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Basic Biographical Details

Name: Edwin Landseer Lutyens
Designation: Architect
Born: 29 March 1869
Died: 1 January 1944
Bio Notes: Edwin Landseer Lutyens was born in London on 29 March 1869, eleventh of the fourteen children of Captain Charles Henry Augustus Lutyens of the XX Foot (Lancashire Fusiliers) who had retired early to become a landscape and sporting painter; his mother, Mary Galloway, born an Irish Catholic, was also of a military family. His forenames commemorated his father's friendship with Sir Edwin Landseer.

As a child Landseer suffered from poor health and was partly educated by his mother at Thursley, Surrey. His father, his elder brother Fred and another of this father's artist friends, Randolph Caldecott, all taught him drawing, and like Lorimer he learned about traditional crafts by observing builders at work in his home village. In 1885 he entered the South Kensington Schools to study architecture, and in 1887 he obtained a place in the office of Ernest George & Peto, working under their assistant, Herbert Baker: E Guy Dauber was also in the office at the time, and either in twos or threes they went on sketching trips in Surrey, Sussex and Wales. Early in 1889 he received the commission for a large house at Crooksbury and set up his own practice, based at Farnham at the age of twenty, and early became acquainted with the gardener Gertrude Jekyll for whom he built Munstead Wood in 1896. She developed his ideas on the relationship of house and garden and introduced him to many of his early clients and to Lady Emily Lytton, daughter of a former Viceroy to India. Her mother was a lady in waiting at The Court, and it was through her that he was introduced to HRH Princess Louise, Duchess of Argyll, who commissioned the Inn in her estate at Roseneath in 1896.

Further commissions from within the Jekyll and Lytton circles enabled him to marry Lady Emily in 1897 and his work attracted the attention of 'Country Life,' building Deanery Garden for its proprietor Edward Hudson in 199-1902, and its offices in Covent Garden in 1904. Lutyens neither had the time nor the inclination to take the qualifying exam. He was admitted FRIBA on 8 January 1906, his proposers being the leaders of the profession, John Belcher, Aston Webb and Sir John Taylor.

Lutyens's practice assumed a monumental Imperil dimension when he was commissioned to design the Johannesburg Art Gallery in 1910 and the Rand Regents Memorial in 1911. In the following year he was appointed architect to the Delhi Planning Commission, an appointment that caused John Begg Counselling Architect to the Government of India, considerable disappointment and led to a difficult relationship between them. For this he worked in collaboration with Herbert Baker.

Lutyens was elected ARA a year later in 1913, and Knighted in 1918. Election to the RA followed after the war in 1920; the Royal Gold Medal in 1921; the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 1924; the Presidency of the Royal Academy in 1938; and the OM in 1942. Lutyens died of cancer on 1 January 1944.

(Select bibliography only included here.)

Private and Business Addresses

The following private or business addresses are associated with this architect:
 AddressTypeDate fromDate toNotes
Item 1 of 428, Craven Street, Charing Cross, London, EnglandBusiness1890 *  
Item 2 of 416, Onslow Street, London, EnglandPrivate(?)1890 *  
Item 3 of 429, Bloomsbury Square, London, EnglandPrivate(?)c. 1908c. 1914 
Item 4 of 417, Queen Anne's Gate, Westminster, London, EnglandBusiness1914 *  

* earliest date known from documented sources.

Employment and Training

Employers

The following individuals or organisations employed or trained this architect (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 3(Sir) Herbert Baker1887c. 1889ApprenticeLutyens worked under Baker, chief assistant to George & Peto
Item 2 of 3Ernest George & Peto1887c. 1889ApprenticeUnder Herbert Baker
Item 3 of 3Lutyens & Baker19121913Partner 

Employees or Pupils

The following individuals were employed or trained by this architect (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate fromDate toPositionNotes
Item 1 of 20John Greaves   (after his time in Schultz's office)
Item 2 of 20Ormrod Maxwell AyrtonAfter 18971899Assistant 
Item 3 of 20Walter Ramsay Davidsonc. 1897(?)1900Assistant 
Item 4 of 20Paul Phipps19011904Apprentice 
Item 5 of 20Albert John Thomas19021932Assistant 
Item 6 of 20Robert Hunter Cameronc. 1907c. 1909Assistantfor 2 years 5 months
Item 7 of 20Sydney George Follett19081910Draughtsman 
Item 8 of 20Frederick Bayliss NightingaleAfter 19091914Assistant 
Item 9 of 20Verner Owen Rees19111912Assistant 
Item 10 of 20Garnet Alexander Farmer1911c. 1915Assistant 
Item 11 of 20George Stewart19111944Chief Assistant 
Item 12 of 20John Hubert Worthington19121914Assistant 
Item 13 of 20James Mollison Wilson1912 or 19131915Assistant 
Item 14 of 20James Macgregor19141915Draughtsman 
Item 15 of 20Garnet Alexander Farmer19191921Assistant 
Item 16 of 20Eric Alexander Hector MacDonaldNovember 1924May 1929Assistant 
Item 17 of 20(Sir) Basil Urwin Spence1929   
Item 18 of 20(Sir) William Hardie Kininmonth 19291931Assistant 
Item 19 of 20Kenneth Andrew Begg19291931Assistant 
Item 20 of 20Kenneth Ogilvie ThomsSeptember 1937July 1938Assistant 

