Portal:Architecture/Selected article/2007-27

Sir Edwin Lutyens

Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE (29 March 1869 – 1 January 1944) was a leading 20th century English architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era. He designed many English country houses and was instrumental in the design and building of New Delhi (known as "Lutyens' Delhi"). He was born and died in London. He was named after a friend of his father's, the painter and sculptor, Edwin Landseer. For many years he worked from offices at 29 Bloomsbury Square, London. He has been called the greatest British architect.

He studied architecture at South Kensington School of Art, London from 1885 to 1887. After college he joined the Ernest George and Harold Ainsworth Peto architectural practice. It was here that he first met Sir Herbert Baker.

He began his own practice in 1888, his first commission being a private house at Crooksbury, Farnham, Surrey. During this work, he met the garden designer and horticulturalist Gertrude Jekyll. In 1896 he began work on a house for Jekyll at Munstead Wood, Godalming, Surrey. It was the beginning of a fruitful professional partnership that would define the look of many Lutyens country houses. (more…) Archive - Nominations