Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie (icon; 6 June 1879 in
Ashton upon MerseyAshton upon Mersey is an area of Sale in the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, Greater Manchester, England. It lies on the south bank of the River Mersey, in the northwestern part of Sale, and is situated about south of Manchester city centre....
— 23 March 1957 in
Aston TirroldAston Tirrold is a village and civil parish at the foot of the Berkshire Downs about southeast of Didcot. It was part of Berkshire until the 1974 boundary changes transferred it to Oxfordshire.-Origin of the name:...
,
DidcotDidcot is a town and civil parish in Oxfordshire about south of Oxford. Until 1974 it was in Berkshire, but was transferred to Oxfordshire in that year, and from Wallingford Rural District to the district of South Oxfordshire...
,
BerkshireBerkshire is a historic county in the South of England. It is also often referred to as the Royal County of Berkshire because of the presence of the royal residence of Windsor Castle in the county; this usage, which dates to the 19th century at least, was recognised by the Queen in 1957, and...
(now in
OxfordshireOxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
)) was an
EnglishEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
town planner. Educated at
Uppingham SchoolUppingham School is a co-educational independent school of the English public school tradition, situated in the small town of Uppingham in Rutland, England...
,
RutlandRutland is a landlocked county in central England, bounded on the west and north by Leicestershire, northeast by Lincolnshire and southeast by Peterborough and Northamptonshire....
; brother of
Lascelles AbercrombieLascelles Abercrombie was a British poet and literary critic, one of the "Dymock poets"...
, poet and literary critic.
Career
Sir Patrick trained as an
architectAn architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
before becoming the
ProfessorA professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of Civic Design at the Liverpool University School of Architecture in 1915, and later Professor of Town Planning at
University College LondonUniversity College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and the oldest and largest constituent college of the federal University of London...
. Afterwards, he made award-winning designs for
Dublin city centre and gradually asserted his dominance as an architect of international renown, which came about through the replanning of
PlymouthPlymouth is a city and unitary authority area on the coast of Devon, England, about south-west of London. It is built between the mouths of the rivers Plym to the east and Tamar to the west, where they join Plymouth Sound...
,
HullKingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, Bath,
EdinburghEdinburgh is the capital city of Scotland, the second largest city in Scotland, and the eighth most populous in the United Kingdom. The City of Edinburgh Council governs one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas. The council area includes urban Edinburgh and a rural area...
and
BournemouthBournemouth is a large coastal resort town in the ceremonial county of Dorset, England. According to the 2001 Census the town has a population of 163,444, making it the largest settlement in Dorset. It is also the largest settlement between Southampton and Plymouth...
, among others.
Sir Patrick was closely involved in the founding of the Council for the Preservation of Rural England (CPRE). After its formation in December 1926, he served as its Honorary Secretary.
He is best known for the post-Second World War replanning of
LondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He created the
County of London PlanThe County of London Plan was prepared for the London County Council in 1943. Its authors were John Henry Forshaw and Sir Leslie Patrick Abercrombie ....
(1943) and the
Greater London PlanThe Greater London Plan of 1944, often referred to as the Abercrombie Plan, was a plan for the development and improvement of London commissioned by the Ministry of Works in 1942 and drawn up by Patrick Abercrombie....
(1944) which are commonly referred to as the
Abercrombie Plan. The latter document was an extended and more thorough product than the 1943 publication, and for Abercrombie it was an accumulation of nearly 50 years of experience and knowledge in the field of planning and architecture.
In 1945 he published
A Plan for the City & County of Kingston upon HullKingston upon Hull , usually referred to as Hull, is a city and unitary authority area in the ceremonial county of the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It stands on the River Hull at its junction with the Humber estuary, 25 miles inland from the North Sea. Hull has a resident population of...
, with the assistance of
Sir Edwin LutyensSir Edwin Landseer Lutyens, OM, KCIE, PRA, FRIBA was a British architect who is known for imaginatively adapting traditional architectural styles to the requirements of his era...
