Geoffrey Paulson Townsend
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Geoffrey Paulson Townsend | |
|---|---|
| Born | 11 May 1911 Twickenham, Middlesex, England |
| Died | 1 August 2002 (aged 91) Worthing, West Sussex, England |
| Alma mater | Regent Street Polytechnic |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Spouse | Winifred Walbanck |
| Children | one daughter |
| Practice | Modern Homes |
Geoffrey Paulson Townsend (11 May 1911 – 1 August 2002) was an English architect and developer, noted for his company, Span Developments, and long association with architect, Eric Lyons.
Geoffrey Paulson Townsend was born in Twickenham, Middlesex in 1911 to an artistic family. His mother, Jessie Beatrice née Jones, was an art-teacher and his father, William George Paulson Townsend, a writer and designer, was master of design at the Royal School of Needlework. His uncle, Ernest Townsend, trained as an architect but pursued a career in art.[citation needed]
Early career
Geoffrey Townsend left school aged 16, working initially as a joiner.[1][2]
By 1931 Townsend was designing small terraced houses in Whitton and Twickenham. He worked as a draughtsman for Robert Lutyens, son of Edwin Lutyens and trained as an architect by attending evening-classes at the Regent Street Polytechnic which was where he first met Eric Lyons. In 1937 Townsend formed his own architectural practice, Modern Homes, in Richmond, London and Lyons worked there, the pair designing small housing schemes until the outbreak of war.[3] During the war, in 1944, he married Winifred Walbanck (1914–1992).[1][4]
Post-war architect
Townsend and Lyons restarted their partnership after the war working mostly on war-damage restoration and house alterations. In 1948 they completed Oaklands, a small housing development of four, two-storey, six-apartment blocks set in landscaped grounds in Whitton that was the prototype of their future success.[3][5]
