Jane Drew

Jane Drew with her husband Maxwell Fry in 1984

Dame Jane Drew, DBE, FRIBA (24 March 1911 – 27 July 1996) was an English modernist architect and town planner. She qualified at the Architectural Association School in London, and prior to World War II became one of the leading exponents of the Modern Movement in London.

At the time Drew had her first office, with the idea of employing only female architects, architecture was a male dominated profession. She was active during and after World War II, designing social and public housing in England, West Africa, India and Iran. With her second husband Maxwell Fry she worked in West Africa designing schools and universities, and with Fry and Pierre Jeanneret, on the housing at Chandigarh, the new capital of the Punjab. She designed buildings in Ghana, Nigeria, Iran and Sri Lanka, and she wrote books on what she had learnt about architecture there. In London she did social housing, buildings for the Festival of Britain, and helped to establish the Institute of Contemporary Arts. After retiring from practice she travelled and lectured abroad, receiving several honorary degrees. She was awarded the DBE in the 1996 New Year Honours, gazetted 30 December 1995, only seven months before her death.

Life

Early life (1911–1928)

Drew was born as Iris Estelle Radcliffe Drew[1] in Thornton Heath, Croydon (then part of Surrey), but her name was registered a few days later as Joyce Beverly Drew.[2] Her father, Harry Guy Radcliffe Drew (grandson of Joseph Drew), was a designer of surgical instruments and the founder of the British Institute of Surgical Technicians: he was a humanist who "despised the profit motive and abhorred cruelty". Her mother was Emma Spering Jones, a school teacher, who when Jane was only four became lame for the rest of her life as the result of a road accident: but she continued to care well for her two daughters, encouraging them in her two main interests which were observation of nature and appreciation of art, and she had a keen business sense. Jane had an older sister, Dorothy Stella Radcliffe Drew (1909–1989), who became a physician and student of F. M. Alexander.

Jane Drew was educated at Woodford School in East Croydon, then at Croydon High School where she became Head Girl. Among her friends at Woodford School were actresses Peggy Ashcroft and Diana Wynyard. At Croydon High she was friends with the mural artist and book illustrator Barbara Jones and the popular women's rights campaigner Beatrice "Nancy" Seear, later Baroness Seear.

Pre-war (1929–1939)

Jane Drew studied at the Architectural Association School of Architecture (1929–1934). In 1933 she married architect James Thomas Alliston,[3] who had been a fellow-student at the AA. They won a competition for a hospital in Devon, after which she joined Alliston's practice. Their home and small practice (Alliston & Drew) was at 24 Woburn Square in London, and their principal work was housing in Winchester. The couple had twin daughters, Jennifer Ann Shirley Alliston (1937–1986), who married James Wolf Madge, son of Charles Madge and Kathleen Raine, and Sarah Jane Georgina "Georgie" Alliston (1937–2011), who married journalist Hugh O'Shaughnessy.[4] Drew and Alliston's marriage was dissolved in 1939.

Modern Movement

Jane Drew soon became involved in the Modern Movement, through the Congrès International d'Architecture Moderne (CIAM), whose guiding spirit was the Swiss architect Le Corbusier, and became one of the principal founders of the Modern Movement in Britain, which was represented by MARS (Modern Architectural ReSearch), CIAM's British subsidiary. It was an association of architects, painters and industrialists, and its stated principle was the "use of space for human activity rather than the manipulation of stylised convention". It was through this group that she met Le Corbusier, Elizabeth Lutyens and Maxwell Fry (one of the co-founders of the movement). Jane married Maxwell Fry in 1942, and their best man was Julian Huxley.[5]

Chandigarh and Le Corbusier

After seeing Drew's projects in West Africa, Indian Prime minister Pandit Nehru asked her and Maxwell Fry to design the new capital of Punjab, Chandigarh. She was heavily involved with the Festival of Britain at the time and was unsure of her ability to take on such a large role in the project. Drew used her considerable charm to great effect, convincing Swiss Architect Le Corbusier to involve himself in the project. Le Corbusier was responsible for the main plan of the city and the principal government buildings – the High Court, Assembly, the Secretariat, etc. Drew first met Le Corbusier before the War at C.I.A.M. (Congrès International des Architects Modernes). She was impressed by the breadth of his knowledge, his experience in addressing the problems of housing in under developed countries, by the power of his personality, and the lucidity of his razor sharp logic.

