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Georgie Wolton
Born
Georgina Cheesman

1934
Died 25 August 2021 (aged 87)
Nationality British
Alma mater Architectural Association
Occupation Architect
Practice Team 4 (1963)
Buildings Cliff Road Studios, London

Georgie Wolton (née Cheesman; February 1934 - 25 August 2021) was a British architect, an original member of the architecture firm Team 4. Critic Jonathan Meades describes her as the "outstanding woman architect of the generation before Zaha [Hadid]".

Biography

Georgie Cheesman trained at the Architectural Association and during her travels to the United States became a fan of the Eames House and Philip Johnson's Glass House.

Together with her sister, Wendy Cheesman, she was a founding member in 1963 of the architectural firm, Team 4, together with Su Brumwell, Norman Foster and Richard Rogers. As the only qualified architect in the group, she effectively enabled the practice to operate. Wolton left the practice after a few months, leaving the others to pass their professional exams.

Wolton went on to practise on her own, her most well known works being Cliff Road Studios in Lower Holloway, London, and The River Cafe garden in Hammersmith. They both date from the late 1960s. Wolton also designed a house in Surrey, with an experimental use of CorTen steel. Meades suggests Wolton was "at the head of the very earliest vanguard of that tendency... that tirelessly reworks the forms of early modernism to the point where they are hardly distinguishable from their models." While reviewing the book Guide to the Architecture of London architectural critic Owen Hatherley described Wolton as "an exceptionally rare woman" in a group of architects who "tried to continue some form of modern classicism" during the 1970s and 80s.

Wolton later developed her passion for garden design and was a successful if unqualified landscape architect. She passed away on the 25th of August, 2021 at the age of 87.

Notable buildings

  • Cliff Road Studios, Lower Holloway, London (1968–71)
  • Fieldhouse, Crocknorth Farm, Surrey (1969, dismantled c. 1993) – the first house in the UK to use Corten as a primary structure.
    Fieldhouse in Surrey
  • 34 Belsize Lane, Hampstead (1976) – architect's own single-storey house.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: Georgie Wolton para niños

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