Basil Ionides
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Basil Ionides was a British architect. He was born in 1884, the fourth son of Luke Ionides, grandson of the Greek ambassador to London. [1]
[edit] Biography
Basil Ionides studied at Glasgow School of Art while serving architecture articles and designed his first building, the double villa in Winton Drive [2], when he was only 18 and not halfway through his apprenticeship. He entered independent practice in 1908 and designed a number of English Houses.
During World War One he served in the Naval Reserve and was commissioned. He preferred to serve as an ordinary seaman as he did not like giving orders to more experienced men.
Ionides was an important Art Deco designer. He was the architect of the Savoy Theatre in London and Claridge’s Restaurant. For the Savoy Hotel's restaurant, he famously sculpted Kaspar, the Black Cat, who acts as a good-luck guest at tables if thirteen would otherwise be present. [3]
Ionides wrote Colour and Interior Decoration (1926) [4]) and Colour in Everyday Rooms (1934). [5]
Ionides married the Hon. Nellie Samuel in 1930, after meeting while he was decorating her residence in Berkeley Square [6]. Nellie had been previously married and widowed with children. She was an expert in Oriental porcelain and collected art works, many of which were donated to Richmond Council. [7]. Basil and Nellie had one child, Adam, who died aged nine.
Basil and Nellie Ionides acquired Buxted Park in 1931 [8], soon after marriage. With a combination of Basil’s discerning eye and Nellie’s fortune as the Shell Oil heiress, the Park was restored. But fire destroyed much of the house in 1940, the top storey lost entirely. Basil scavenged architectural pieces from bombed-out buildings round the country with which to rebuild his stately home.
Ionides died in 1950 and is buried in St Margaret’s Church in Buxted Park. [9]. [10]
