Improving on history

A beautifully preserved Georgian house reveals the influence of pattern books in the practice of English architecture. John Goodall admires its revival and the addition to it of two well-judged new wings

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Beckside House, Lancashire The home of Dr John Martin Robinson

BECKSIDE—as the name suggests —always rings with the sound of running water. The stream that gives the house its name also encloses the garden and helps bestow on the whole property a sense of intimacy and enclosure. Set on the edge of Barbon village, Beckside is approached from the side, the main front revealing itself suddenly to the visitor as they walk down the short drive. At a first sight, it answers the popular ideal of a Georgian gentleman’s seat, with a fine symmetrical façade, strikingly handsome without being pretentious. On acquaintance, the house is exactly what it first promises to be, but it proves to be more noteworthy, interesting and complex as well.

The figure who has made it so is the owner, John Martin Robinson, a name familiar to readers of COUNTRY LIFE as a regular contributor to the magazine’s architectural pages for nearly 50 years. He purchased Beckside in 1986, at a time when it was on the verge of dereliction, and has turned it into a physical manifestation of his expertise in—and love for—Georgian architecture.

In the years since, he has not only lovingly restored the historic fabric of the building, replete with an outstanding series of original fittings but enlarged it as well, with wings. These give the house architectural presence and have been so cleverly conceived and executed that they might easily be mistaken for elements of the original design (Fig 1).