He taught me to use my eyes,” remarked the photographer Lord Snowdon about his uncle, Oliver Messel. Master of an unusual array of disciplines, Messel defied easy categorisation, reinventing himself throughout his life. “To a generation born before World War II, he will be remembered as the foremost stage designer of his day,” says another nephew, the furniture designer Thomas Messel. “But to the generation born after the war, and a younger generation of designers and architects, he is known for his glorious houses in the Caribbean.”
Messel’s Caribbean houses included his own residence on Barbados, plus the ones he created on the island of Mustique. The most famous of these was Les Jolies Eaux, built 50 years ago for Princess Margaret, who was then married to his nephew Lord Snowdon. His Caribbean creations were the apotheosis of a life’s work. “He was attached to his architectural projects because, unlike his stage and costume work, they were less apt to be thrown away,” says Thomas Messel. The houses are now treasured and, together with a small number of well-preserved structures in the UK, represent a fitting physical testament to this one-off talent and personality.
