing his training at the Architectural Association after the war, in which he served in the Bengal Sappers and Miners, part of the Indian Army, in Iraq, Iran and India. Later on in the war he took part in the invasion of Italy.

After qualifying, Feilden worked for the architectural practice of Boardman's in London. In 1954, and after a shooting accident which cost him his left eye, he set up practice in Norfolk with David Mawson. Over the next 40 years Feilden and Mawson grew into a large and highly respected practice, involved in domestic, industrial, commercial and educational projects. During that time the firm won more than 15 awards, for six of which Feilden was personally responsible.

In Britain Feilden's other achievements included a conservation plan which saved the historic centre of Chesterfield from destruction, work which received the Europa Nostra Silver Medal in 1982. Other clients included numerous parochial church councils, York University (where he oversaw the conversion of Heslington Hall and the King's Manor for university use), various Oxford and Cambridge colleges and owners of stately homes.

Feilden lectured in the Architectural Conservation Course of Unesco's International Centre for the Study of Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM) in Rome regularly from 1972 to 1994, and served as director of ICCROM from 1977 to 1981. It was during this time that he advised on the conservation of the dome of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, for which he received an Aga Khan Award in 1986.

He carried out many missions for Unesco, including advising the Indian government on the structural condition of the Taj Mahal and the Sun Temple at Konarak, and the Chinese government on the conservation of the Forbidden City, the Great Wall, the Mojao Caves, the Terracotta Soldiers in Xian, and Mount Teishan. He also advised the New Zealand government on the conservation of the parliament buildings in Wellington, and the state of Alberta on the management of some of their World Heritage sites.

For Unesco he wrote An Introduction to Conservation (1980) and A Manual for the Management of World Cultural Heritage Sites (1983), followed by Between Two Earthquakes (a set of management guidelines for the mitigation of earthquake hazards, published in 1987), and Guidelines for Conservation in India in 1989.

Feilden was much in demand as a speaker. He gave lectures on conservation at universities in Britain and America and ran short courses in China, India, Iran, Iraq, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

A fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, he served as Riba's representative on the Ancient Monuments Board from 1962 to 1977, and as a member of the Riba Council from 1975 to 1977. He was president of both the Ecclesiastical Architects' Association and the Guild of Surveyors in 1976. From 1981 to 1987 he was president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites (UK).

A gentlemanly, kindly man, Feilden was an avid reader of histories and biographies. He demanded much of himself, always setting himself targets and goals when there were difficulties to be overcome – his most recent being to live to see the American presidential election. After his formal retirement he continued to work as a consultant from his homes at Stiffkey and later at Bawburgh, Norfolk, where he enjoyed his hobbies of sailing, painting and fishing. He also served on the fabric committees of Norwich, Ely and St Edmundsbury cathedrals.

Bernard Feilden was appointed CBE in 1976 and knighted in 1985.

He married first, in 1949, Ruth Bainbridge, with whom he had two sons and two daughters. After her death in 1994 he married secondly, in 1995, Tina Murdoch. She and his children survive him.

The following obituary for Sir Bernard Feilden first appeared in the Independent on 20 November 2008.

Sir Bernard Feilden: dynamic architect who led the post-war conservation of British cathedrals.

Bernard Feilden was an outstanding leader in the post-war conservation movement. St Paul's Cathedral, St Giles' High Kirk in Edinburgh, York Minster and Norwich Cathedral, all complex buildings, owe their continuing power to inspire in part to the courage and skill of Feilden and his partners in the firm he created, Feilden and Mawson of Norwich, London and Cambridge.

Always alert to take expert advice, he drew in M. Bertrand Monnet, of Chartres and Strasbourg, to save the endangered spire of Norwich, and Ove Arup to secure foundations ingeniously inserted under the 16,000-ton central tower at York. In 1977 he became Director of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), in Rome, and even after his retirement he continued his world tours giving advice on outstanding buildings in Europe, Asia and America.

