Larger versions of these images are located at the foot of the page. Basic Biographical Details Name: | Raymond Unwin | Designation: | Architect | Born: | 2 November 1863 | Died: | 29 June 1940 | Bio Notes: | Raymond Unwin was born at Whiston, Rotherham on 2 November 1863, the second son of William Unwin, a tutor at Balliol College, Oxford and his wife Elizabeth Sully. Unwin was educated at Magdalen College Choir School, Oxford, where he became aware of the Socialist principles of John Ruskin and William Morris. In 1883 he settled in Chesterfield as an engineering apprentice and came into contact with the Socialist philosopher Edward Carpenter at Millthorpe, Sheffield; and in 1885 he obtained a post as an engineering draughtsman in Manchester where he was local secretary of William Morris's Socialist League, writing articles for its newspaper 'Commonweal'. In 1887 he moved again to the Staveley Coal and Iron Company in Derbyshire, and although he had no training in architecture, began planning mining communities for which he designed schools, chapels and churches.
In 1896 Unwin went into partnership with his younger half cousin, Richard Barry Parker. The early work of the practice consisted mainly of large houses influenced by Voysey, Baillie Scott and the American Gustav Stickley of which Balnagowan, Edinburgh is one of the best examples. Unwin became convinced that Arts and Crafts principles should be applied to working-class housing, and in 1898-99 they published designs for co-operative housing, Unwin also writing an important paper 'Co-operation in Building'. This was followed by ‘The Art of Building A Home’ published in 1901 and by a second, more developed, paper by Unwin given at the Garden City Association conference in Bournville in September 1901 which brought the commission for the garden village of New Earswick from the Quaker cocoa refiners Joseph and Seebohm Rowntree. These publications were followed by tract entitled ‘College Plans and Common Sense’ in 1902.
In the following year the founder of the Garden City Movement, Ebeneezer Howard invited Parker & Unwin to advise on the site for Letchworth and in February 1904 Unwin won the limited competition for its layout. This in turn brought the commission for Hampstead Garden Suburb from Henrietta Barnett in February 1905 in which they worked in association with Edwin Landseer Lutyens. Their work and philosophy became well-known in America, Parker publishing thirty articles on Stickey’s magazine ‘The Carftsmen’ between 1902 and 1916.
In 1908-09 Unwin wrote ‘Town Planning in Practice’ a major work influenced by German practice and J S Nettlefolds ‘Practical Housing’ published in 1907. Together with his advocacy of town planning legislation from 1902 onwards, it made him an international authority on housing and town planning. He organised the International Town Planning Conference held in London in 1910 and his time became increasingly taken up with public sector work. In 1911 the RIBA appointed him a delegate to the Third National Conference and American City Planning Exhibition in Philadelphia, the Unwins subsequent tour of North America including Chicago and Montreal. On his return he became a lecturer at the University of Birmingham with an endowment from George Cadbury. Although these activities brought the partnership much new business, they left Parker almost wholly responsible for its management and the first steps towards dissolution were taken in 1914. The practice became Parker’s in May of the following year, Unwin having been appointed Town Planning Adviser to the Central Government Board in December 1914. Nevertheless in addition to a large general practice which included the enlargement of New Earswick in the 1920s Parker had a continuing town planning practice, advising on Oporto, Portugal in 1915 and Sao Paolo, Brazil in 1917-1919 and from 1927 Manchester City Council on the development of Wythenshawe where he had a continuing role until 1941. He died at Letchworth on 21 February 1947.
In 1915 Unwin was seconded to the Ministry of Munitions to design the villages of Gretna, Eastriggs and Queensferry, (Mancot Royal, Cheshire) and from 1917 had an influential role at the Tudor Walters Committee on working-class housing. His report was published in 1919, the year in which he was appointed Chief Architect to the newly formed Ministry of Health, a post which had become Chief Technical Officer for Housing and Town Planning by the time of his retirement in November 1928. He became technical adviser to the Greater London Regional Planning Committee on 1 January 1929 and largely wrote its two reports, the first published in that year and the second in 1933. From 1933 until 1934 he was chairman of the Building Research Board which he had helped found in 1920.
