Stephen Gardiner (architect)
Stephen Gardiner
Gardiner was born and raised in
He was educated at
He founded his own practice in 1957, and was in partnership with Christopher Knight in the 1960s. Perhaps his crowning achievement was designing a new house at Stratton Park in Hampshire for Sir John Baring, replacing a late 18th-century house by George Dance with a modern building largely in brick with a steel conservatory. The original building was demolished, but the Tuscan portico was left standing as an architectural feature in front of the house. He also worked on many school buildings in and around London. He became a business partner of Joan Scotson in 1970, who later became his wife. He received the OBE in 2002 for his contribution to community architecture.
Concerned at the precarious nature of his profession, and the number of projects that were never built, he also taught architecture. He taught at the Architectural Association from 1955 to 1956, and at the
Gardiner was also a writer. He wrote a
He also wrote several books on architectural subjects, including Evolution of the House (1974), a monograph on Le Corbusier (Fontana Modern Masters, 1974), Kuwait: The Making of a City (1984) and The House: Its Origins and Evolution (2002). He wrote two biographies, Epstein: Artist Against the Establishment (1992), and Frink, a life of the sculptor Elisabeth Frink (1997). Le Corbusier was a significant influence on his professional work, and he knew both Jacob Epstein and Elisabeth Frink. He also published poetry, and exhibited paintings and drawings.
He married four times. His first marriage, to Shirley Warwick, second marriage, to Lucy Ward, and third marriage, to Shirley Blomfield, all ended in divorce. He married Joan Scotson in 1979, living on the
. He was survived by his fourth wife, and a son and daughter from his third marriage.References
- Obituary, The Times, 16 February 2007
- Obituary, The Guardian, 21 February 2007
- Obituary, The Independent, 24 February 2007