Amyas Connell
| Amyas Douglas Connell | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1901 Eltham, New Zealand |
| Died | 1980 London, England |
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Practice | Connell and Thomson. Connell, Ward and Lucas |
| Buildings |
High and Over, 1929 New Farm, 1932 |
Amyas Douglas Connell (23 June 1901 – 19 April 1980) was a highly influential New Zealand architect of the mid-twentieth century. He achieved early and conspicuous success as a student, winning the British Prix de Rome in Architecture in 1926. Having been impressed by the work of Le Corbusier at the 1925 Paris Exhibition and that of fellow French Modernists André Lurçat and Robert Mallet-Stevens, Connell effectively launched the Modernist architectural style in Great Britain.
Born in Eltham, in South Taranaki District, New Zealand, in 1901, Connell was raised in an artistic household that was somewhat exotic in small town New Zealand terms. His father, Nigel Douglas (Dido) Connell, ran a photographic studio and taught pastel drawing. His mother Gertrude (Weber) was of German descent. His home town in the fertile farming region of Taranaki was in the middle of a building boom remarkable for the early use of reinforced concrete to construct dairy factories and commercial buildings. Connell was trained in Wellington in the office of Stanley W. Fearn, a respected neo-classical designer who was the recipient of the first New Zealand Institute of Architects Gold Medal. After leaving the Rome School early in 1929, Connell set up a London office with the young Australian architect Stewart Lloyd Thomson (1902–1990) and began work on High and Over.
High and Over is a country house in Amersham, Buckinghamshire designed for (and in close collaboration with) the noted archaeologist Professor Bernard Ashmole, later to become director of the British Museum. The house was completed in 1931. Built with a reinforced concrete frame in the shape of a letter 'Y', High and Over is amongst the first Modernist houses in Britain. While it is correct to attribute the design to Connell, plans for the house carry the joint names of Connell and Thomson. It is a Grade II* listed building.
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