Elizabeth Denby (1894 – 3 November 1965) was an English social housing expert and consultant.

Biography

Denby was from

Bradford Bradford is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in West Yorkshire, England. It became a municipal borough in 1847, received a city charter in 1897 and, since the Local Government Act 1972, 1974 reform, the city status in the United Kingdo ...

, Yorkshire, the daughter of a doctor. She went to Bradford Girls Grammar School and then studied at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. In 1931 Denby was the organising chair of the first "New Homes for Old" exhibit held at Methodist Central Hall (and subsequently as part of the biennial Building Trades Exhibition at Olympia between 1932 and 1938). In 1934/35 she held a Leverhulme Research Fellowship into low cost housing in Europe. In 1936 she addressed a sessional meeting of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(RIBA) on her paper on 'Rehousing from the Slum Dweller's point of view', becoming the first women to do so. After travelling around Europe she published a book entitled "Europe Rehoused". She set herself up as a housing consultant, based in West

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. She was a member of the Board of Trade Committee for 7 years and became an honorary member of the RIBA. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, she argued for new methods to make cheap but attractive furniture, for example making tables with one central pillar rather than four legs. Denby focused on constructing affordable homes which reflected

working class The working class is a subset of employees who are compensated with wage or salary-based contracts, whose exact membership varies from definition to definition. Members of the working class rely primarily upon earnings from wage labour. Most c ...

needs. Several prominent architects worked with her. Notably

Maxwell Fry Edwin Maxwell Fry, CBE, RA, FRIBA, F RTPI (2 August 1899 – 3 September 1987) was an English modernist architect, writer and painter. Originally trained in the neo-classical style of architecture, Fry grew to favour the new modernist style, ...

collaborated with her with his essays on the Modern Movement style: the scheme for low rental flats, Sassoon House in Peckham, which was completed in 1934, and the later

Kensal House Kensal House is a housing estate of two curved blocks of 68 housing association flats at the northern end of Ladbroke Grove, Kensal Green, completed in 1937 and designed by the architect Maxwell Fry. It was the first modernist block in the UK d ...

(1937) which was commissioned by the Gas, Light and Coke Company. Denby and Fry collaborated on this project for four years, but in 1937, Denby's name was omitted from the credit list for both schemes in two major publications. She is credited with prompting Fry to adopt a more progressive style. Denby's work to create more affordable living for the working class eventually resulted in houses that appeared cheap and unrealistic. Denby demonstrated her interest in social housing during World War II when she lived in London. In May 1942 she organised with

Noel Carrington Noel Lewis Carrington (1895 – 11 April 1989) was an English book designer, editor, publisher, and the founder of Puffin Books. He was the author of books on design and on recreation and also worked for Oxford University Press and Penguin Bo ...

an exhibition "Living in Houses" in London, a sequel to the successful exhibition "Living in Cities" held the previous year, showing solutions to the problem of providing, after the War, new houses "suitable and convenient for the ordinary man and his wife and children". On 27 March 1943 Denby gave a talk in the

National Gallery The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of more than 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current di ...

on "The homes we want".''The Times'', 27 March 1943

Bibliography

* ''Europe Re-Housed'', with a Foreword by The Rt. Hon. The Lord Horder, London, George Allen & Unwin, 1st ed. 1938 * ''Europe Re-Housed - Re-building Europe after World War Two'', London, George Allen & Unwin, 2nd ed. 1944

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Denby, Elizabeth 20th-century English architects 1894 births 1965 deaths British urban planners Women urban planners Architects from Bradford English women architects Alumni of the London School of Economics