Bernard Feilden, Born 1919
CHILDHOOD ON A CANADIAN RANCH
Sir Bernard Melchior Feilden CBE FRIBA was a conservation architect whose work encompassed cathedrals, the Great Wall of China and the Taj Mahal. Feilden was born in Hampstead, London. He was educated at Bedford School and The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College, London, completing his training at the Architectural Association after the second world war. His love of architecture was inherited from his grandfather, Brightwen Binyon (1846-1905), an Ipswich architect and former pupil of Alfred Waterhouse. In this childhood life story, transcribed from an interview, Bernard Feilden describes his early years with his four brothers on his parent’s small ranch in British Columbia. One of his tasks in winter was to break the ice on the nearby stream, collect drinking water in a churn, and pull it back to the house on a sleigh. The family stayed on in Canada for four years after the tragic death of Bernard’s father in a swimming accident. They then returned to England.