Eric Alfred Lyons

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(1912–1980) was a British

designer A designer is a person who plans the form or structure of something before it is made, by preparing drawings or plans. In practice, anyone who creates tangible or intangible objects, products, processes, laws, games, graphics, services, or exp ...

and

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

. He achieved critical recognition in his development of family and technology-embracing housing communities in

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 ...

in the latter part of the 20th century. His partnership in

Span Developments Span Developments Limited was a British property development company formed in the late 1950s by Geoffrey Townsend working in long and close partnership with Eric Lyons as consultant architect. During its most successful period in the 1960s, Span ...

led to the building of over 73 estates, some of which have achieved Conservation area status in recognition of the close communities created with substantial garden areas, glass and light, façade angles used for privacy and decoration and separate

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

s as a practical

Bauhaus The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 20 ...

for car-based culture and high point of

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 ...

widely described a "successful, experimental modernism".Spelthorne Borough Council
Manygate Lane Conservation Area appraisal: in supporting the "successful implementation of modernism" this source cites appraisals of Lyons' work in:
''The Visual Dictionary of Buildings''– Dorling Kindersley
''A History of English Architecture'' – Pelican
''The Buildings of Wales: Glamorgan'' – John Newman
''The Elements of Style'' – Mitchell Besley
''Dictionary of Architecture'' – Penguin
''Dictionary of Building'' – Penguin
''A Vision of Britain'' –

Charles, Prince of Wales Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. He was the longest-serving heir apparent and Prince of Wales and, at age 73, became the oldest person to a ...

- Doubleday From 1936 to 1937 he worked for

Walter Gropius Walter Adolph Georg Gropius (18 May 1883 – 5 July 1969) was a German-American architect and founder of the Bauhaus School, who, along with Alvar Aalto, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Le Corbusier and Frank Lloyd Wright, is widely regarded as one ...

and Maxwell Fry, in the short period that Gropius was in the UK. After

World War II 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 opposing ...

he spent a number of years working on various projects, designing flat-pack furniture for Tecta and entering competitions. It was in 1948 that Span was founded, with Eric Lyons, Leslie Bilsby and

Geoff Townsend Geoff Townsend (born 1964) is an Australian professional rugby union football coach. He is currently head coach of Sydney club Gordon RFC, and he was appointed as head coach of the North Harbour Rays for the inaugural season of Australia's Na ...

who had resigned from the

RIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

to become a developer (RIBA rules at the time prohibited architects from being developers). Span estates were typified by sharp Modernist designs with space, light and well-planned interiors, tempered with traditional features such as hung tiles and

stock brick London stock brick is the type of handmade brick which was used for the majority of building work in London and South East England until the growth in the use of Flettons and other machine-made bricks in the early 20th century. Its distinctive y ...

. Lavishly landscaped communal gardens were also a common feature of Lyons' designs. Outside of his Span work, he developed a number of other schemes, such as public housing for World's End in

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, Pitcairn House (1961-63) as part of the LCC's Frampton Park Estate in Hackney, and his final development in

Vilamoura Vilamoura is a coastal resort in the Loulé municipality in Algarve, Portugal. It is one of the three corners of Algarve's Golden Triangle. Vilamoura comprises one of the largest single tourist complexes in Europe and with about 2,000 hectares ...

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. He was president of the

from 1975 to 1977. He died in 1980 from

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or Lou Gehrig's disease, is a neurodegenerative disease that results in the progressive loss of motor neurons that control voluntary muscles. ALS is the most commo ...

References

External links

Highsett (Cambridge)New Ash Green historyMarsham LodgeTemplemereFieldendbdonline: Spanning a diverse art
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Eric 1912 births 1980 deaths 20th-century English architects Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects Deaths from motor neuron disease