Dame Elizabeth Ursula Chesterton, DBE (12 October 1915 – 18 August 2002) was a British architect and town planner.

Biography

Chesterton was born on 12 October 1915 in

Hampstead Garden Suburb Hampstead Garden Suburb is an elevated suburb of London, north of Hampstead, west of Highgate and east of Golders Green. It is known for its intellectual, liberal, artistic, musical and literary associations. It is an example of early twentiet ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. Her father, Maurice Chesterton, was an

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

, while her mother Dorothy Deck had connections with writers and artists in

Bloomsbury Bloomsbury is a district in the West End of London. It is considered a fashionable residential area, and is the location of numerous cultural, intellectual, and educational institutions. Bloomsbury is home of the British Museum, the largest mus ...

. Her father would regularly live at sites where the buildings were being erected, including running the company that designed

Royal Shakespeare Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespe ...

under Elisabeth Scott. Chesterton moved with her family within Hampstead in the 1920s. She attended King Alfred School, then Queen's College, before studying with

Leonard Manasseh Leonard Sulla Manasseh (21 May 1916 – 5 March 2017) was a British architect, best known for the National Motor Museum, Beaulieu, which he co-designed with Ian Baker. Early life and education Manasseh was born in Eden Hall, Singapore, ...

at the Architectural Association's School of Architecture in the late 1930s. She graduated from the school in 1939, and joined East Suffolk County Council in the planning department.

Career

In 1947, Chesterton joined

Cambridgeshire County Council Cambridgeshire County Council is the county council of Cambridgeshire, England. The council consists of 61 councillors, representing 59 electoral divisions. The council is based at New Shire Hall at Alconbury Weald, near Huntingdon. It is a me ...

as a development control officer, then from 1951, she spent two years at

University College, London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = ...

as an assistant to

Ruth Glass Ruth Glass (born Ruth Adele Lazarus, 1912–1990) was a German-born British sociologist, urban planner and founder (in 1958) of the Centre for Urban Studies at University College London (UCL). Life She was born in Berlin on 30 June 1912, the da ...

, who was researching the post-war planning system. She combined her work as a planning officer, working for

from 1947, with teaching at

University College London , mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £143 million (2020) , budget = � ...

and later at the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...

. She worked with such notable architects as

Richard Llewellyn Davies Richard Llewellyn-Davies, Baron Llewelyn-Davies (24 December 1912 – 27 October 1981) was a British architect. Career He worked at the Architecture Association where his contemporaries included Elizabeth Chesterton and Ann MacEwan. ...

. She served on the

Royal Fine Art Commission The Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) was an executive non-departmental public body of the UK government, established in 1999. It was funded by both the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for C ...

, the National Trust's Architectural Panel and the

Historic Buildings Council Three separate historic buildings councils were created by the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953, one for each of England, Scotland, and Wales. Each Historic Buildings Council advised the relevant government minister on the exercise ...

(later part of

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

) from the 1970s until the 1990s. Chesterton was appointed DBE in the 1987 Birthday Honours.

National Life Stories National Life Stories is an independent charitable trust and limited company (registered as the ‘National Life Story Collection’) based within the British Library Oral History section, whose key focus and expertise is oral history fieldwork. S ...

conducted an oral history interview (C467/25) with Elizabeth Chesterton in 1997 for its Architects Lives' collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Chesterton, Elizabeth (1 of 11) National Life Stories Collection: Architects' Lives', The British Library Board, 1997
Retrieved 10 April 2018

References

External links

Interview
. {{DEFAULTSORT:Chesterton, Elizabeth 1915 births 2002 deaths Architects from London Alumni of the Architectural Association School of Architecture Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire British women architects