Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

The Life and Times of Edwin Lutyens

Presented by: Barry Jackson Simon A Lunn Tom Pugh

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Today we will talk about

Who was Edwin Lutyens Country houses Commercial and public buildings War Memorials

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Who Was Edwin Lutyens

Edwin Landseer Lutyens was born in London, in 1869, the 11th of 14 children.
As a boy he developed an appreciation of the materials and complex shapes of the cottages and barns found in has native Surrey. At 16 Lutyens attended the South Kensington School of design (Later the Royal College of Art) to study architecture.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Who Was Edwin Lutyens

At 18 he joined Ernest George a talented pupil of the famous architect Norman Shaw. The influence of Shaw and the English Arts and Crafts Movement became the foundation of Lutyens' early career.
After just over a year with Ernest George, at the age of 20, Lutyens inherited 100.00 and was able to set up his own office in Grays Inn Square London. At the time, he met Gertrude Jekyll, the famous landscape architect who eventually collaborated on of many of his commissions. At the beginning of his career, Lutyens married Lady Emily, sister of the 2nd Earl of Lytton.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Who Was Edwin Lutyens

Lutyens established a national reputation early in his career by designing rambling, picturesque houses for the English nouveau riche
An important feature of these houses is the integration with romantically conceived gardens, frequently designed in collaboration with the famous Gertrude Jekyll. In fact, his first major house, Mustead Wood, in Surrey, was designed for Jekyll, a close personal friend of Lutyens who did much to promote his career.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Who Was Edwin Lutyens

At Munstead Wood, Lutyens first showed his personal qualities as a designer that made his reputation.
Munstead Wood marked the beginning of Lutyens "Surrey period." A brilliant series of country houses followed in which Lutyens adapted varied styles of the past to the demands of contemporary domestic architecture. In 1898 through Gertrude Jekylls brother, Sir Herbert Jekyll, Lutyens was commissioned to design the British Pavilion for the Paris Exposition of 1900. This led to a new client Guillaume Mallet, for whom Lutyens built a number of houses in France.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Who Was Edwin Lutyens

After 1900 his portfolio of work became much more varied

One of Lutyens' most inventive houses is Deanery Gardens in, Berkshire (1899), designed for Edward Hudson, founder of Country Life, a magazine to which Jekyll contributed numerous articles.

In contrast to the romance of his earlier houses, Lutyens increasingly began to incorporate a strong sense of classical balance, symmetry, and order in his designs.
His first exercise in Neo-Classical style was the commission for Heathcoate in Yorkshire .This was a marked move away from his earlier works.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Who Was Edwin Lutyens

1900 Paris expo

1911 Rome Expo (British School in Rome) 1912 Delhi Planning Commission to design the New Colonial Capital of India (Moved from Calcutta) 1917 Was appointed as a principle architect for the Imperial War Graves Commission memorials

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Country Houses

Munstead Wood
Deanery Gardens (Country Life) Heathcote Le Bois de Moutier

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Munstead Wood
Commissioned by a close friend of Lutyens, Gertrude Jekyll, a garden designer. U-shaped design around a formal water garden. Carefully designed with consideration of the garden.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Munstead Wood

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Deanery Gardens
Built within a walled garden. Perfect architectural sonnet. Set by idyllic back waters of the Thames.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Heathcote
Edwardian Baroque Style. Rogue fitting into main stream English architecture. Lutyens wasnt trying to design within the limitations of the vernacular.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Le Bois de Moutier
Built around the existing dull rectangular brick house already on the site. A house of considerable originality. Asymmetrically balanced.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Le Bois de Moutier

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Le Bois de Moutier

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Le Bois de Moutier

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Commercial and Public Buildings

British Pavilion Paris Expo 1900

British School Rome New Delhi

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

British Pavilion Paris Expo

Exposition secretary was Gertrude Jekyll's brother, Colonel Herbert Jekyll. Secured further work in France. Britain had to rethink attitude to expo presentation.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Rome Expo - British School

Lord Lytton, Lutyens brother in law, was the Chairman of The Royal Commission in Rome.
Started as a temporary building then changed to permanent after the expo. Sir Christopher Wren is a large influence.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

New Delhi - Colonial Capital

Lutyens was appointed to the Delhi Planning Commission in 1912.

It was decided to move the capital of India from Calcutta to a new purpose build city, called New Delhi. Lutyens made 19 trips to India in the time of this project.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

War Memorials

The Great War

Cenotaph Memorial to the Missing of the Somme All India War Memorial Arch New Delhi

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

The Great War 1914 - 1918

A whole generation of young men where lost. Lutyens was appointed as principal architect for the Imperial War Graves Commission in 1917, when it was set up. He designed war memorials all over the world from Norway to Sri Lanka.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

The Cenotaph
Lutyens was commissioned to design a temporary memorial for the victory parade.

Everyone remarked that a more permanent memorial should be erected.

This was unveiled on the 11th November 1920.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

The Missing of the Somme

This memorial, Thieval Memorial arch, was erected in 1924.

A memorial to the 73,357 missing in the Somme. Sums up in one building all that was best in architecture in Britain before it was destroyed.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

All India Memorial Arch - Delhi

Stands at the end of the pathway to Viceroys House. 138 feet ( 42 metres) tall. Three dimensional roman arch.

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Who Was Edwin Lutyens

In England up to 1939 Sir Edwin Lutyens towered above all other architects of his generation, just as his contemporary, Frank Lloyd Wright, did in America. Thought out his long and prolific career, in which he was involved with every kind of commission from cottage design to town planning, he was a master of spatial play, whether in his freely-planned organic houses hugging the soil, or in his public, commercial and ecclesiastical buildings. fkjghdjkfhgkjhdfsg A History Of Western Architecture, David Watkin, Barrie & Jenkins, 1986

Edwin Lutyens 1869 - 1944

Thank you For Your Attention

Barry Jackson Simon A Lunn Tom Pugh