Sir Ernest George (13 June 1839 – 8 December 1922) was a British architect, landscape and

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

watercolourist, and

etcher Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...

Life and work

Born in London, Ernest George began his architectural training in 1856, under

Samuel Hewitt Samuel ''Šəmūʾēl'', Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Šămūʾēl''; ar, شموئيل or صموئيل '; el, Σαμουήλ ''Samouḗl''; la, Samūēl is a figure who, in the narratives of the Hebrew Bible, plays a key role in the transit ...

, coupled with studies at the

Royal Academy Schools The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

1857–59. After a short period in the office of

Allen Boulnois Allen, Allen's or Allens may refer to: Buildings * Allen Arena, an indoor arena at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee * Allen Center, a skyscraper complex in downtown Houston, Texas * Allen Fieldhouse, an indoor sports arena on the Univer ...

, he went on a sketching tour of France and Germany, which inspired him to the architectural style that would make him famous."The Architecture of Sir Ernest George"
''Times Higher Education'', 7 July 2011. Linked 2017-02-06 On his return to London, he set up an architectural practice in 1861 with Thomas Vaughan. They had their breakthrough in 1869, when George was contacted by the tea and spice importer and Member of Parliament

Henry Peek Sir Henry William Peek, 1st Baronet DL (26 February 1825 – 26 August 1898) was an importer of spices, tea and other groceries, philanthropist and Conservative Member of Parliament (MP). Parents, marriage and residence Peek was born in 1825 ...

(son of James Peek, who started the biscuit business Peak Frean & Co). He was about to buy the village of

Rousdon Rousdon is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Combpyne Rousdon, in the East Devon district, in the county of Devon, England. It is off the A3052 road between Colyford and Lyme Regis in Dorset. In 1931 the parish had a popul ...

in Devon, and wanted George to build him a large mansion house south of the village, plus several other buildings. This complex became eventually known as the Rousdon Estate, and from 1930 to 1998 the George-designed mansion house served as the private boarding school Allhallows College. Vaughan suddenly died on 2 March 1875 aged 39, forcing George to find another partner. He chose the young

Harold Peto Harold Ainsworth Peto FRIBA (11 July 1854 – 16 April 1933) was a British architect, landscape architect and garden designer, who worked in Britain and in Provence, France. Among his best-known gardens are Iford Manor, Wiltshire; Buscot P ...

, mainly because of the Peto family's vast contact network in the building industry. During this partnership, George designed houses in London for the

Cadogan Estate Cadogan Group Limited and its subsidiaries, including Cadogan Estates Limited, are British property investment and management companies that are owned by the Cadogan family, one of the richest families in the United Kingdom, which also holds ...

in Chelsea and

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

. In 1881 they designed Stoodleigh Court at Tiverton for Thomas Carew. In 1891 they designed an extension to

West Dean House West Dean House is a large flint-faced manor house situated in West Dean, West Sussex, near the historic City of Chichester. This country estate has approximately of land and dates back to 1086, with various royal connections throughout the ye ...

for

William James William James (January 11, 1842 – August 26, 1910) was an American philosopher, historian, and psychologist, and the first educator to offer a psychology course in the United States. James is considered to be a leading thinker of the lat ...

, creating the Oak Room, now Oak Hall, in

West Dean College West Dean College of Arts and Conservation is situated in the West Dean Estate, of West Dean near Chichester. The Estate was formerly the home of the poet and patron of the arts Edward James. He was an avid admirer of the Surrealist movement, ...

. In 1891, Harold Peto decided to leave London for health reasons, and to devote more time to his interests in garden design, at which point George made a former pupil, Alfred Bowman Yeates, his new partner. In New Zealand, which he never visited, he designed the Theomin family house Olveston, in

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

, which was built in 1904–07. He was also responsible for the current Southwark Bridge (1921), and the

Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice The Memorial to Heroic Self-Sacrifice is a public monument in Postman's Park in the City of London, commemorating ordinary people who died saving the lives of others and who might otherwise have been forgotten. It was first proposed by painter a ...

in London's Postman's Park. He served as president of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1908 to 1910. Ernest George's London office was nicknamed "The

Eton Eton most commonly refers to Eton College, a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. Eton may also refer to: Places *Eton, Berkshire, a town in Berkshire, England * Eton, Georgia, a town in the United States * Éton, a commune in the Meuse dep ...

of architects", and the 79 pupils included Herbert Baker,

Guy Dawber Sir Edward Guy Dawber, RA ( King's Lynn, 3 August 1861 – London, 24 April 1938) was an English architect working in the late Arts and Crafts style, whose work is particularly associated with the Cotswolds. Biography Edward Guy Dawber ...

John Bradshaw Gass John Bradshaw Gass (18 June 1855, Annan – 3 July 1939) was a Scottish architect and artist. Hs was a nephew of J. J. Bradshaw, the founder of Bradshaw Gass & Hope, and received the Ashbury Prize for Civil Engineering at Owens College, later ...

Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens ( ; 29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was an English architect known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses, war memori ...

and Ethel Charles. Ethel Charles was the first woman to be elected a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. George died in London at 71 Palace Court, Bayswater, in 1922, aged 83, and was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, of which he and Alfred Yeates had been the architects, and where the Ernest George Columbarium is named for him. George's residence at 17 Bartholomew Street, London Borough of Southwark, is commemorated with a Southwark Council

blue plaque A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...

Buildings by Ernest George

* Rousdon House (for Sir Henry Peek of

Peek Freans Peek Freans is the name of a former biscuit making company based in Bermondsey, London, which is now a global brand of biscuits and related confectionery owned by various food businesses. Owned but not marketed in the UK, Europe and USA by De Be ...

; became

Allhallows School Allhallows College, previously known as Allhallows School, was an independent public school for boys in Devon, in the west of England. Predominantly a boarding school, but with some day boys, it was founded in Honiton about 1515, moved to a new h ...

in 1938)

, Devon (1870) * 1–8 Collingham Gardens, Earls Court, London (1881–84) *

Shiplake College ("The Example Teaches") , established = 1959 , type = Public schoolIndependent day and boarding , religious_affiliation = Church of England , head_label = Headmaster , head ...

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town and civil parish on the River Thames in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, west of Maidenhead, southeast of Oxford and west of London (by road), near the tripoint of Oxfordshire, Berkshire and Buc ...

, 1890 * 4 & 6 Thornlaw Road,

West Norwood West Norwood is a largely residential area of south London within the London Borough of Lambeth, located 5.4 miles (8.7 km) south south-east of Charing Cross. The centre of West Norwood sits in a bowl surrounded by hillsides on its east ...

, London (1882) *

Ossington Coffee Tavern, Newark on Trent The Ossington Coffee Tavern is a Grade II* listed building in Newark on Trent, Nottinghamshire. History The foundation stone was laid on 10 November 1881 when Harold Peto representing his firm of architects placed a sealed bottle within a stone co ...

(1882) *

Shockerwick House Shockerwick House in Bathford, Somerset, England was built as a manor house around 1750 by John Wood, the Elder. It has been designated as a Grade I listed building. It is set in of parkland within the Bybrook River valley. The site was a mano ...

, Bathford,

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, including wings, lodge and "The Clock House" (1896) * Cawston Manor Water Tower Cawston, Norfolk (1897) designed further by architect John Bennett RIBA of Southwold into residence for David & Jennifer Forster. * Golders Green Crematorium, London (1902) * Eynsham Hall, Oxfordshire (1904–08) * Olveston,

, New Zealand, for David Theomin (1903) * Ruckley Grange, Tong, Shropshire (1904) * Bushridge Hall,

Godalming Godalming is a market town and civil parish in southwest Surrey, England, around southwest of central London. It is in the Borough of Waverley, at the confluence of the Rivers Wey and Ock. The civil parish covers and includes the settleme ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

(1906) * Crathorne Hall,

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

(1906–09) *

Putteridge Bury Putteridge Bury is a country house on the edge of the built-up area of Luton, Bedfordshire, England but located just over the county boundary in the parish of Offley in Hertfordshire. Mansion The mansion was built in the style of Chequers by a ...

, Lilley,

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is one of the home counties in southern England. It borders Bedfordshire and Cambridgeshire to the north, Essex to the east, Greater London to the south, and Buckinghamshire to the west. For govern ...

(1911) *

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

, London (1911)

Painting

*George painted in England, Belgium, Holland, France, Germany and Italy. *An album with pencil-sketches of townscapes in Ostend, Belgium, is kept in the

Kunstmuseum aan Zee Kunstmuseum is a German word literally translated into English as "art museum". It may refer to: * KUNSTEN Museum of Modern Art Aalborg, art museum in Aalborg, Denmark * Kunstmuseum Basel, the largest art museum in Basel, Switzerland * Kunstmuseum ...

there N. Hostyn, Een album met Oostendse schetsen van Sir Ernest George. Een uitzonderlijk iconografisch document voor Oostende, stend on. Oostendse Heem- en Geschiedkundige Kring De Plate

008 008, OO8, O08, or 0O8 may refer to: * The Streetwear Brand @008us , inspired by Ian Fleming & Virgil Abloh *"030", the fictional 030 Agent of MI6 * '' 038: Operation Exterminate'', a 1965 Italian action film * '' Explosivo 030'' a 1940 Argentine c ...

References

External links

The Lychgate, West Wickham Church
(1864 watercolour)

(etching, c. 1880)
San Gimignano
(1882 watercolour)
The Rousdon Estate website
{{DEFAULTSORT:George, Ernest 1839 births 1922 deaths 19th-century English male artists 19th-century English painters 20th-century English male artists 20th-century English painters Architects from London English landscape painters English male painters English watercolourists Golders Green Crematorium Knights Bachelor Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal Royal Academicians

Life and work

Buildings by Ernest George

Painting

Further reading

References

External links