Ernest George Trobridge facts for kids
Ernest George Trobridge (born 1884, died 1942) was a special architect and builder. He designed and built many homes in the first half of the 1900s. Most of his work was in the northwest suburbs of London, England. He was known for making unique and affordable houses.
Building Unique Homes
Trobridge followed a religion called Swedenborgianism. This belief might have made him want to build homes for working-class people. He started his main building projects in the 1920s. Many new homes were needed for soldiers who had returned from war.
Houses from Wood
Bricks were hard to find for building houses back then. So, Trobridge used elm wood instead. Elm wood was easy to get at the time. He built houses with wooden frames and wooden walls. These homes had roofs made of thatch. He built them in Kingsbury, a London suburb, and in Chaldon village in Surrey.
These houses were very clever for their time. The fresh elm wood was cut in a special way. This helped the wood shrink without causing problems. The thatch roofs even had a special sprinkler system. This system could put out fires!
Flats and Castles
In the 1930s, bricks became easier to find. Also, there was less land for houses around London. So, families needed flats (apartments) instead of houses. Trobridge designed blocks of flats that looked like romantic cottages, castles, or grand old halls. He built most of these in Kingsbury too. His buildings often looked unusual. They sometimes looked like old historical buildings.
Trobridge also had unusual ways of working. He hired soldiers who had been injured in the war. He made sure to pay all his workers fair union wages.
About His Life
Ernest Trobridge was born in Northern Ireland. His father, George F. Trobridge, was an artist and writer.
Ernest married Jennie Pulsford in 1912. They had six children together. Four of their children lived longer than he did.
Because of his religious beliefs, Trobridge was a vegetarian his whole life. He had diabetes, a health condition. He chose not to take the medicine he needed for it. He died from this condition in 1942. He lived in a special house at 19 Heather Walk, Edgware. There is a Blue Plaque on his house. This plaque shows that a famous person lived there.
His Lasting Impact
Trobridge left behind many unique homes. You can find them in the northwest suburbs of London and other parts of England. Some of these homes are now "Listed Buildings." This means they are important and protected.
There have been exhibitions about Trobridge's work. These shows happened in Oxford in 1982 and Edinburgh in 1983. There was also one in the London Borough of Brent in 2010.
In 2016, a Trobridge house in Surrey was almost torn down. But people worked to protect it.
