In his speech of thanks for the dinner that was given to mark his 70th birthday in 1927, the architect and designer C F A (Charles) Voysey (1857-1941) declared: ‘my work was never popular, therefore you must all see how my position here tonight is due to my many kind friends more than to myself’.
It is unlikely that that was true at the time, and it is certainly not true today. The C F A Voysey Society, founded in 2011, brings together his myriad fans from around the world – people who would consider themselves fortunate indeed if they could live in one of the 40 or so Arts and Crafts buildings that Voysey designed over the course of his career.
In fact, for a price, you can do just that, as the Landmark Trust now owns the Voysey-designed former Winsford Cottage Hospital in Beaworthy, Devon, with accommodation for six. Caroline Stanford, the Trust’s historian, says the Hospital typifies Voysey’s values: that every detail should ‘instil a sense of calm repose’, and for this he preferred elements from traditional cottage architecture to ‘great sheets of plate glass’.
