George Abraham Crawley (1864–1926) was a British artist, designer and purveyor of English taste. His best known works include

Crowhurst Place Crowhurst Place, Crowhurst, Surrey, England is a medieval hall house dating from the early 15th century. In the 20th century, the house was reconstructed and enlarged by George A. Crawley, firstly for himself and subsequently for Consuelo Vande ...

and Old Surrey Hall, both in

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. ...

, England, and the design of Westbury House (built 1904–10; additions constructed in 1915–16), at

Old Westbury Gardens __NOTOC__ Old Westbury Gardens is the former estate of businessman John Shaffer Phipps (1874–1958), an heir to the Phipps family fortune, in Nassau County, New York. Located at 71 Old Westbury Road in Old Westbury, the property was converted i ...

, in Long Island, New York, for John Shaffer Phipps (the heir to a steel fortune).

Early life

George was the first son of George Baden Crawley (1833-1879) and Eliza Inez Hulbert (who died in 1913). His father was sportsman and railway contractor who planned and carried out two railways in Belgium, two railways in Spain, a railway from Vera Cruz to Mexico City, and a railway of nearly 300 miles from Tiflis to Poti in Georgia.

Westbury House

George Crawley became acquainted with

Henry Phipps Henry Phipps may refer to: * Henry Carnegie Phipps (1879–1953), sportsman and financier * Henry Phipps Jr. (1839–1930), entrepreneur and major philanthropist * Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave General Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, ...

in Scotland, where in 1903 Crawley was a house guest in the

castle A castle is a type of fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by military orders. Scholars debate the scope of the word ''castle'', but usually consider it to be the private fortified r ...

that Phipps rented during an extended visit. Phipps showed him the plans for the townhouse he was building on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It stretches north from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village to West 143rd Street in Harlem. It is one of the most expensive shopping stre ...

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, telling Crawley about his dissatisfaction with the architects' work. Crawley took an interest in the project and made recommendations for a redesign, leading Phipps to invite him to New York City and ultimately to hire him to complete the design of the house.MacKay et al., p. 129 Henry Phipps' son, John "Jay" Phipps, developed an appreciation for Crawley's design ideas while working with him on aspects of his father's Manhattan house, leading him to ask Crawley to undertake the design of a country estate house for the tract on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated island in the southeastern region of the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, part of the New York metropolitan area. With over 8 million people, Long Island is the most populous island in the United Sta ...

that he had purchased in 1901. Because Crawley was not formally trained as an architect, the Phipps family contracted with

Grosvenor Atterbury Grosvenor Atterbury (July 7, 1869 in Detroit, MI – October 18, 1956 in Southampton, NY) was an American architect, urban planner and writer. He studied at Yale University, where he was an editor of campus humor magazine ''The Yale Record'' After ...

to work with Crawley on technical aspects of designing the new home, which was named Westbury House (now Old Westbury Gardens). The collaboration of the two architects did not go smoothly, but the project was completed successfully. The overall plan of the home and the decorative details are credited to Crawley, while Atterbury provided

scale drawing Plans are a set of drawings or two-dimensional diagrams used to describe a place or object, or to communicate building or fabrication instructions. Usually plans are drawn or printed on paper, but they can take the form of a digital file. P ...

s and construction plans.MacKay et al., pp. 129–130 Crawley's design for the home included works by English artists with whom he was associated, including wood carvings by sculptor

Francis Derwent Wood Francis Derwent Wood (15 October 1871– 19 February 1926) was a British sculptor. Biography Early life Wood was born at Keswick in Cumbria and studied in Germany and returned to London in 1887 to work under Édouard Lantéri and Sir Thomas ...

. Crawley played a major role in landscape design for the surrounding property, as well as additions and renovations that were made to the home after John Phipps and his family moved in.MacKay et al., pp. 131

Other works

Crawley rebuilt

, firstly as a home for himself and subsequently for

Consuelo Vanderbilt Consuelo Vanderbilt-Balsan (formerly Consuelo Spencer-Churchill, Duchess of Marlborough; born Consuelo Vanderbilt; March 2, 1877 – December 6, 1964) was a socialite and a member of the prominent American Vanderbilt family. Her first marriage ...

. He subsequently designed additions to

Old Surrey Hall Old or OLD may refer to: Places * Old, Baranya, Hungary * Old, Northamptonshire, England *Old Street station, a railway and tube station in London (station code OLD) *OLD, IATA code for Old Town Municipal Airport and Seaplane Base, Old Town, ...

, a

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Dormansland, Surrey Dormansland is a large village and civil parish with a low population approximately one mile south of Lingfield in Surrey, England. It was founded in the 19th century and is bordered on the east by the county of Kent and on the south by West S ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Notes and references

;Notes ;References *

External links

Old Westbury Gardens website

Pictures of 'Westbury House' & Old Westbury Gardens

Dobrin, Lyn. (2001, March). ''Old Westbury Gardens — Long Island, New York''. Flower & Garden Magazine
{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawley, George Abraham 1864 births 1926 deaths 19th-century artists