Jane Drew

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FRIBA
Jane Drew with Maxwell Fry in 1984
Born(1911-03-24)24 March 1911
Died27 July 1996(1996-07-27) (aged 85)
Alma materArchitectural Association
Occupation(s)Architect, town planner

Dame Jane Drew

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,

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

Nancy 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. In 1934, Drew found first employment as an architect with Joseph Hill (1888–1947),[4] where she was also introduced to members of bohemian London who would have a lasting impact on her work.[5] After partnering with her husband, Alliston, they won a competition in 1937 for a cottage hospital in Devon. 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.[6] Drew and Alliston's marriage was dissolved in 1939. [citation needed]

Modern Movement

Drew soon became involved in the Modern Movement, through the

Elizabeth Lutyens and Maxwell Fry (one of the co-founders of the movement). Drew married Maxwell Fry in 1942.[7]

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. 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.” [8]

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.[8]

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:

  • 1940 Walton Yacht Works at
    Walton on Thames
    , near London
  • 1941 Kitchen Planning Exhibition, Dorland Hall, Lower Regent Street, London
  • 1941–1943 Consultancy to the British Commercial Gas Association 'designed by women for women'
  • 1943 The 'Rebuilding Britain' exhibition at the
    National Gallery
    , London
  • 1944 Temporary office at 12 Bedford Square after the King Street office was bombed (with Riehm Marcus, Trevor Dannatt, K. Linden and F.I. Marcus)
  • 1944–1945 Assistant Planning Adviser to the Resident Minister for the West African Colonies [citation needed]

Post-war period (1946–1959)

After the war she went 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),[9] and in 1962 a second office was opened at 3 Albany Terrace. She was in practice with Max Fry until 1977.

  • 1946–1950 Practised as Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew
  • 1946–1962 Jane was founder-editor and joint editor (with Trevor Dannatt) of the Architects' Year Book, brainchild of publisher Paul Elek
  • 1946 The 'Britain Can Make It' exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum
  • 1948 Ghana: Mampong Teacher's Training College and Prempeh College in Kumasi (with Maxwell Fry)
  • 1949 Hospital building for the Kuwait Oil Company
  • 1949 Harlow New Town: The Chantry and Tanys Dell estates: 3- & 4-bedroom terraced houses and 4-storey flats (with Maxwell Fry)
  • 1950
    Wesley Girls' High School in the town of Cape Coast
    (with Maxwell Fry)
  • 1950 Passfields flats in Lewisham, London (with Maxwell Fry)
  • 1950 Interior design for the ICA (Institute of Contemporary Arts) at 17/18 Dover Street, London (with Maxwell Fry, and the collaboration of Eduardo Paolozzi, Nigel Henderson, Neil Morris and Terence Conran). Jane played an important part in its relocation to Carlton House Terrace in 1964.
  • 1951–1958 Practised as Fry, Drew, Drake and Lasdun (with Lindsay Drake and Denys Lasdun)
  • 1951 New Schools building, the Waterloo entrance tower and the Riverside Restaurant[10] for the Festival of Britain (with Maxwell Fry)
  • 1951–1953 in collaboration with Le Corbusier and his cousin Pierre Jeanneret, Jane and Max worked as senior architects on much of the housing of Chandigarh, the new capital of western part of the divided Punjab in India. Jane persuaded Le Corbusier to involve himself in the project and he redesigned Albert Meyer's original master plan. Le Corbusier left most of the design to Jane, Max and Jeanneret, and they had the collaboration of a team of Indian architects (including B. V. Doshi) on this vast project. [citation needed]

