Sir Edwin Lutyens: Designing in the English Tradition [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Wilhide (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 1, 2000

This long-awaited book is the first to focus solely on the brilliant but often neglected interiors and furniture of the great British architect Sir Edwin Landseer Lutyens (1869-1944).

Lutyens's lifelong creative partnership with landscape designer Gertrude Jekyll spurred the revival of the English country garden, and his designs-rooted in the English Arts and Crafts movement but inspired by Classicism-remain popular today for their clean lines, angles, and contrasts. Published with the cooperation of the Lutyens family, and illustrated with specially commissioned and archival photographs of intact or restored interiors and gardens, original furniture designs, and contemporary reinterpretations of the Lutyens style, the book provides fresh insight into a design genius whose masterful synthesis of function and artistry has enduring relevance and appeal.

ELIZABETH WILHIDE was born in the United States and has lived in England since the late 1960s. She is a leading expert on interior design who has written, co-authored, or contributed to dozens of books on the subject, including Abrams' William Morris: Decor & Design.

CANDIA LUTYENS, who has contributed the foreword, is the great-niece of Sir Edwin Lutyens. She lives in England.

116 illustrations, 90 in full color, 9 x 10"

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

An English architect gets the due he deserves with a thoughtful pictorial perspective of his life and works. Sir Edwin Lutyens' particular brand of "Wrennaissance"--a mix of simple arts and crafts with classicism--is well documented by Wilhide, author of William Morris: Decor and Design (1991). Few know, for instance, that Lutyens partnered with painter-turned-landscape artist Gertrude Jekyll to create some of the most harmonious homesteads in the English and foreign countryside, nor that this once-invalid child who opened a business at age 20 reveled in designing interiors and furnishings that bespoke his "building with wit." The British Embassy in Washington, D.C., London's Cenotaph war memorial, and Lutyen's tribute to English imperialism in New Delhi, India--all of which contrasted to his tumultuous personal life--stamps this architect as a true genius. Select bibliography, useful addresses, and places to visit are appended. Barbara Jacobs
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"Excellent photographs and a strong emphasis on interiors and furniture make Wilhide's book a worthy addition to the popular literature on England's 'Architect Laureate'. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harry N. Abrams (September 1, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0810940809
• ISBN-13: 978-0810940802
• Product Dimensions: 10.3 x 9.3 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #326,416 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lutyens houses come alive, March 27, 2007

By 

Gillian A (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Sir Edwin Lutyens: Designing in the English Tradition (Hardcover)

Although this book was published in 2000, I was surprised to find no customer had yet reviewed it. It is a little different from other books on the work of Sir Edwin Lutyens.
First of all, most of the photographs are in color, bringing the subjects to life in a way that was not possible in previous books, many of them relying largely on old photographs from Country Life magazine. Thus we get a much more real feeling of those classic Lutyen houses, nestling into their incredible English gardens (largely designed by Gertrude Jekyll) and see how the design is carried on through to the interiors. All the favorite Lutyens houses are there - Goddards, Orchards, Little Thakeham, Munstead Wood, Deanery Garden, Marsh Court and more.
Another difference in this book is that it deals not only with the architecture but also with the design of the interiors, the architectural fixtures and accessories and the furniture, which in themselves are amazing - they bow to tradition, yet look to the future - and many have been borrowed by more than one modern designer.
This book is well worth consideration.