Working with such a powerful personality proved difficult, and Drew often wondered whether she had done the right thing in inviting him. According to Drew, despite his greatness, “he made many mistakes – as does anyone who tries anything new. Among these were the concrete brises soleil to his buildings which acted as heat sinks, radiating heat all night, without cooling, before reheating in the sun the following day. Another mistake could have been the separation of shopkeeper's living quarters from their shops. With the greatest difficulty I persuaded him to allow people to live above their shops! Despite everything, we became firm friends.”

Drew, Pierre Jeanneret (Le Corbusier's cousin) and Maxwell Fry, spent three continuous years in Chandigarh. Their living conditions were primitive, and the heat was extreme. Corb would only come out for 2 months every year during the cool weather.

Pandit Nehru wanted Chandigarh to be a model city for the thousands of refugees who were arriving daily from Pakistan. He did not want to follow the traditions of the past, but to experiment with new forms of design and planning. As a result of his policy Drew, Fry and Le Corbusier were able to integrate schools, family planning and health clinics, open air swimming baths and open air Theatres with the housing.

All the houses had proper sanitary facilities and a good water supply. The cheaper housing was all of a terrace type which allowed the occupants to have larger rooms and more security for their money. Before large numbers were built, Drew constructed prototypes of each different house type which were then lived in, criticised, and improved. In this way she found that the Indians were able to experiment with new types of dwelling.

Public open space was provided for all low income housing. House rentals were graded so that no more than a tenth of man's income went on rent. The keeping of animals (such as buffaloes and cows) was banned in the housing, since this custom had led to much fly-borne disease. The Indians were to realise that many of their traditional forms of housing were obsolete and were willing to try out new ways of living. The design of new forms of Housing affected house design throughout India.

War time (1939–1945)

Architecture at the time was a male-dominated profession. When Jane practised alone in the war years between 1939 and 1944, her office was at 12 King Street, St. James, London. Initially she employed only female architects, though later this changed. Her work included:

Post-war period (1946–1959)

After the war she into business partnership with Maxwell Fry as Fry, Drew and Partners, then later with others. From January 1946 their practice was at 63 Gloucester Place, London W.1. (above which she and Fry had a flat which was their home),[6] and in 1962 a second office was opened at 3 Albany Terrace. She was in practice with Max Fry until 1977.

Other works

Kenneth Onwuka Dike Library, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Kenneth Onwuka Dike University Library, University of Ibadan, (Nigeria)

Later years (1960–1979)

Retirement (1979–1996)

Party at The Lake House, 1981
Jean Sabbagh and Jane Drew, 1984
Jane Drew at West Lodge, 1991

Max had retired in 1973, but Jane continued working until 1979, when they both lived at their country retreat "The Lake House", at Rowfant near Crawley in Sussex, where they had often socialised with friends and family. It was a large house, to which they had added a studio-flat overlooking the fishing lake, and Jane presided over many memorable house and garden parties. In 1982 they decided to sell it and find somewhere easier to manage in their retirement. They were staying with a friend in the village of Cotherstone, County Durham when they heard that the next door house was for sale and almost immediately bought it. So by Christmas 1982 they had moved to "West Lodge", Cotherstone. They remained active, in making a new home, with gardening and village social life. There was a studio for Max and their living room was dominated by Max's mural of the River Balder Railway viaduct.

