AN ARCHITECT who helped shape modern renovations to Arley Hall near Northwich has died.

Harry Graham, who was 84, collaborated with the owners of Arley Hall for more than two decades starting in the mid-1980s.

“Most of the new buildings visitors see here today were designed by Harry, who had a great understanding of what we were looking for and how to create architecture that was in keeping with Arley,” said Jane Foster, whose ancestors have lived at the hall for more than 500 years.

The same family has lived at Arley since the 1470s, but economic pressures and high taxation from 1914 onwards had caused them, in the 1960s, to demolish a large part of the house.

By 1986, with visitor numbers rising, it was felt the appearance of the hall and its surroundings needed to be improved so the family called on Harry for help.

During his time at Arley repairs and conversions were followed by a courtyard development of four new houses in keeping with the main hall.

He also designed a development of a dozen new homes for enabling development in a disused farmyard nearby.

His final work there was the conversion of a barn and outbuildings, which provided the house with an elegant, modern, soundproof venue for weddings and conferences.

“Graham’s designs for the new wings are so sensitive to the style of the older building they look as though they were part of the original plans,” said Jane.

“It would not be an exaggeration to say his work at Arley not only transformed and restored a number of the most important buildings, but also went some way towards providing long-term economic security for the place.”

Harry was born in Egypt where his father was serving as a judge in the Mixed Courts, based in Alexandria.

He later attended boarding school in England and entered Eton as a scholar, but National Service returned him to Egypt – to a tent by the Suez Canal as a member of the Intelligence Corps.

Demobbed in 1952, he read history at Oxford, and on leaving Christchurch enrolled at the Architectural Association, spending a year out working for Holford’s in London, where, on qualifying, he took a permanent job.

Following his marriage to Hermione Hobhouse, Harry took on his first major commission to design a country house.

Much of his work was in London, Cheshire and Cornwall, including designing a pyramidal greenhouse at the Chelsea Physic Garden, shops and a restaurant.

His second wife Cecily Graham said: “All who knew Harry will miss his sartorial elegance, his truly infectious laugh, his powerful sense of the absurd, his watercolours – and exquisite drawings.”

The Ashbrook family contacted the Guardian last week to pay tribute to Harry, who died last year, because of the impact he had on local architecture.