Unwin was President of the RIBA in 1931-33, was knighted in 1932 and received the RIBA’s Gold Medal in 1937. Unwin made an extended tour of North America in 1933-34 in the course of which he met the Roosevelts. This was followed by his appointment as visiting professor of town planning at Columbia University in September 1935. Throughout the later 1930s he continued to give advice to housing associations, universities and the British and US governments and was one of the founders of the School of Planning and Research for National Development with Frank Pick, Steen Eiler Resmussen and others, the preliminary meeting to set it up being held at his house. Unwin was lecturing in the USA when the Second World War broke out in September 1939. Unable to return home, he thereafter lived with his daughter Margaret Curtice Hitchcock (1899-1982) and it was at her house at Old Lyme, Connecticut that he died 28/29 June 1940 (not at her apartment in New York as sometimes stated). The Unwins had one other child, Edward, born 1894 who also became an architect and worked with his father on the Greater London plan but he predeceased him in 1936.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this architect: | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes |  | Buxton, Derbyshire, England | Business | 1896 | | |  | Wyldes, North End, Hampstead, London, England | Business | 1914 * | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployersThe following individuals or organisations employed or trained this architect (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes |  | Parker & Unwin | 1896 | 1915 | Partner | |
Employees or PupilsThe following individuals were employed or trained by this architect (click on an item to view details): | | Name | Date from | Date to | Position | Notes |  | Thomas Alwyn Lloyd | 1907 | 1912 | Assistant | |  | John Murray Easton | After 1912 | Before 1914 | Assistant | |
RIBARIBA Proposals
Buildings and DesignsThis architect was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details): | | Date started | Building name | Town, district or village | Island | City or county | Country | Notes |  | 1906 | Balnagowan | Murrayfield | | Edinburgh | Scotland | |  | 1913 | Westerton Garden Suburb, 1-31 and 2-16 Northview | Westerton, Bearsden | | Glasgow | Scotland | Acted as consultant |  | 1913 | Westerton Garden Suburb, 2-16 Stirling Avenue | Westerton, Bearsden | | Glasgow | Scotland | Acted as consultant |  | 1913 | Westerton Garden Suburb, 25-107 and 46-64 Maxwell Avenue | Westerton, Bearsden | | Glasgow | Scotland | Acted as consultant |  | 1913 | Westerton Garden Suburb: Master Plan | Westerton, Bearsden | | Glasgow | Scotland | As consultant |  | 1913 | Westerton Garden Suburb: Tennis Club and Bowling Club | Westerton, Bearsden | | Glasgow | Scotland | Consultant |  | 1913 | Westerton Garden Suburb: Village Hall | Westerton, Bearsden | | Glasgow | Scotland | |  | 1916 | 2-32 Canberra Road | Gretna | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan with Crickmer as site architect |  | 1916 | 23-33 Canberra Road | Gretna | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan with Crickmer as site architect |  | 1916 | Eastriggs Garden Village | Eastriggs | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Master plan |  | 1916 | Garden Village, Gretna | Gretna Green | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan - With Crickmer |  | 1916 | House and shop, 50 Annan Road | Gretna | | Dunfreisshire | Scotland | |  | 1916 | Post Office Eastriggs | Eastriggs | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Design carried out by (one of) a group of architects acting under the directorship of Raymond Unwin |  | 1917 | 148-171 Central Avenue | Gretna Green | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan with Crickmer as site architect |  | 1917 | 30-52 and 54-68 Victory Avenue | Gretna | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan with Crickmer as site architect |  | 1917 | 56-60 Annan Road | Gretna | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan with Crickmer as site architect |  | 1917 | 83-105 and 86-96 Victory Avenue | Gretna | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan with Crickmer as site architect |  | 1917 | All Saints Episcopal Church | Gretna | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Overall supervision |  | 1917 | School | Gretna | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan with Crickmer as site architect |  | 1917 | St Andrew Church | Gretna | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan with Crickmer as site architect |  | 1917 | St John the Evangelist Episcopal Church | Eastriggs | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Superintended work |  | 1917 | The Gables | Gretna | | Dumfriesshire | Scotland | Masterplan with Crickmer as site architect |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this architect: | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes |  | British Architectural Library, RIBA | 2001 | Directory of British Architects 1834-1914 | | | |  | Grove Dictionary of Art | | Grove Dictionary of Art | | | |  | Jackson, Frank | 1985 | Sir Raymond Unwin, Architect Planner and Visionary | | London | |  | Miller, M | 1989 | Letchworth the First Garden City | | | |  | Miller, M | 1992 | Raymond Unwin: Garden Cities and Town Planning | | | |  | New DNB | | New Dictionary of National Biography | | | |
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