In 1984, Jane gave a great party for Max's 85th birthday, at nearby Lartington Hall: there were over 200 guests – friends and family. Two years later she was presented with a 150-page book of gratulari inscribed "Jane B. Drew, architect. A tribute from colleagues and friends for her 75th birthday, 24 March 1986".[9] The list of contributors includes:

Maxwell Fry (Introductory Poem), Jean Sabbagh, Síle Flower,[10] Lesley Donaldson,[11] Maurice Down,[12] Leonie Cohn,[13] Hugh Crallan,[14] Michael Thornley,[15] Ruth Plant,[16] Phyllis Dobbs,[17] Ed Lewis,[18] Dorothy Morland,[19] Maud Hatmil,[20] Diana Rowntree,[21] Rodney Thomas,[22] John Terry,[23] Trevor Dannatt,[24] Riehm Marcus,[25] Anthony Bell,[26] Norman Creamer,[27] Peter Dunican,[28] Luke Gertler,[29] Frank Knight,[30] John Lomax and Heather Hughes,[31] Joan Cheverton,[32] Stephen Macfarlane,[33] Lleky Papastavrou and Penelope "Penny" Hughes,[34] Otto Koenigsberger,[35] Theo Crosby,[36] Norman and Kay Starrett,[37] Geoffrey Knight,[38] Minnette de Silva,[39] Ian Robertson,[40] Dennis Lennon,[41] Sean Graham,[42] John Godwin and Gillian Hopwood,[43] Achyut Kanvinde, Gopal Khosla,[44] Peggy Angus, Eulie Chowdhury,[45] Shireen Mahdavi,[46] Neil Wates,[47] Lady Mary Pickard,[48] Sián Flower,[49] Marion Gair,[50] Peter and Christine Rawsthorne,[51] Michael Raymond,[52] Sir Hugh Casson, Cedric Price, Baroness Lee, Delia Tyrwhitt,[53] Lord Reilly,[54] Lord Elwyn-Jones, William MacQuitty, Arnold Whittick,[55] Elizabeth and Mervyn Dalley,[56] Romi Khosla,[57] Roz Jacobs,[58] Noma Copley,[59] Kenane Barlow,[60] Sergei Kadleigh,[61] Maria Luisa Plant Zaccheo,[62] Lord Goodman, Lady Jean Medawar,[63] Arunendu Das,[64] J.R. Bhalla,[65] The Lord Perry,[66] Victor Pasmore, Mike Lacey,[67] Nigel Wood,[68] Peter Greenham,[69] Sunita Kanvinde,[70] Tony Forrest,[71] Heather Brigstocke, Peter Murray, Berthold Lubetkin, Frances Webb Leishman,[72] Robert Bliss,[73] Viren Sahai,[74] Sir John Summerson,[75] Patrick Harrison,[76] Ebenezer Akita,[77] Charles Correa, and Olufemi Majekodunmi.[78]

Death

Max Fry died in 1987. Jane Drew died from cancer in 1996, aged 85. She was buried near St. Romald's church in Romaldkirk.

Friends

Among her personal friends and associates were; Alvar Aalto and Ove Arup, architects;[79] artists Delia Tyrwhitt,[80] Eduardo Paolozzi, Marcel Duchamp, Barbara Hepworth, Roland Penrose, Peggy Angus, Ben Nicholson and Lynn Chadwick;[81] art and design promoters Daniel-Henry Kahnweiler and Peter Gregory; playwright and theatre producer Benn Levy; poet, literary critic, and philosopher of modern art Herbert Read; writers Richard Hughes and Kathleen Raine; politician-reformers Jennie Lee, Lord Goodman and Pandit Nehru; actress Constance Cummings; and composer Elizabeth Lutyens.

