Roderick Gradidge AA Dipl.

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(3 January 1929 – 20 December 2000) was a British architect and writer on architecture, former Master of the

Art Workers Guild The Art Workers' Guild is an organisation established in 1884 by a group of British painters, sculptors, architects, and designers associated with the ideas of William Morris and the Arts and Crafts movement. The guild promoted the 'unity of a ...

and campaigner for a traditional architecture.

Career

Gradidge was an evangelist for the Arts & Crafts, the

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...

and a

Vernacular A vernacular or vernacular language is in contrast with a "standard language". It refers to the language or dialect that is spoken by people that are inhabiting a particular country or region. The vernacular is typically the native language, n ...

architecture which had become unfashionable by the beginning of his career. He became an expert on the architecture of this period and in particular in the County of Surrey (near his home at

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and ...

Country house commissions

Gradidge had the opportunity to work on a number of buildings in Surrey by prominent architects, such as Sir Edwin Lutyens,

Harold Falkner Harold Falkner FRIBA (1875–1963) was a notable British architect in the early 20th century and is now considered a leading exponent of the vernacular and the Arts & Crafts in architecture. Most of his surviving buildings are in West Surrey. ...

Hugh Thackeray Turner Hugh Thackeray Turner (8 March 1853 – 11 December 1937) was an English Arts and Crafts architect and also an amateur china painter. Hugh Turner was born at Foxearth, Essex, England. His father, Rev. John Richard Turner, was a Church of Englan ...

Detmar Blow Detmar Jellings Blow (24 November 1867 – 7 February 1939) was a British architect of the early 20th century, who designed principally in the Arts and Crafts movement, arts and crafts style. His clients belonged chiefly to the British aristocra ...

and Charles Voysey. He completed a number of projects elsewhere, particularly with fine interiors and country houses. One of his finest country house commissions was for a large extension at ''Fulbrook House'', one of Lutyens's finest and earliest country house commissions outside Farnham, Surrey and which he published in his book, ''The Surrey Style''. He designed a library with

David Hicks David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August 1975) is an Australian who attended al-Qaeda's Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, and met with Osama bin Laden during 2001. He was then detained by the United States in Guantanamo Bay detention camp ...

Nicholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor (probably 1661 – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the princip ...

Easton Neston Easton Neston is situated in south Northamptonshire, England. Though the village of Easton Neston which was inhabited until around 1500 is now gone, the parish retains the name. At the 2011 Census the population of the civil parish remained le ...

in the style of the

English Baroque English Baroque is a term used to refer to modes of English architecture that paralleled Baroque architecture in continental Europe between the Great Fire of London (1666) and roughly 1720, when the flamboyant and dramatic qualities of Baroque ...

for Lord Hesketh, a

Gothick Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

conservatory at

Cholmondeley Castle Cholmondeley Castle ( ) is a country house in the civil parish of Cholmondeley, Cheshire, England. Together with its adjacent formal gardens, it is surrounded by parkland. The site of the house has been a seat of the Cholmondeley family since ...

and altered

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for Lord Bute. Much of Gradidge's work on Surrey country houses was with the Surrey-based architect

Michael Blower Michael Blower MBE AAdipl FRIBA FRSA (born 1929) is a notable British architect, activist for the preservation and restoration of England's cultural heritage and accomplished watercolourist and recorder of England's townscapes. Most of his bu ...

. Their first projects were on Voysey's ''New House'' in

Haslemere The town of Haslemere () and the villages of Shottermill and Grayswood are in south west Surrey, England, around south west of London. Together with the settlements of Hindhead and Beacon Hill, they comprise the civil parish of Haslemere i ...

and on

's ''Charles Hill Court'' for an Austrian industrialist. From there, they went onto

's ''Tancreds Ford'', which they designed and built for the writer

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and his first wife, and which was published in two articles in Country Life. Next came ''Kingswood Hanger (The New House)'', reputedly designed by

and for which they jointly won a

RIBA 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 ...

Award, which was also published in Country Life. Just prior to Gradidge's death, he and Blower were working on a project at ''Combe Court'', which was completed by Michael Blower and his sons through their architectural practice, Stedman Blower.