RIBA

RIBA Proposers

The following individuals proposed this architect for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate proposedNotes
Item 1 of 3John Belcher8 January 1906for Fellowship
Item 2 of 3(Sir) John Taylor8 January 1906for Fellowship
Item 3 of 3Aston Webb8 January 1906for Fellowship

RIBA Proposals

This architect proposed the following individuals for RIBA membership (click on an item to view details):
 NameDate proposedNotes
Item 1 of 7Ormrod Maxwell Ayrton1920for Fellowship
Item 2 of 7William Bryce Binnie (Major)30 November 1925for Fellowship
Item 3 of 7Robert Hunter Cameron3 March 1919for Associateship
Item 4 of 7(Sir) Robert Stodart Lorimer11 June 1906for Fellowship
Item 5 of 7Eric Alexander Hector MacDonaldEarly 1930for Associateship
Item 6 of 7James MacgregorLate 1914for Associateship
Item 7 of 7Paul Phipps1911for Licentiateship

Buildings and Designs

This architect was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details):
 Date startedBuilding nameTown, district or villageIslandCity or countyCountryNotes
Item 1 of 151886The HirselColdstream BerwickshireScotlandScheme drawn up for remodelling the entire house
Item 2 of 151893Holy Trinity Parish Church, reredosBerwick-upon-Tweed NorthumberlandEngland 
Item 3 of 151896Ferry Inn, Rosneath PointRosneath DunbartonshireScotlandExtension
Item 4 of 151896Rosneath InnRosneath / Roseneath DunbartonshireScotlandExtension
Item 5 of 151901High WallsGullane East LothianScotlandWith Gertrude Jekyll
Item 6 of 151910Theosophical Society Headquarters  LondonEngland 
Item 7 of 151911High WallsGullane East LothianScotlandAdditions (Kitchen and dining room on north since burnt out) with Lorimer
Item 8 of 15c. 1920Lews Castle, hotel in groundsStornowayLewisRoss & CromartyScotlandDesigns drawn up
Item 9 of 151921Glasgow Cenotaph  GlasgowScotlandInvited to submit design in limited competition - unsuccessful
Item 10 of 151926Grosvenor HousePark Lane LondonEnglandas consultant architect to Wimperis, Simpson & Guthrie
Item 11 of 151928Rosehaugh Estate, new Fletcher burial enclosureAvoch Ross and CromartyScotland 
Item 12 of 151935Villa for David McKenna SoutarHampstead Garden Suburb LondonEnglandLutyens designed facade, J C S Soutar designed house
Item 13 of 151942City Plan, Hull  Yorkshire East RidingEngland 
Item 14 of 151943Dunrobin, Sutherland family burial ground, gravestone to Eileen, 5th DucchessDunrobin SutherlandScotland 
Item 15 of 15Mid 1900sCorgarff Cemetery, gravestones to the Tennants of EdinglassieCorgarff AberdeenshireScotland 

References

Bibliographic References

The following books contain references to this architect:
 Author(s)DateTitlePartPublisherNotes
Item 1 of 8Arts Council1981Lutyens: The Work of the English Architect Sir Edwin Lutyens Arts Council Catalogue, 1981 
Item 2 of 8Brown, Jane Garden of a Golden Afternoon: The Story of a Partnership: Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll   
Item 3 of 8Brown, Jane Lutyens and the Edwardians: an English Architect and his Clients   
Item 4 of 8Butler, A S G The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens   
Item 5 of 8Hussey, Christopher The Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens   
Item 6 of 8Irving, Robert Grant1981Indian summer: Lutyens Baker and Imperial Delhi   
Item 7 of 8Lutyens, Edwin (check) The Letters of Edwin Lutyens to his wife Lady Emily   
Item 8 of 8Weaver, Lawrence1921Lutyens Houses and Gardens   

Images

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© All rights reserved. © National Portrait Gallery, London