Awards and honours

Positions

Publications

Bibliography

Audio recordings

See also

References

  1. ↑ The 1911 census of England and Wales, taken on the night of 2 April, recorded her name as Iris Estelle Radcliffe Drew, aged 10 days
  2. ↑ However on her birth certificate, dated 27 April 1911, her name is registered as Joyce Beverly Drew
  3. ↑ GRO marriage ref: 1933 Dec, Croydon 02a 865
  4. ↑ GRO birth ref: 1937 Mar, Marylebone 1a 575
  5. ↑ Fry, Autobiographical Sketches, p 165
  6. ↑ Mentioned in a letter from her sister Dorothy Drew
  7. ↑ Mary Banham & Bevis Hillier (eds), A Tonic to the Nation: The Festival of Britain 1951 (London: Thames & Hudson, 1976), p. 103 Jane Drew The Riverside Restaurant
  8. ↑ Country Life, 14 April 1960
  9. ↑ Bristol Centre for the Advancement of Architecture, Jane B. Drew, architect. A tribute from colleagues and friends for her 75th birthday, 24 March 1986 Editorial Group: Sile Flower, Jean Macfarlane, Ruth Plant. ISBN 0-9510759-0-X
  10. ↑ Síle Flower, BA, first met Jane at Croydon High School, worked in the Foreign Office and was in 1950–1959 official translator with the Shell Company in East Africa
  11. ↑ Lesley Donaldson was daughter of the sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey
  12. ↑ Maurice Down (OBE) was a cousin of Jane's father, Harry Guy Radcliffe Drew, and on Drew's death became Chairman of Down Brothers, the family firm of surgical instrument designers and manufacturers
  13. ↑ Leonie Cohn (Hon. FRIBA) was a freelance audio-visual producer
  14. ↑ Hugh Crallan was a contemporary of Jane at the AA
  15. ↑ Michael Thornley was a contemporary of Jane's at the AA
  16. ↑ Ruth Plant (M.Litt, RIBA, AA Dip.) was a contemporary of Jane's at the AA
  17. ↑ Phyllis Dobbs had been Jane's friend ever since her husband Richard was a young paedriatrician involved in helping Jane with her twin children
  18. ↑ Ed Lewis was an architect and planner with GLC housing experience
  19. ↑ Dorothy Morland was Director of the ICA (1968–1970)
  20. ↑ Maud Hatmil was born in British Guyana, nanny to Jane's children and later housekeeper and family friend
  21. ↑ Diana Rowntree (AA Dip., RIBA) was Architecture Correspondent to The Guardian, and first met Jane at the AA
  22. ↑ Rodney Thomas was a painter and architect. He taught at the Chelsea School of Art and other colleges
  23. ↑ John Terry was an architect, the only member of Jane's staff in 1940
  24. ↑ Trevor Dannatt (Dipl. Arch., MA, RA, FRIBA). was one of Jane's staff in 1943 at King Street, St. James; with her help he founded the Architects' Year Book
  25. ↑ Riehm Marcus was an artist and illustrator, born as Helen Riehm, was the wife of architect F.I. Marcus, refugees from Hitler's Germany in World War II
  26. ↑ Anthony Bell, author, worked in publishing for Lund Humphries, and for Jane at Gloucester Place
  27. ↑ Norman Creamer was an RAF pilot in World War II and joined Max and Jane in 1946, becoming a partner in 1960. He worked entirely on the overseas projects
  28. ↑ Peter Dunican (CBE, FEng, FICE, FIStructE, FiEI) was Chairman of Ove Arup Partnership
  29. ↑ Luke Gertler, son of the artist Mark Gertler, stayed at the flat in Gloucester Place when he was a child, and made friends with Jane's children. He later studied music and became a teacher
  30. ↑ Frank Knight (AA Dipl. Hons., ARIBA, MRTPI Hons.) joined Fry, Drew in 1947 and became a partner in 1960. He worked with Jane at Masjid-i-Suleiman in Iran
  31. ↑ John Lomax joined Jane's office in 1948 and worked with Max and Jane on housing in Ghana