Other works

Kenneth Onwuka Dike Library, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
Kenneth Onwuka Dike Library, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (detail)
Inner court of apartment building, University of Ibadan, Nigeria
  • 1953–1959 Buildings in Ibadan, Nigeria: the University College (with Maxwell Fry), the Cooperative Bank, and an Assembly Hall and Maisonettes
  • 1953 Flats at Whitefoot Lane, Downham Estate, Lewisham, London (with Maxwell Fry)
  • 1955 Housing at
    Gachsaran
    , South Iran
  • 1955–1958 Worked with Denys Lasdun on the design of the Usk Street Housing Estate in Bethnal Green, London
  • 1958–1973 Practised as Fry, Drew and Partners (with Frank Knight and Norman Creamer)
  • 1959 Cooperative Bank, Offices and Shop, Lagos, Nigeria
  • 1959 Cooperative Bank, Assembly Hall and Maisonettes, Ibadan, Nigeria
  • 1959 Gulf House, Gulf Oil Company, London

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
A pencil sketch of Jane Drew

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.[citation needed]

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".[12] The list of contributors includes:

Maxwell Fry (Introductory Poem),

Peter Murray, Berthold Lubetkin, Frances Webb Leishman,[75] Robert Bliss,[76] Viren Sahai,[77] Sir John Summerson,[78] Patrick Harrison,[79] Ebenezer Akita,[80] Charles Correa, and Olufemi Majekodunmi.[81]

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.[citation needed]

Friends

Among her personal friends and associates were;

Elizabeth Lutyens.[citation needed
]

