 Born:- 12 January,1831, in Oxford, England  Died:- 17 april,1915, Worth, Sussex, England  Nationality:- British  Work:-  Buildings:- Standen Red House, Bexleyheath

 Philip Edward Webb was the architect son of leading architect Sir Aston webb. Along with his brother Maurice, he assisted his father towards the end of his career.  Philip webb was an English architect — sometimes called the 'Father of Arts and Crafts Architecture'.  Webb studied at Aynho in North amptonshire and was then articled to firms of builder-architects in Wolverhampton and Reading, Berksire.  He then moved to London where he eventually became a junior assistant for G.E. Street. While there he met William Morris in 1856 and then started his own practice in  He is particularly noted as the designer of Red House at Bexleyheath, southeast London in 1859 for William Morris, and — towards the end of his career — the house Standen (near East Grinstead in West Sussex). These were among several works in his favored niche: country houses.  William Morris, Edward Burne-Jones and Dante Gabriel Rossetti were three of his fellow partners in the interior decorating and furnishing business, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co., later to become Morris & Co.  Webb and Morris formed an important part of the Arts and crafts movement, and founded the Society of the Protection of ancient buildings in Webb also joined Morris's revolutionary Socialist League, becoming its treasurer.

 George Howard of Naworth Castle near Brampton in Cumbria was an able artist and friend of the Pre-Raphaelites, and a keen patron of Philip Webb. Webb had built two houses for his Naworth Castle Estate: Four Gables and Green Lane House, as well as his London house at 1, Palace Green. Much financial help was offered towards building a new church in Brampton by Charles Howard MP (George Howard's father) on condition that he chose the architect.  Webb's plan for St Martin's Church is quite unlike most other Victorian churches, with the body of the church being almost square. It is the only church designed by Webb, and contains an exquisite set of stained glass windows designed by Burne-Jones, and executed in the William Morris studio.  His friendship with the family of Sir Thomas Hugh Bell, leading iron founder of Middles brough, led to three commissions - of Rounton Grange (demolished in 1953), Red Barns House and the Dorman Long office building (originally Bell Brothers Ltd) in Middles brough (his only commercial development).  In 1901 Philip Webb retired to the country and ceased practicing.  He continued to be an influence on the "school of rational builders" surrounding William Lethaby, and Ernest Gimson and his community of architect-craftsmen based at Sapperton in Gloucestershire.

 Webb met William Morris in G.E. Street’s office in Oxford.  His subsequent architectural practice as well as his design career were bound up in the fortunes of the Morris firm. Commissions for both were interdependent, Webb specifying the  Morris firm as decorators and Morris recommending Webb as architect.  Webb was responsible for the decorative scheme in an early Morris commission, the ‘Green Dining Room’ at the South Kensington Museum (still intact and recently restored by the Victoria and Albert Museum) and drew almost all the birds and animal’s in Morris’ fabric, tapestry and wallpaper designs.  He was commissioned by Morris to design table glass by Powell’s and furniture for the Red House in  Webb provided furniture designs for Major Gillum in 1860 and for the Morris firm in 1861 until the responsibility was taken over by his assistant George Jack in the 1880s.  Metalwork for gates and fireplaces was executed by Longden, whose London premises were next to Morris & Co.’s showrooms. He used he distinguished carver James Forsyth, who had also worked for R. Norman Shaw, his successor in Street’s office, and W.E. Nesfield among others. Webb retired in 1900, unable to come to terms with what he foresaw as the future of architecture. Shaw described him as ‘A very able man indeed, but with a strong liking for the ugly’.

Projects o Red House (London), Bexleyheath (1859) o Sandroyd, now Benfleet Hall, Cobham, Surrey (1860) o Cranmer Hall wing, Fakenham (c 1860) and Coach House (1860) o Arisaig House, Highland (1863, rebuilt) o 1 Palace Green, London (1868) o 19 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London (1868) o The West House, 35 Glebe Place, Chelsea, London (1868-9) for George Price Boyce o Joldwyns, Surrey (1873) o Smeaton Manor, Yorkshire (1878) o Four Gables, Green Lane House, Brampton, Cumbria o St Martin's Church, Brampton (1878) o Conyhurst, Surrey (1885) o Clouds House, Wiltshire (1886) o Naworth Castle, Cumbria o Standen, West Sussex (1892–1894) o Bell & Co Ltd (offices), Zetland Rd, Middlesbrough (1891) o Rounton Grange, near Middlesbrough (for Sir Isaac Lowthian Bell) - subsequently destroyed o Forthampton Court, Tewkesbury, Gloucestershire (1889–92) o Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire (1874-7)

Red Barns House dates from It was designed by Philip Webb, for Thomas Hugh Bell. A plaque records: gertrude lowthian bell at one time lived in this house. scholar, traveller, administrator and peace maker. a friend of the arabs. She was born in 1868 and was one of the first women to get a degree from Oxford. She travelled widely in the Middle East and spoke Arabic, Turkish and Persian. This led her into service with British Intelligence during World War I. She was part of the Mesopotamia Expeditionary Force in Basra and Baghdad and single handedly mapped Iraq. She advised Winston Churchill and was influential in British foreign policy. Red Barns House