  32. ↑ Dr. Rex and Mrs Joan Cheverton worked with Jane in Nigeria from 1947
  33. ↑ Stephen Macfarlane (AA Dipl. Hons., FRIBA) taught architecture in Bristol
  34. ↑ Lleky Papastavrou and her sister Penny Hughes were daughters of the author and poet Richard Hughes; Max, Jane and her twin daughters often stayed with the Hughes family in Wales, and the Hughes family once "borrowed" Gloucester Place when Max and Jane were abroad. Their children all attended the same boarding school
  35. ↑ Otto Koenigsberger, an architectural scientist, was Development Planner at University College, London.
  36. ↑ Theo Crosby (ARA, RIBA, FSIAD) worked at Gloucester place just after the war, and as a thinker and writer showed that he was very much aware of the place and value of Max and Jane in the Modern Movement
  37. ↑ Norman Starrett, (BArch; Liverpool) and his wife Kay both started as junior partners with Max and Jane, in the 1951 Festival of Britain team
  38. ↑ Geoffrey Knight (FRIBA) worked in Ghana (then the "Gold Coast") for Jane and Max 1947–1957 and 1964–1966
  39. ↑ Minnette da Silva (RIBA, SLIA), a native of Sri Lanka met Max and Jane at a CIAM meeting and had personal recollections of Jane after Chandigarh
  40. ↑ Ian Robertson (FRICS) worked with Jane on the Torbay Hospital, and later became coordinator for the interior of the liner QE2
  41. ↑ Dennis Lennon (CBE, MC, FRIBA, FRSA, FSIA) had been an army major in World War II. He worked for Max and Jane on an Officer's Club in Accra, Ghana. He later designed the sets for the Richard Strauss opera Capriccio at Glyndebourne
  42. ↑ Sean Graham was a writer and film-maker, and he was in charge of the Ghana Film Unit when he met Jane
  43. ↑ John Godwin (OBE, FRIBA, FNIA, AA Dipl.(Hons), AI.Arb) and Gillian Hopwood (FRIBA, FNIA, AA Dipl.) both worked with Max and Jane in Nigeria, on the University College of Ibadan, using "appropriate technology", i.e. cheap local materials
  44. ↑ G.D. Khosla (BA (Cantab)) was a Punjab High Court Judge. He was instrumental in selecting Le Corbusier and later Jane and Max for the Chandigarh project
  45. ↑ Mrs Eulie Chowdhury worked with the Corbusier team on the Chandigarh project
  46. ↑ Shireen Mahdavi (BSc., MA) first met Jane at her boarding school. She felt forced by the new régime to leave Iran, and is now (2008) an adjunct professor in the Department of History at the University of Utah, specialising in Iranian social and economic issues
  47. ↑ Neil Wates was director of Wates, the builders
  48. ↑ Lady Pickard lived near Jane and Max; she was a Civil Servant in the Overseas Development Administration until 1983, married to Sir Cyril Pickard (KCMG)
  49. ↑ Sián Flower's husband, Patrick Flower, was a Civil Engineer; Sián Flower recalled how Jane helped their son who suffered from multiple sclerosis
  50. ↑ Marion Gair (MA) worked for Peter Gregory at publishers Lund Humphries
  51. ↑ Peter Rawsthorne was an architecture correspondent to the News Chronicle
  52. ↑ Michael Raymond was a consultant psychiatrist; he wrote a poem, Rowfant Lake, for Jane
  53. ↑ Delia Tyrwhitt first met Jane and Max in Chandigarh in 1953
  54. ↑ Sir Paul Reilly, Director of the Design Council
  55. ↑ Arnold Whittick was an art and architectural historian
  56. ↑ Mervyn Dalley (CMG, MA (Cantab)) and his wife, Elizabeth, first met Jane in Iran at Masjid-i-Suleiman, when Jane stayed with them; they remained friends, and years later Jane converted their old rectory house in England. Mervyn Dailey wrote a note on Jane's work in Iran
