Raymond Charles Erith
RA FRIBA (7 August 1904 – 30 November 1973) was a leading classical architect in England during the period dominated by the modern movement after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
. His work demonstrates his continual interest in expanding the classical tradition to establish a progressive
modern architecture
Modern architecture, or modernist architecture, was an architectural movement or architectural style based upon new and innovative technologies of construction, particularly the use of glass, steel, and reinforced concrete; the idea that for ...
, drawing on the past.
Erith was appointed architect for the reconstruction of
Downing Street (1958), elected a
Royal Academician
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 purp ...
(1959) and served on the
Royal Fine Art Commission (1960–73). Since his death, exhibitions of his work have been held by the
Royal Academy of Arts (1976), Gainsborough's House, Sudbury (1979), Niall Hobhouse (1986) and
Sir John Soane’s Museum (2004).
Early years
Raymond Erith was born in London. He was the eldest son of Charles Erith, a mechanical engineer and his wife May. At the age of four he contracted
tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...
, which led to twelve years of intermittent illness and left him permanently lame. He trained at the
Architectural Association (1921–26) and worked for Morley Horder and Verner Rees before setting up his own practice in London in 1928. He was commissioned by his aunt to remodel her house, Meadowside, at
Loughton and to build an additional house to its rear. From 1929–39 he was in partnership with Bertram Hume, with whom he won an international competition for replanning the Lower Norrmalm area of
Stockholm
Stockholm () is the capital and largest city of Sweden as well as the largest urban area in Scandinavia. Approximately 980,000 people live in the municipality, with 1.6 million in the urban area, and 2.4 million in the metropo ...
(1934).
In 1934 he married Pamela, younger daughter of Arthur and Elsie Spencer Jackson, who had also qualified at the AA. They had four daughters. In 1936 they moved to
Dedham, Essex. Among Erith's early commissions were Great House, Dedham (1937) and gates, lodges and cottages in
Windsor Great Park
Windsor Great Park is a Royal Park of , including a deer park, to the south of the town of Windsor on the border of Berkshire and Surrey in England. It is adjacent to the private Home Park, which is nearer the castle. The park was, for ma ...
for
King George VI
George VI (Albert Frederick Arthur George; 14 December 1895 – 6 February 1952) was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death in 1952. He was also the last Emperor of In ...
(1939). As a young man he looked back to the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries to pick up the thread of tradition while it was still unbroken and carry it forward from there. This led him to
John Soane, an important influence on his early designs but later he turned to earlier sources of inspiration and especially to
Palladio
Andrea Palladio ( ; ; 30 November 1508 – 19 August 1580) was an Italian Renaissance architect active in the Venetian Republic. Palladio, influenced by Roman and Greek architecture, primarily Vitruvius, is widely considered to be one of t ...
and the robust practicality of his farmhouse villas.
During the Second World War from 1940–45 Erith became a farmer in Essex, where he lived for the rest of his life. This experience and his country practice in
East Anglia immediately after the war gave him a profound understanding of the local
vernacular architecture, which was to have a subtle influence on his mature style.
Post-war career
In 1946 Erith opened an office in
Ipswich
Ipswich () is a port town and borough in Suffolk, England, of which it is the county town. The town is located in East Anglia about away from the mouth of the River Orwell and the North Sea. Ipswich is both on the Great Eastern Main Line ...
, moving it to Dedham in 1958. His architecture ranges from
cottages and small houses to public buildings such as the Library and quadrangle at
Lady Margaret Hall,
Oxford
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the ...
(1959–1963),
Jack Straw's Castle Jack Straw's Castle may refer to:
* a place associated with Jack Straw's Lane, Oxfordshire
* Jack Straw's Castle, Hampstead
Jack Straw's Castle is a Grade II listed building and former public house in Hampstead, north-west London, England.
The s ...
on
Hampstead Heath (1963) and the New Common Room Building at
Gray's Inn
The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and W ...
(1971). Major work includes 15,17 and 19, Aubrey Walk, London W8 (1951), The Pediment,
Aynho, Northamptonshire, and its garden buildings (1956–73), the Provost's Lodgings at the
Queen's College, Oxford (1958), and the Folly in
Herefordshire
Herefordshire () is a county in the West Midlands of England, governed by Herefordshire Council. It is bordered by Shropshire to the north, Worcestershire to the east, Gloucestershire to the south-east, and the Welsh counties of Monmouths ...
(1961).
His larger country houses are
Bentley, Sussex (1960–71), Wivenhoe New Park, Essex (1962), and King's Walden Bury, Hertfordshire (1969). The best known of his many restorations was the reconstruction of Nos 10 and 11 and complete rebuilding of No. 12, Downing Street (1959–63). He also remodelled numerous houses including Morley Hall,
Wareside, Hertfordshire (1955), Wellingham House,
Ringmer, Sussex (1955–71), Hunton Manor,
Hampshire
Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...
(1962), and Shelley's Folly,
Cooksbridge
Hamsey is a civil parish in the Lewes District of East Sussex, England. The parish covers a large area () and consists of the villages of Hamsey, Offham and Cooksbridge. The main centres of population in the parish are now Offham and Cooksbridge. ...
, Sussex (1968).
After Erith's death in 1973, his partner
Quinlan Terry
John Quinlan Terry CBE (born 24 July 1937) is a British architect. He was educated at Bryanston School and the Architectural Association School of Architecture. He was a pupil of architect Raymond Erith, with whom he formed the partnershi ...
carried on his practice (now Quinlan Terry Architects).
Draughtsmanship
That Erith was an outstanding draughtsman is seen in his sketchbooks, working drawings and designs for the many competitions
[In collections of the British Architectural Library, Drawings & Archives, Victoria and Albert Museum http://www.architecture.com/LibraryDrawingsAndPhotographs/DrawingsAndArchives/Drawings.aspx] he entered in his early years. His fine drawings were regularly exhibited at the
Royal Academy
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 pur ...
Summer Exhibitions. These showed many of his most important commissions, as well as unexecuted schemes such as a Factory, Warehouse, Offices etc. at Ipswich (1948), a House in
Devon
Devon ( , historically known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South West England. The most populous settlement in Devon is the city of Plymouth, followed by Devon's county town, the city of Exeter. Devo ...
shire to be called the Redoubt for Mr Freeman (1949) and Variation on a theme by Palladio: Design for a Church in Italy (1952).
From 1962 onwards Erith’s designs were regularly exhibited at the RA in the form of linocuts by Quinlan Terry, who became his pupil in 1962 and subsequently his partner.
References
Further reading
* Lucy Archer, ''Raymond Erith Architect'' (1985)
* Lucy Archer ed. ''Raymond Erith (1904–1973): Progressive Classicist'' (Sir John Soane’s Museum, 2004)
External links
English Heritage listed works of Raymond ErithSir John Summerson in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, OUP 2004Alan Powers in Oxford Art Online, OUP 2007–2012
{{DEFAULTSORT:Erith, Raymond
British neoclassical architects
1904 births
1973 deaths
Royal Academicians
Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Architects from London
20th-century English architects
People from Dedham, Essex