There was a dynamism about Feilden's leadership rare in the world of ecclesiastical conservation. He excused his late arrival at a meeting of York Minster Chapter by explaining that the tides were adverse as he sailed his inflatable dinghy from the north Norfolk coast. His engineering skill in driving a vital fire-lift through the Wren staircase to reach the Whispering Gallery at St Paul's might lead to raised eyebrows in today's heritage world, but has certainly saved lives. When he lost his left eye in a shooting accident, he used the compensation to capitalise his firm. To surmount objections to his new Wessex Hotel at Winchester, a group of his supporters secured a special Act of Parliament.

Feilden felt that cathedrals require a response today as courageous as that which the architects, workmen, citizens and church people had shown when their dreams rose to the skies in stone. He did not hesitate to say (to meet the criticism of purist conservationists): "The cathedral gives the orders". By that he meant using the most modern methods, as the first builders had used the latest techniques of their day.

Bernard Melchior Feilden was born in Hampstead, London in 1919 to a family proud of its public service. His mother was descended from engineers and architects, including the chief architect of the Stockton and Darlington Railway. His father, who won an MC in France during the First World War, later ran a ranch in British Columbia where Feilden received the scar on his face from his twin brother, who was careless with a pickaxe.

Feilden was sent to Bedford School, where in those days he found the same ethos as in the units he joined before being commissioned with the Bengal Sappers. His Second World War service took him to India, Mesopotamia and Italy and gave him campaigning enthusiasm which enabled him to win confidence among others with leadership roles. When he set up his first office in the Close in Norwich, he rapidly made friends in the community, as a leading member of the Norwich Society, the Norfolk Club, a Mason, a fisherman, sailor and painter.

Feilden described his style as "moderate modernism". He shone as team leader of Feilden and Mawson, which became in the Sixties the largest architectural firm in East Anglia; he left much of the designing to his colleagues. The firm built hotels in Cambridge, Winchester, worked for schools at St Paul's in London, Bedford, Gresham's and Norwich and for the universities of York and East Anglia (taking over at the latter from Denys Lasdun in 1969). Feilden personally designed the elegant United Reformed Church in Norwich, and the firm worked on enlargements at the May and Baker chemical factory in Norfolk, as well as caring for 250 medieval churches and producing a conservation plan for Chesterfield in Derbyshire.

But it was for his work at British cathedrals that he will be remembered. At Norwich after the Baedeker raids of April 1942, all the roofs needed restoration and the spire was in such danger of collapse that one recommendation was that it should be demolished and rebuilt. At York and St Paul's there was serious subsidence and in Edinburgh, the High Kirk of St Giles needed an entirely new floor. In every case Feilden's work, though controversial, has left these buildings a delight – as well as safe and secure.

He always insisted on archaeological digs despite occasional protests from clients anxious about the cost. He never closed the buildings while the work was in progress and, especially at Norwich and York, maintained happy relationships with contractors and workmen. His skill in lighting and treating the surface of stone and mosaics was imaginative but restrained. Norwich's spire strengthened by concealed steel wire, York's exposed foundations carrying the tremendous tower and the west-end trumpets at St Paul's were among his most imaginative solutions to complex problems. For his cathedral work and his world conservation advice from Rome he was knighted in 1985.

The depression in architectural work in the mid-Seventies led Feilden to retire from active control of his firm. He and his brothers restored the Elizabethan Stiffkey Old Hall, on the north Norfolk coast, with its five flint and stone towers and terraced gardens, creating four homes for the family. He continued to travel and sail and in 1982 published the major guide Conservation of Historic Buildings. He also served on the Cathedrals Advisory Commission for England. In 1986 he was awarded the Aga Khan Award for Architecture, for his restoration work on Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem.

Feilden had been a great leader of his firm (with office outings and even its own croquet rules); he trained 15 architects, now principals of their own practices. And he created confidence among those responsible for cathedrals that they can be preserved at the highest standards for the good of the community around them.

