Marshall Arnott Sisson RA (14 February 1897 – 26 January 1978) was a British architect, active in 1928–70. Although his earliest buildings were modernist, after around 1935 he used only traditional styles and became known for his restoration work.[1] He served as the Royal Academy's surveyor (1947–65) and treasurer (1965–70).
His early commissions, after opening his practice in London in 1928, were modernist in style.[1][2] They include two cubical houses in Cambridge[2] and a small residential development in Carlyon Bay, Cornwall, including Gull Rock House[3] (1933–34), described as an early example of the use of monolithic reinforced concrete in England.[1] One of these Cornwall houses was included in the "Modern Architecture in England" exhibition of the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1937, and also in F. R. S. Yorke's text, The Modern House in England (1937).[4]
From around 1935, Sisson embraced traditional architectural styles, starting with a neo-Georgian public library for the town of Colchester (1937).[1][2] By that date he had moved to the nearby village of Dedham, Essex.[2] Major post-war projects include Orchard Building for Pembroke College, Cambridge (completed in 1957)[2] and buildings for the University of Durham (1960–62), which were critiqued as "reactionary".[1] James Bettley describes Sisson's non-modernist work as "self-effacing".[1]
Sisson was surveyor to the Royal Academy from 1947 to 1965, master of the Architectural School, and treasurer from 1965 to 1970. He was elected as a Royal Academician on 26 April 1963.[8][9] In 1949, he published a book, Country Cottages.[1] He retired in 1970[2] and died in Cambridge in 1978.[1] He left his house in Dedham, Shermans, to the National Trust.[10]
^ ab"Peter Foster: Architect who brought a practical streak to all his work, including the restoration of Westminster Abbey". The Times. 30 March 2010. p. 65.
^"Peter Forster: Eighteenth Surveyor since Wren of Westminster Abbey who oversaw crucial restoration works". The Daily Telegraph. 11 March 2010. p. 35.