  57. ↑ Romi Khosla (BA (Cantab), AA Dipl.), son of High Court Judge G. D. Khosla (a friend of Jawaharlal Nehru), was an accountant who, under Jane's guidance switched careers to architecture
  58. ↑ Roza Jacobs was Vice President and Fashion Director of Macy's store in New York "...a good and loyal friend"
  59. ↑ Noma Copley was a jewellery designer, earlier married to the painter William Copley
  60. ↑ Kenane Barlow (wife of Peter Barlow) "and the five Barlows" wrote Jane an affectionate poem. Peter had met Jane on the Torbay express to London
  61. ↑ Sergei Kadleigh (AA Dipl. (Hons), ARIBS) was a Russian-born British architect
  62. ↑ Maria Luisa Plant Zaccheo, (Dr. Arch.(Rome), ARIBA) was an associate in Jane's office 1971–1980
  63. ↑ Jean Medawar was a pioneer in family planning; Jane designed the Margaret Pyke Centre for her
  64. ↑ Arun Das worked in Jane's office on the Margaret Pyke Centre
  65. ↑ Jai Rattan Bhalla, (FRIBA, FHS, FVI, HFAIA) was President of the Indian Institute of Architects. Although not involved in the Chandigarh project, he was appreciative of Jane's interest in the training of young Indian architects
  66. ↑ Walter Laing Macdonald Perry, Lord Perry of Walton (OBE, FRSE), was a pharmacologist and vice-chancellor of the Open University (1921–2003). Lord Perry was instrumental in the planning of the Open University and Jane was his development architect
  67. ↑ Mike Lacey was Director of Lovell Construction on the OU project at Milton Keynes
  68. ↑ Nigel Wood (MA, C.Eng., MICE, MCIOB) was a craftsman builder who worked for Jane on the OU project at Milton Keynes, St Pauls Girls' School, Carlton House Terrace and Jane's own flat and offices
  69. ↑ Peter Greenham (CBE, RA, PPRBA) was a renowned portrait painter
  70. ↑ Sunita Kanvinde was a student of painting and graphics in Delhi and was helped by Jane when she came to England
  71. ↑ Tony Forrest (DA (Edin.)) was a building contractor and artist, specialising in combining architecture and landscapes with human elements
  72. ↑ Frances Webb Leishman was the American wife of a retired British diplomat and merchant banker, and a freelance journalist, who once interviewed Jane for Woman's Hour
  73. ↑ Robert L. Bliss (FAIA) was Dean of Architecture at the University of Utah when, in 1975, she visited Salt Lake City, Utah during her lecture tour of the United States
  74. ↑ Viren Sahai (OBE, DipTP., ARIBA) was born in India, studied architecture, painting and town planning and was Chairman of the Bristol Centre for the Advancement of Architecture
  75. ↑ Sir John Summerson (CBE, FBA) contributed an extract from an essay on Batty Langley
  76. ↑ Patrick Harrison (CBE) met Jane while he was secretary of the RIBA
  77. ↑ Ebenezer Akita (AA Dip., ARIBA, FGIA) was President of the Ghana Institute of Architects
  78. ↑ Olufemi Majekodunmi (DARch, ARIBA, FNIA, FIArb) was President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, and reviewed Jane's work on the University of Ibadan
  79. ↑ Jones, Peter: "Ove Arup: Master Builder of the Twentieth Century", Yale University Press, 2006
  80. ↑ Delia Tyrwhitt, sister-in-law of town planner Jacqueline Tyrwhitt (FILA, AMPTI, Sp. Dip.) first met Max and Jane in Chandigarh in 1953
  81. ↑ Major English sculptor Lynn Chadwick (1914–2003) did a huge mobile for Jane and Max at the 1951 Festival of Britain
  82. ↑ Architecture for Children is dedicated "to Ann, Jennifer and Georgina" (Max's daughter and Jane's twin daughters)

External links


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