Bernard Melchoir Feilden, conservation architect: born London 11 September 1919; Partner, Feilden and Mawson 1956-77, consultant 1977-2008; Architect, Norwich Cathedral 1963-77; Surveyor to the Fabric, York Minister 1965-77; Surveyor to the Fabric, St Paul's Cathedral 1969-77; Consultant Architect, University of East Anglia 1969-77; OBE 1969, CBE 1976; Hoffman Wood Professor of Architecture, Leeds University 1973-74; president, Ecclesiastical Architects' and Surveyors' Association 1975-77; president, Guild of Surveyors 1976-77; Director, International Centre for the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property, Rome 1977-81; Member, Cathedrals Advisory Commission for England 1981-90; Kt 1985; married 1949 Ruth Bainbridge (died 1994; two sons, two daughters), 1995 Tina Murdoch; died Bawburgh, Norfolk 14 November 2008.

The following obituary for Sir Bernard Feilden first appeared in The Times on 2 December 2008

Sir Bernard Feilden: Architect who preserved St Paul’s Cathedral

Sir Bernard Feilden was an architect and distinguished expert of world renown in the field of heritage conservation, particularly of ecclesiastical buildings. He saved the tottering spire of Norwich Cathedral and the sinking central tower of York Minster from collapse; he solved the problem of subsidence in the war-damaged St Paul’s Cathedral; and he travelled the world advising on the preservation of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Taj Mahal, al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem and the Great Wall of China.

He was a man of immense energy and thoroughness with a deep religious sympathy for the churches he preserved, and his technical expertise was in huge demand. He continued to advise on the conservation of buildings well into old age. His success in what is essentially a visual discipline was all the more remarkable because he had lost his left eye in a shooting accident.

He wrote several books which contributed greatly to the understanding of conservation among architects, including The Conservation of Historic Buildings (1982). For Unesco he wrote An Introduction to Conservation (1980) and A Manual for the Management of World Cultural Heritage Sites (1993), followed by Between Two Earthquakes (1987) and Guidelines for Conservation in India (1989).

In 1962, having established the architectural partnership Feilden and Mawson with offices in Norwich and London, he was invited to examine the roofs and the spire of Norwich Cathedral, the latter in danger of collapse as a result of wartime German air raids. He climbed the outside of the spire and felt sick as it swayed in the wind. There was even a suggestion that it be demolished and rebuilt. “Not on your life,” retorted Feilden, who, together with Bertrand Monnet, of Chartres and Strasbourg, then proceeded to devise a system of strengthening the spire by inserting stainless steel wires into its horizontal joists. He later climbed the spire with no safety equipment to demonstrate the success of his enterprise.

He solved the problem of the sinking tower of York Minster — one of the largest Gothic cathedrals in Europe — by ingeniously inserting new foundations under the 16,000-ton structure. He surprised a meeting of the Chapter by announcing that he had arrived in a 14ft inflatable dinghy that he had sailed from the North Norfolk coast.

In 1969 his Surveyorship of Norwich and York led to his becoming Surveyor of St Paul’s, which had also been damaged in wartime bombing raids. It proved to be his most demanding and unsettling appointment. At the height of the Blitz in December 1940 Winston Churchill was adamant that the cathedral be saved at all costs as the symbol of Britain’s defiance of the Nazis. The St Paul’s Watch had hurled countless incendiaries from the dome and nave roofs on to the ground below, but Feilden believed that two 500lb bombs had done considerable hidden damage to the building.

After a meticulous survey he concluded that there had been serious subsidence and forecast that restoration would take between 30 and 40 years and require huge resources and much money. Some of the Chapter accused him of extravagance and opposed the Dean’s creation of the Friends in order to raise the necessary finance. But Feilden’s influence contributed towards the gradual creation of a more democratic Chapter that included women and laymen and City representatives among its members, and some £40 million was raised in the ensuing decades.

