Edward Ernest Hollamby (8 January 1921 – 29 December 1999) was an English architect, town planner, and architectural conservationist. Known for designing a number of modernist housing estates in London, he had also achieved notability for his work in restoring Red House, the Arts and Crafts building in Bexleyheath, Southeast London, which was designed by William Morris and Philip Webb in the year 1859.
Born in Hammersmith, West London, Hollamby served in the Royal Marines during the Second World War before embarking on his career in architecture. Involved with the Communist Party of Great Britain and other left-wing political groups, his socialist beliefs led him to work in the public sector, first for the Miners' Welfare Commission and then for London County Council (LCC), where he was involved in the design and construction of such modernist post-war housing estates as Bethnal Green's Avebury Estate, Kennington's Brandon Estate, and Deptford's Pepys Estate.
In 1952, Hollamby and his family moved into Red House, undertaking projects to renovate and restore it. A great admirer of the house's original inhabitant, William Morris, he also involved himself in the early activities of the William Morris Society, which held a number of meetings at the property. Awarded an OBE for his career in 1970, from 1969 to 1981 Hollamby worked as Director of Architecture, Planning, and Development for the London Borough of Lambeth, before moving to work for the London Docklands Development Corporation from 1981 to 1985. He continued restoring Red House in his later life, opening it up to visitors and establishing the Friends of Red House non-profit organization in 1998.
The Guardian described Hollamby as "very much an architect of the 20th century, a public servant who believed not just in high quality architecture but in the existence and nurturing of the public realm, of public architecture and civic design."
Early life
Hollamby was born at 6 Wellesley Avenue in Hammersmith, West London. He was the eldest of two sons born to Ethel May Hollamby (née Kingdom) and Edward Thomas Hollamby, a police constable. Edward Jr.'s primary education took place at St. Peter's Church School, before he won a scholarship to study at a junior technical school.
Hollamby then gained a higher education by training in architecture at the nearby Hammersmith School of Arts and Crafts during the 1930s. He developed an interest in the Arts and Crafts movement and received encouragement from his lecturer, Alwyn Waters. Through Waters, Hollamby took an interest in William Morris, who had been a pioneer of the Arts and Crafts movement in the latter part of the 19th century. At the same time, Hollamby was influenced by the modernist movement in architecture to which two of his favourite lecturers, Arthur Ling and Alex Lowe, belonged, and joined the Modern Architectural Research Group (MARS).
Following the completion of his studies, Hollamby moved to Lancashire to assist a project building the Royal Ordnance factory number 7 in Kirkby, Lancashire, before returning to London to work in housing design for the Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith. On 18 May 1941, he married Doris Isabel Parker (1920–2003), who worked as a clerk and who, like Hollamby, was a member of the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB). Their wedding took place at St Michael's Church at Tokyngton, Middlesex, after which they moved to St. Peter's Square, Hammersmith. They had two daughters and a son. In August 1941, during Britain's involvement in World War II, Hollamby received his conscripted into the Royal Marine Engineers and served at Trincomalee, Ceylon.
Architectural career
Much like many architects of his generation, Hollamby pursued a career in local authority offices. He first worked as an architect for the Miners' Welfare Commission from 1947 to 1949, in this position designing pithead baths and a colliery extension at Lofthouse, Yorkshire. After gaining further qualifications from the Royal Institute of British Architects, he proceeded with a three-year evening course in town planning, run by William Holford and Arthur Ling at the Bartlett School of Architecture, London.