Other work

Gradidge worked on a number of pub interiors for Ind Coope, such as the ''Markham Arms'' (now altered) on the

Kings Road King's Road or Kings Road (or sometimes the King's Road, especially when it was the king's private road until 1830, or as a colloquialism by middle/upper class London residents), is a major street stretching through Chelsea and Fulham, both ...

, Chelsea and the ''Three Greyhounds'' in

Soho Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century. The area was develo ...

, London. He restored the

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

interior of E. W. Godwin's

Northampton Guildhall Northampton Guildhall is a municipal building in St Giles' Square in Northampton, England. It is a Grade II* listed building. History The first guildhall in Northampton was a 12th-century building at the junction of Gold Street and Horsemark ...

, and the interior of Bodelwyddan Castle for the National Portrait Gallery, which won the Museum of the Year Award in 1989. At ''St Marys, Bourne Street'',

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and the National Portrait Gallery in London, Gradidge carried out interior modifications, although they have since been altered. Further projects included additions to

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(1990–3), Pugin's ''St Chads, Birmingham'' and ''St Augustine, Ramsgate''.

Society activity

He was active in the

being elected in 1969, served as the Guild's Secretary from 1977 to 1984 and was elected Master in 1987. He was a founding member of the Thirties Society (later to become the 20th Century Society), of which he was a Trustee for many years. He was also prominent in the

Victorian Society The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...

Personal life

Gradidge was born on 3 January 1929 in Old Hunstanton, Norfolk, and died 20 December 2000 in London, aged 71. He spent his childhood in India, where his father was a

Brigadier Brigadier is a military rank, the seniority of which depends on the country. In some countries, it is a senior rank above colonel, equivalent to a brigadier general or commodore, typically commanding a brigade of several thousand soldiers. In ...

. He then attended

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmaster ...

. After 2 years of

National Service National service is the system of voluntary government service, usually military service. Conscription is mandatory national service. The term ''national service'' comes from the United Kingdom's National Service (Armed Forces) Act 1939. The ...

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, he moved to London and 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 ...

, where he completed his training as an architect and was elected an Associate 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 ...

(

). He remained in London practicing as an architect and writer for most of his life, where he was a prominent figure in social and architectural circles in the last half of the 20th century. Gradidge was an advocate of rational dress, a movement more usually associated with modernists, and had suits tailored in fine cloths that featured jackets and kilts. For much of his life he wore his hair uncut and tied as a plait; he felt cutting it was unnecessary and wasteful of time. He was a long-time member of the congregation of the Anglo-Catholic St Mary's, Bourne Street, Belgravia, where his requiem mass was celebrated. He did not marry and had no children.

Legacy

'' The Telegraph'' obituary described Gradidge as ''one of the most colourful and underrated English architects of recent years''. Obituaries also appeared in ''

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'', ''

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'' and ''

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''.''

'', 2 January 2001 Towards the end of his career, he was awarded a

Award, (the gold-standard of architectural awards in the UK) for the design of a house in the Surrey Hills, completed with Michael Blower. His legacy is limited in that he never completed a whole building from scratch and in so far as what remains of his work as an architect are wholly interiors, extensions, alterations and extensions to pre-existing buildings.

Notes

Bibliography

* ''Dream Houses: The Edwardian Ideal'', by Roderick Gradidge. Constable, 1980 (hardback, ). * ''Edwin Lutyens: Architect Laureate'', by Roderick Gradidge. London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd, 1981 (hardback, ). * ''The Surrey Style'', by Roderick Gradidge. Kingston: Surrey Historic Buildings Trust, 1991 (paperback, ).

External links

The Blower Foundation (for cultural connection) is a registered UK Charity devoted to cultural heritage and expression
and hold an archive of drawings by Michael Blower and Roderick Gradidge and have an online gallery of buildings by both architects.
Stedman Blower Architects
hold additional correspondence and detailed information on the projects by

and Roderick Gradidge. {{DEFAULTSORT:Gradidge, Roderick Arts and Crafts architects Architects from London 1929 births Associates of the Royal Institute of British Architects 2000 deaths 20th-century English architects Masters of the Art Worker's Guild People educated at Stowe School