Feilden was Surveyor for eight years, during which time he used his engineering skill to build a fire lift — initially opposed by an unbending conservative element among the cathedral authorities — up through the circular Wren staircase under the dome to reach the Whispering Gallery; in the crypt he created a chamber for the Empire’s field marshals, drawing upon John Skelton’s skills; and space was created for a visitor centre, a conference room and a treasury. During Feilden’s time the funds for restoration had to be used to pay running costs and his plans were reduced in scope. But the Friends grew to thousands, millions were raised and subsequent Surveyors continued Feilden’s vision.

Bernard Melchior Feilden was born in Hampstead, North London, in 1919, one of five sons of Humphrey and Olive Feilden. The family emigrated to Canada and lived on a ranch in British Columbia for nine years before returning to England on the death of his father. Feilden was brought up by his mother and aunts in Bedford and educated at Bedford School and London University. When the Second World War intervened, he joined the Bengal Sappers and Miners, serving in India, Mesopotamia, Iran and Italy. After the war he completed his architectural training at the Architectural Association in London and secured his first job with the Norwich practice of Edward Boardman and Son, where he designed the Trinity United Reformed Church, one of only a handful of postwar buildings in the city to be listed.

In 1954 he and David Mawson founded their own architectural practice in Norwich, which expanded with offices in London, Cambridge and Prague. As consultant architect to the University of East Anglia Fielden was in charge of the design of many of the campus buildings. In Edinburgh he created an entirely new floor for the High Kirk of St Giles. He helped to save the historic centre of Chesterfield in Derbyshire from destruction through his leadership of the Chesterfield Conservation Scheme for which he was awarded the Europa Nostra Silver Medal in 1982.

In 1977, the year he resigned his St Paul’s Surveyorship, he moved to Rome to become the director of the International Centre for the Study of the Preservation and Restoration of Cultural Property (ICCROM), from where he advised on worldwide conservation projects such as the al-Aqsa Mosque in Jersualem, for which he won the Aga Khan Award in 1986 for his plans for the dome, which were executed by Paul Schwartzbaum.

He carried out several missions for Unesco, including advising the Indian Government on the structural condition of the Taj Mahal and the 13th-century sandstone-and-granite Sun Temple at Konarak in Orissa, northeast India. He advised the Chinese Government on the conservation of the Forbidden City, the imperial palace in Beijing; the Great Wall; the Mogao Caves or the Caves of a Thousand Buddhas, a system of 492 grottoes on the Silk Road in Gansu province, northwest China; the Terracotta Soldiers in Xian in Shaanxi province in north-central China; and the architectural splendours of Mount Taishan in central Shangdong province.

Feilden also advised on the restoration of Marlborough House in Pall Mall and Hampton Court Palace and on the conservation of the Parliament Buildings in Wellington, New Zealand. He lectured extensively in India and the US at the universities of Columbia, Columbus, Virginia, Cornell, Pennsylvania and Berkeley.

Feilden was a member of the Cathedrals Advisory Commission for England 1981-91. He was an honorary doctor of the universities of York, Gothenburg and East Anglia, a Fellow of University College, London, a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, an honorary Fellow of the American Institute of Architects, and was named director emeritus of ICCROM in 1983.

He served as a representative of the Royal Institute of British Architects on the Ancient Monuments Board, 1962-77, and as a member of the RIBA council, 1975-77. He was president of the Ecclesiastical Architects’ Association in 1976, and the Guild of Surveyors also in 1976. In 1981-87 he was president of the International Council on Monuments and Sites.

In 2007 a fellowship at York University was endowed in his name to promote the teaching of craft skills for conservation architecture.

He was appointed OBE in 1969, CBE in 1976 and knighted in 1985.

His first wife, Ruth, died in 1994. He is survived by his second wife, Tina, and two sons and two daughters from his first marriage.

Sir Bernard Feilden, CBE, conservation architect, was born on September 11, 1919. He died on November 14, 2008, aged 89