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William Lethaby | |
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| Born | (1857-01-18)18 January 1857 Barnstaple, Devon, England |
| Died | 17 July 1931(1931-07-17) (aged 74) Bayswater, Middlesex, England |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Buildings | Avon Tyrell House; Melsetter House |
William Richard Lethaby (18 January 1857 – 17 July 1931) was an English architect andarchitectural historian[1] whose ideas were highly influential on the lateArts and Crafts and earlyModern movements in architecture, and in the fields ofconservation andart education.
Lethaby was born inBarnstaple, Devon, the son of a fiercelyLiberal craftsman and lay preacher. After studies at Barnstaple Art School he moved toDuffield, Derbyshire, to work in the office of Richard Waite, a local architect, during which time his measured drawings ofWingfield Manor were published in the Building News.[2] He won theRoyal Institute of British Architects' Soane Medallion in 1879 and moved to London as Chief Clerk to architectRichard Norman Shaw. Shaw quickly recognized Lethaby's talent as a designer and Lethaby was to contribute significant pieces of work to major Shaw-designed buildings such asScotland Yard in London andCragside in Northumberland.
While working for Shaw, Lethaby became involved in theSociety for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, which campaigned to preserve the integrity and authenticity of older buildings against the Victorian practice of 'improving' them to the point of almost completely rebuilding and redesigning them. Through this he became a personal friend ofArts and Crafts Movement pioneersWilliam Morris andPhilip Webb, becoming a significant and influential member of their circle and acting as co-founder of theArt Workers Guild in 1884,[3] being elected Master in 1911.[4] He was a lifelong socialist.
The Guild was formed from a nucleus drawn from two separate groups, the St George's Art Society, a group of architects who had seen service in the offices of Norman Shaw, includingErnest Newton,Mervyn Macartney,Reginald Barratt,Edwin Hardy, Lethaby andEdward Schroeder Prior, and the Fifteen, founded by the designer and writerLewis Foreman Day and the illustrator and designerWalter Crane. Prior wrote the prospectus for the Guild. It initially met in Newton's chambers by St George's Church, Bloomsbury.
From 1889 Lethaby worked only part-time for Shaw and increasingly practiced independently, designing a wide range of products—books, furniture and stained glass as well as buildings—exploring themysticalsymbolism of medieval and non-European design and architecture: themes he was to elaborate in his first and most famous (though arguably least representative) bookArchitecture, Mysticism, and Myth, published in 1891. This was the first major work of architectural theory to treat architecture as a system of symbols with identifiable philosophical meanings, rather than as abstract systems of aesthetic principles.
Lethaby finally left Shaw's practice in 1892 after the completion of his first major independent architectural project—the country estate ofAvon Tyrrell in Hampshire, built for Lord Manners. The next decade was Lethaby's most productive in terms of built works as his contacts in theBirmingham area, where the ideas of the arts and crafts movement were particularly well received, led to series of commissions for buildings in theMidlands or for Birmingham-based clients. He built Monkwood Cottage,Loughton, Essex, for his friend,Hubert Llewellyn Smith.
In 1894 Lethaby was appointed Art Inspector to the Technical Education Board of the newly formedLondon County Council. Here he had a pioneering role in developing education in the fine and practical arts, most notably as the founder of theCentral School of Arts and Crafts in 1896. His most significant innovations lay in breaking down academic barriers between design (perceived as an artistic and intellectual pursuit) and production (widely perceived as the less sophisticated activity of the craftsman or artisan). Lethaby believed that this was an artificial distinction and sought to have both taught as equally valuable parts of the process of producing a high quality end-product.
In 1901 Lethaby was appointed the first Professor of Design at theRoyal College of Art.[5] This, coupled with his appointments as Principal of the Central School of Arts and Crafts in 1902 and asSurveyor of Westminster Abbey in 1906 meant that he was increasingly devoted to the academic study of the theory and history of architecture and design. He effectively ceased architectural practice around this time, though he remained an immensely influential figure through his writings and teaching. Lethaby's role as a guide and mentor to German Cultural AttachéHermann Muthesius during his investigations into English architecture was to prove particularly significant in the light of Muthesius's later role as an influence on the early pioneers of theBauhaus.
At Westminster Abbey, Lethaby was able to put into practice his belief in sympathetic and historically accurate restoration, conducting extensive research into the history of its structure and design and largely setting the template that the restoration and preservation of historic buildings was to follow for the rest of the century.
Lethaby died on 17 July 1931 atBayswater in London. He was buried in the churchyard ofSt Mary's Church atHartley Wintney in Hampshire.
Lethaby was offered theRoyal Institute of British Architects Gold Medal award but turned it down. He is the last person to have done so.[5]
Lethaby has traditionally been seen by figures such asNikolaus Pevsner as significant primarily in his role as a precursor of the early modern movement.[citation needed] He was the acknowledged theorist behind the work ofErnest Gimson and the group of architect-craftsmen who worked with him in Sapperton,Gloucestershire, intent to found a "school of rational building".[citation needed] Lethaby's emphasis on "good, honest building"[This quote needs a citation] is viewed as making explicit thefunctionalism implicit in the writings and architecture ofPugin,Ruskin andPhilip Webb, with his connection to Muthesius as the means through which this idea was to influence the German modernist pioneers.[citation needed]