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. ^ "Hill, Joseph 1888 - 1947 | AHRnet". architecture.arthistoryresearch.net. Retrieved 10 February 2024.
  5. ^ p.118, The Architecture of Edwin Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, Routledge (2016)
  6. ^ GRO birth ref: 1937 Mar, Marylebone 1a 575
  7. ^ Fry, Autobiographical Sketches, p 165
  8. ^ a b "Jane Drew, the architect who built Chandigarh with Le Corbusier". Architectural Digest India. 5 July 2020.
  9. ^ Mentioned in a letter from her sister Dorothy Drew
  10. ^ 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
  11. ^ Country Life, 14 April 1960
  12. ISBN 0-9510759-0-X
  13. ^ 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
  14. ^ Lesley Donaldson was daughter of the sub-Dean of Westminster Abbey
  15. ^ 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
  16. ^ Leonie Cohn (Hon. FRIBA) was a freelance audio-visual producer
  17. ^ Hugh Crallan was a contemporary of Jane at the AA
  18. ^ Michael Thornley was a contemporary of Jane's at the AA
  19. ^ Ruth Plant (M.Litt, RIBA, AA Dip.) was a contemporary of Jane's at the AA
  20. ^ Phyllis Dobbs had been Jane's friend ever since her husband Richard was a young paedriatrician involved in helping Jane with her twin children
  21. ^ Ed Lewis was an architect and planner with GLC housing experience
  22. ^ Dorothy Morland was Director of the ICA (1968–1970)
  23. British Guyana
    , nanny to Jane's children and later housekeeper and family friend
  24. ^ Diana Rowntree (AA Dip., RIBA) was Architecture Correspondent to The Guardian, and first met Jane at the AA
  25. ^ Rodney Thomas was a painter and architect. He taught at the Chelsea School of Art and other colleges
  26. ^ John Terry was an architect, the only member of Jane's staff in 1940
  27. ^ 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
  28. ^ 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
  29. ^ Anthony Bell, author, worked in publishing for Lund Humphries, and for Jane at Gloucester Place
  30. ^ 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
  31. ^ Peter Dunican (CBE, FEng, FICE, FIStructE, FiEI) was Chairman of Ove Arup Partnership
  32. ^ 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
  33. ^ 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
  34. ^ John Lomax joined Jane's office in 1948 and worked with Max and Jane on housing in Ghana
  35. ^ Dr. Rex and Mrs Joan Cheverton worked with Jane in Nigeria from 1947
  36. ^ Stephen Macfarlane (AA Dipl. Hons., FRIBA) taught architecture in Bristol
  37. 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
  38. University College, London
    .
  39. ^ 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
  40. ^ Norman Starrett, (BArch; Liverpool) and his wife Kay both started as junior partners with Max and Jane, in the 1951 Festival of Britain team
  41. ^ Geoffrey Knight (FRIBA) worked in Ghana (then the "Gold Coast") for Jane and Max 1947–1957 and 1964–1966
  42. ^ Minnette de Silva (RIBA, SLIA), a native of Sri Lanka met Max and Jane at a CIAM meeting and had personal recollections of Jane after Chandigarh
  43. ^ Ian Robertson (FRICS) worked with Jane on the Torbay Hospital, and later became coordinator for the interior of the liner QE2
  44. ^ 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
  45. ^ Sean Graham was a writer and film-maker, and he was in charge of the Ghana Film Unit when he met Jane
  46. ^ 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
  47. ^ 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
  48. ^ Mrs Eulie Chowdhury worked with the Corbusier team on the Chandigarh project
  49. ^ 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
  50. ^ Neil Wates was director of Wates, the builders
  51. ^ 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)
  52. ^ Sián Flower's husband, Patrick Flower, was a Civil Engineer; Sián Flower recalled how Jane helped their son who suffered from multiple sclerosis
  53. ^ Marion Gair (MA) worked for Peter Gregory at publishers Lund Humphries
  54. ^ Peter Rawsthorne was an architecture correspondent to the News Chronicle
  55. ^ Michael Raymond was a consultant psychiatrist; he wrote a poem, Rowfant Lake, for Jane
  56. ^ Delia Tyrwhitt first met Jane and Max in Chandigarh in 1953
  57. ^ Sir Paul Reilly, Director of the Design Council
  58. ^ Arnold Whittick was an art and architectural historian
  59. ^ 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
  60. ^ 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
  61. ^ Roza Jacobs was Vice President and Fashion Director of Macy's store in New York "...a good and loyal friend"
  62. ^ Noma Copley was a jewellery designer, earlier married to the painter William Copley
  63. ^ 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
  64. ^ Sergei Kadleigh (AA Dipl. (Hons), ARIBS) was a Russian-born British architect
  65. ^ Maria Luisa Plant Zaccheo, (Dr. Arch.(Rome), ARIBA) was an associate in Jane's office 1971–1980
  66. ^ Jean Medawar was a pioneer in family planning; Jane designed the Margaret Pyke Centre for her
  67. ^ Arun Das worked in Jane's office on the Margaret Pyke Centre
  68. ^ 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
  69. ^ 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
  70. ^ Mike Lacey was Director of Lovell Construction on the OU project at Milton Keynes
  71. ^ 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
  72. ^ Peter Greenham (CBE, RA, PPRBA) was a renowned portrait painter
  73. ^ Sunita Kanvinde was a student of painting and graphics in Delhi and was helped by Jane when she came to England
  74. ^ Tony Forrest (DA (Edin.)) was a building contractor and artist, specialising in combining architecture and landscapes with human elements
  75. ^ 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
  76. Salt Lake City, Utah
    during her lecture tour of the United States
  77. ^ 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
  78. ^ Sir John Summerson (CBE, FBA) contributed an extract from an essay on Batty Langley
  79. ^ Patrick Harrison (CBE) met Jane while he was secretary of the RIBA
  80. ^ Ebenezer Akita (AA Dip., ARIBA, FGIA) was President of the Ghana Institute of Architects
  81. ^ Olufemi Majekodunmi (DARch, ARIBA, FNIA, FIArb) was President of the Nigerian Institute of Architects, and reviewed Jane's work on the University of Ibadan
  82. ^ Jones, Peter: "Ove Arup: Master Builder of the Twentieth Century", Yale University Press, 2006
  83. Jacqueline Tyrwhitt
    (FILA, AMPTI, Sp. Dip.) first met Max and Jane in Chandigarh in 1953
  84. ^ Major English sculptor Lynn Chadwick (1914–2003) did a huge mobile for Jane and Max at the 1951 Festival of Britain
  85. ^ Architecture for Children is dedicated "to Ann, Jennifer and Georgina" (Max's daughter and Jane's twin daughters)

External links

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