Donald Insall, the British architect who led the restoration of Windsor Castle after the 1992 fire, has died aged 100. His death was announced by his practice, Donald Insall Associates, which described him as a pioneering conservationist whose work shaped how historic buildings across England are cared for.
Insall drew a clear line between preservation and conservation. Preservation, he liked to say, is “what you do for marmalade”, keeping something exactly as it was. Conservation, in his view, meant keeping old buildings, streets and towns in use, adapting them for new purposes where appropriate so they could serve future generations. He spoke of trying to make friends with each building, writing a life story of it, identifying its strengths and then working out how to improve its weaker points. The studio, he said, always considered both the building and the people using it, so that the needs of each could be met, and the key was to approach every project positively.
Born in Bristol on 7 February 1926, he began studying architecture in 1942 at the Royal West of England Academy School of Architecture, then studied civic design at the Royal Academy Schools and later at the School of Planning in London. He worked for Phillimore and Jenkins, a London practice that restored and designed country houses, before founding his own studio with Peter Locke in 1958. He chaired the firm until 1998 and was a founding commissioner of English Heritage.
His projects included saving Wotton House, an 18th-century baroque building in Buckinghamshire, from demolition in 1957, and renovating Kelmscott Manor in Oxfordshire, the former home of William Morris. Kedleston Hall was among the other historic houses he worked on. A study of central Chester, which involved visiting more than 400 buildings, led councils across England to create conservation officer posts. After the Windsor fire, he led the teams that restored the royal residence.
Insall set out his thinking in the book Living Buildings, first published in 2008 and reprinted in 2018 with a foreword by the then Prince of Wales, now King Charles. The King wrote that Insall had been closely involved both as a practitioner and as a mentor to others. His studio continues the work, with recent projects including a Grade II-listed Oxford college library and the ruin of Hardwick Old Hall.
