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Up for sale a RARE! "English Architect" Albert Richardson Hand Signed 2X4 Card Dated 1935.
ES-4414
Sir
Albert Edward 19 May 1880 – 3 February 1964) was a leading
English architect, teacher and writer about architecture during the first half
of the 20th century. He was Professor of Architecture at University College London,
a President of the Royal Academy, editor
of Architects' Journal and
founder of the Georgian Group. Richardson
was born in London. He trained in the offices of Leonard Stokes and Frank T. Verity, practitioners of the Beaux-Arts style, and in
1906 he established his first architectural practice, in partnership with Charles Lovett Gill (the
Richardson & Gill partnership was eventually dissolved in 1939). He wrote
several articles for Architectural Review and
the survey of London Houses from 1660 to 1820: a Consideration of their
Architecture and Detail (1911). In the following year he was appointed
architect to the Prince of Wales's Duchy of Cornwall Estate. His massive work, Monumental
Classic Architecture in Great Britain and Ireland (1914) established
him as a scholar; in it he reappraised the Greek Revival architects C.R. Cockerell and Henri Labrouste. In his own work he was strongly influenced by
nostalgia for the craftsmanship of the late Georgian era and Soane in particular, but he recognised that his
classical ideals needed to be developed to meet the challenges of Modernism. The result was a synthesis of traditional and
modern approaches which was adapted and applied to industrial and commercial buildings,
churches and houses. His deep knowledge of and sympathy towards Georgian design
also helped him in numerous post-war commissions to restore bomb-damaged
Georgian buildings. Ironically, several of his designs – most
notably, Bracken House in
the City of London, the first
post-war London building to be listed and protected from redevelopment – are now
regarded as classic milestones of 20th century design. He was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1947 and was elected
President of the Royal Academy in 1954; he was knighted in 1956. From 1957-1964
Richardson served as President of the Ealing Art Group. From 1919 until his death in 1964,
Richardson lived at Avenue House, 20 Church Street, Ampthill, Bedfordshire, an 18th-century townhouse in which he
initially refused to install electricity, believing that his home needed to
reflect Georgian standards of living if he was truly to understand their way of
life, though he was later persuaded to change his mind by his wife, Elizabeth
Byers (March 1882 – 1958), whom he had married in 1904. They had one daughter.