Lutyens, Sir Edwin

Lutyens, Sir Edwin

▪ English architect
in full  Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens 
born March 29, 1869, London, Eng.
died Jan. 1, 1944, London
 English architect noted for his versatility and range of invention along traditional lines. He is known especially for his planning of New Delhi and his design of the Viceroy's House there.

      After studying at the Royal College of Art, London, he was articled in 1887 to a firm of architects but soon left to set up in practice on his own. In his early works (1888–95) he assimilated the traditional forms of local Surrey buildings. Lutyens' style changed when he met the landscape gardener Gertrude Jekyll, who taught him the “simplicity of intention and directness of purpose” she had learned from John Ruskin. At Munstead Wood, Godalming, Surrey (1896), Lutyens first showed his personal qualities as a designer. This house, balancing the sweep of the roof with high buttressed chimneys and offsetting small doorways with long strips of windows, made his reputation. A brilliant series of country houses followed in which Lutyens adapted varied styles of the past to the demands of contemporary domestic architecture.

 About 1910 Lutyens' interest shifted to larger, civil projects, and in 1912 he was selected to advise on the planning of the new Indian capital at Delhi. His plan, with a central mall and diagonal avenues, may have owed something to Pierre-Charles L'Enfant's plan for Washington, D.C., and to Christopher Wren's plan for London after the Great Fire, but the total result was quite different: a garden-city pattern, based on a series of hexagons separated by broad avenues with double lines of trees. In his single most important building, the Viceroy's House (1913–30), he combined aspects of classical architecture with features of Indian decoration. Lutyens was knighted in 1918.

      After World War I Lutyens became architect to the Imperial War Graves Commission, for which he designed the Cenotaph, London (1919–20); the Great War Stone (1919); and military cemeteries in France. His vast project for the Roman Catholic cathedral at Liverpool was incomplete at his death.

Additional Reading
Biographies include Christopher Hussey, The Life of Sir Edwin Lutyens (1950, reprinted 1989); and Mary Lutyens, Edwin Lutyens, rev. ed. (1991), written by his daughter. His work is the subject of A.S.G. Butler, George Stewart, and Christopher Hussey, The Architecture of Sir Edwin Lutyens, 3 vol. (1950, reissued 1984); and Jane Brown, Gardens of a Golden Afternoon, updated ed. (1994), on the gardens designed with Gertrude Jekyll, and Lutyens and the Edwardians: An English Architect and His Clients (1996).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Lutyens, Sir Edwin L(andseer) — born March 29, 1869, London, Eng. died Jan. 1, 1944, London British architect. His design for a house at Munstead Wood, Godalming, Surrey (1896), created for Gertrude Jekyll, established his reputation. In the series of country houses he… …   Universalium

  • Lutyens, Sir Edwin L(andseer) — (29 mar. 1869, Londres, Inglaterra–1 ene. 1944, Londres). Arquitecto británico. Ganó su reputación con el diseño de una casa en Munstead Wood, Godalming, Surrey (1896), creada para Gertrude Jekyll. En la serie de casas de campo que diseñó… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Sir Edwin Landseer Luytens — noun English architect who planned the city of New Delhi (1869 1944) • Syn: ↑Lutyens, ↑Sir Edwin Lutyens • Instance Hypernyms: ↑architect, ↑designer …   Useful english dictionary

  • Sir Edwin Lutyens — noun English architect who planned the city of New Delhi (1869 1944) • Syn: ↑Lutyens, ↑Sir Edwin Landseer Luytens • Instance Hypernyms: ↑architect, ↑designer …   Useful english dictionary

  • Edwin Luytens — Edwin Lutyens Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, (né le 29 mars 1869 et mort le 1er janvier 1944, à Londres) est un architecte britannique connu pour son style architectural, adaptation de l architecture tradionnaliste aux besoins de son temps.… …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Edwin — /ed win/, n. 1. Also, Eadwine. A.D. 585? 633, king of Northumbria 617 633. 2. a male given name: from Old English words meaning rich, happy and friend. * * * (as used in expressions) Julian Edwin Adderley Aldrin Edwin Eugene Jr. Armstrong Edwin… …   Universalium

  • Edwin — (as used in expressions) Julian Edwin Adderley Aldrin, Edwin Eugene, Jr. Armstrong, Edwin H(oward) Bessey, Charles E(dwin) Birkenhead, Frederick Edwin Smith, 1 conde de Booth, Edwin (Thomas) Church, Frederic Edwin Cohn, Edwin Joseph Hubble, Edwin …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • sir — /serr/, n. 1. a respectful or formal term of address used to a man: No, sir. 2. (cap.) the distinctive title of a knight or baronet: Sir Walter Scott. 3. (cap.) a title of respect for some notable personage of ancient times: Sir Pandarus of Troy …   Universalium

  • Lutyens — noun English architect who planned the city of New Delhi (1869 1944) • Syn: ↑Sir Edwin Lutyens, ↑Sir Edwin Landseer Luytens • Instance Hypernyms: ↑architect, ↑designer …   Useful english dictionary

  • Edwin Lutyens — Información personal Nacimiento 29 de marzo de 1869 …   Wikipedia Español

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