SIR EDWIN LUTYENS
BAX WALKER/ALAMY/NATIONAL TRUST IMAGES/ANDREAS VON EINSIEDELLutyens was one of three principal architects
for the Imperial War Graves Commission
and would go on to design monuments and
headstones commemorating the tens of
thousands of British and Commonwealth
troops buried in France, Belgium and beyond.
Lutyens’ Cenotaph remains the focal
point of Britain’s annual ceremony of
remembrance, though he himself is
remembered for much more than this.
During his 75 years on earth – 56 of them
spent designing buildings – Lutyens created
a distinctive English style. While still alive
he was called the greatest architect of his
generation; subsequently he was even dubbed
the best British architect of the 20th century.
Edwin Landseer Lutyens designed many
English country houses, war memorials andpublic buildings. He also designed the
centre of New Delhi in a modern imperial
style that turned government buildings into
modern Mughal sculptures, but houses for
the wealthy were his forte.
Enthusiasts for Lutyens have likened
him to Sir Christopher Wren, the St Paul’s
Cathedral architect, for his ability to forge
from disparate influences a vernacular
British (but really, essentially English) style
of architecture. A typical Lutyens house is
large-roofed with stone casements and tall
chimneys that subtly recall the Elizabethan
era. His interiors are always bright and
spacious, often remarkably tall, but with
cozy corners too.
It’s a style that speaks to us today. The
Lutyens bench, a large and elegantly curvedLutyens understood that
wealthy English patrons
loved their pets first and
their gardens second,
with children a poor third
This image:
Great Dixter House
and Gardens
Far right: The
dining room at
Lindisfarne Castle