1964

Bernard Sunley

Image source: blackwood-hodge.typepad.com

Property developer and philanthropist. Born 46 Jugela Street, Catford. Made his fortune in the re-building work after WW2. Died at home, 26 Harley Road, Hampstead.

This was the only picture we could find of him - a painting hanging on the wall in someone else's portrait photograph. Maybe he was very shy.

2015: Having read William Mitchell's book "Self Portrait: the Eyes Within" we can report that Sunley was not shy. He commissioned Mitchell a number of times and is reported as being a Vesuvius of a man: generous, quick to rage and keen on a drink.

2024: The 20th Century Society's page on Arlington House in Margate includes: "Having made his name and fortune building airfields during WWII, Sunley built extensively in the Caribbean in the 1950s, specialising in leisure and office complexes. Like many south Londoners, he was drawn back to the resort town of Margate ... Sunley died young of a heart attack in December 1964, aged 54. His investment in Margate did not prove to be a success. ... Bernard Sunley took the Caribbean model of ‘all-found’, beachfront, leisure developments, already familiar in Havana and Florida by 1960, and transported it to Margate."

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Bernard Sunley

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Bernard Sunley

City of Westminster Bernard Sunley, 1910 - 1964, contractor and philanthropi...

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