Geddes Hyslop

Linked with the Bloomsbury set, his work, mostly in the classical style, was fashionable among the British upper classes and intelligentsia in the years immediately surrounding World War II.

His connections with the Bloomsbury Set and a circle of friends, which included such Victoria Sackville-West, Harold Nicolson and James Lees-Milne, ensured his access to the leading society patrons and aesthetes of the day.

To restore some of the space lost by the demolition of a large wing, Hyslop created two flanking pavilions in a classical style, "which suit the house to perfection", John Julius Norwich observed,[4] with temple fronts to the south and north.

[6] During World War II Major Hyslop, Royal Engineers, as he was commissioned,[7] saw service in North Africa,[8] where he headed up the Antiquities Department of British forces in 1944–45.

[9] Hyslop's preference for working in the classical styles was severely tested in the years of austerity and building restrictions immediately following World War II.

Despite the imposed restrictions, Hyslop still managed to impart some classical ideals of proportion and height through the use of brick pilasters; further reference to an earlier form of architecture is provided by oeil-de-boeuf windows on the floors above the entrance.

[11] The resultant work, executed "sensitively" according to Hugh Montgomery-Massingberd and Christopher Sykes,[12] involved the use of older materials such as original bookcases and 18th-century fireplaces imported from elsewhere.