page_title: Edward Hollamby
section_title: Architectural career
hierarchical_section_title: Edward Hollamby / Architectural career
caption_attribution_description: English: Brandon Estate, Southwark
context_page_description: Edward Ernest Hollamby OBE 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 the 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, 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 the Red House, undertaking projects to renovate and restore it.
context_section_description: 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.
  Hollamby worked under Leslie Martin as a senior architect at the Architects' Department of the London County Council (LCC) from 1949 to 1962. During this period, he oversaw the design of two neighbouring schools in North Hammersmith, now known as the Phoenix School; he unsuccessfully tried to have the school named after Morris. He was also involved in the design and construction of several modernist, high-rise post-war housing estates, namely Bethnal Green's Avebury Estate and Kennington's Brandon Estate, personally securing a sculpture by Henry Moore for the latter. In his final years in this position he focused on estates in south London, working on Deptford's Pepys Estate and the first designs for what became Thamesmead.
  Hollamby became the borough architect for the Metropolitan Borough of Hammersmith, in January 1963, and then the borough architect for the Metropolitan Borough of Lambeth. Following the reorganisation of Greater London he remained in that position for its successor, the London Borough of Lambeth. He rose to the position of the borough's director of architecture, planning and development, which he held from 1969 to 1981. In this position he oversaw the construction of several high-rise housing towers alongside an innovative, low-rise development at Cressingham Gardens, high-density scheme for Central Hill, as well as a project that combined the construction of new housing with the conservation of old, particularly around Clapham Manor Street.
  In 1970, Hollamby was awarded an Order of the British Empire (OBE) for his work in architecture. However, in the early 1980s, he became increasingly unhappy in the position as a result of conflict with certain local Labour Party politicians and sought different employment.
  Amid the growing neo-liberal, Thatcherite economic changes brought about under the Premiership of Margaret Thatcher, Hollamby moved in 1981 to the London Docklands Development Corporation as its first director of Architecture and Planning until 1985 when he retired. This was at the time Europe's largest urban regeneration project. He proposed a mix of redevelopment and conservation of existing buildings to create an urban design structure guide for the regeneration of the Isle of Dogs. In this position he also campaigned for the Docklands Light Railway and oversaw the exterior refurbishment of St George in the East.
  Over the course of his career Hollamby served on the boards of English Heritage (1986–90), the Historic Buildings Council (1972–82), and the Royal Institute of British Architects (1961–5 and 1966–72).
caption: The Brandon Estate in Southwark was among the projects on which Hollamby worked
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