. Lutyens had died the year before publication whilst much of the plan was being finalised, and the plan was ultimately rejected by the Councillors of Hull.
From the
Abercrombie Plan plan came the New Towns movement which included the building of
HarlowHarlow is a new town and local government district in Essex, England. It is located in the west of the county and on the border with Hertfordshire, on the Stort Valley, The town is near the M11 motorway and forms part of the London commuter belt.The district has a current population of 78,889...
and
CrawleyCrawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
and the largest 'out-county' estate,
Harold HillHarold Hill is a place in the London Borough of Havering, east London, England. It is a suburban development situated 16.6 miles east-northeeast of Charing Cross....
in north-east London. Patrick Abercrombie was knighted in 1945.
In 1949 he published with Richard Nickson a plan for the redevelopment of
WarwickWarwick is the county town of Warwickshire, England. The town lies upon the River Avon, south of Coventry and just west of Leamington Spa and Whitnash with which it is conjoined. As of the 2001 United Kingdom census, it had a population of 23,350...
, which proposed demolition of almost all the town's Victorian housing stock and construction of a large inner ring road.
During the postwar years, Sir Patrick was commissioned by the British government to redesign
Hong KongHong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
. In 1956 he was commissioned by Haile Selassie to draw up plans for the capital of
EthiopiaEthiopia , officially known as the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. It is the second-most populous nation in Africa, with over 82 million inhabitants, and the tenth-largest by area, occupying 1,100,000 km2...
,
Addis AbabaAddis Ababa is the capital city of Ethiopia...
.
In 1948 he became the first president of the newly formed group the
International Union of ArchitectsThe International Union of Architects is an international non-governmental organization that represents over a million architects in 124 countries. The UIA was founded in Lausanne, Switzerland, in 1948. The General Secretariat is located in Paris...
, or the UIA (Union Internationale des Architectes). The group now annually awards the Sir Patrick Abercrombie Prize, for excellence in town planning.
He died in 1957.
Publications
- Patrick Abercrombie, Sydney Kelly and Arthur Kelly, Dublin of the future : the new town plan, being the scheme awarded first prize in the international competition, University Press of Liverpool, Liverpool, 1922.
- Sir Patrick Abercrombie, The Preservation of Rural England, Hodder and Stoughton Ltd, London, 1926. The book that lead to the foundation of the CPRE.
- Patrick Abercrombie and John Archibald, East Kent Regional Planning Scheme Survey, Kent County Council, Maidstone, 1925.
- The Earl of Mayo, S. D, Adshead and Patrick Abercrombie, The Thames Valley from Cricklade to Staines: A survey of its existing state and some suggestions for its future preservation, University of London Press, London, 1929
- Patrick Abercrombie and Sydney A. Kelly, East Suffolk Regional Scheme, University of Liverpool, Liverpool and Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1935 (prepared for the East Suffolk Joint Regional Planning Committee).
- Patrick Abercrombie (ed), The Book of the Modern House: A Panoramic Survey of Contemporary Domestic Design, Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1939
- J. H. Forshaw and Patrick Abercrombie, County of London Plan, Macmillan & Co. 1943.
- J. Paton Watson and Patrick Abercrombie, A Plan for Plymouth, Underhill, (Plymouth). Ltd., 1943.
- Edwin Lutyens & Patrick Abercrombie, A Plan for the City & County of Kingston upon Hull, Brown (London & Hull), 1945.
- Sir Patrick Abercrombie, John Owens & H Anthony Mealand, A Plan for Bath, Sir Isaac Pitman (London) 1945
- Sir Patrick Abercrombie & R. H. Matthew, Clyde Valley Regional Plan, His Majesty’s Stationery Office, Edinburgh, 1946.
- Patrick Abercrombie and Richard Nickson, Warwick: Its preservation and redevelopment, Architectural Press, 1949.
- Sir Patrick Abercrombie, Revised by D. Rigby Childs, "Town and Country Planning", Third Edition, Oxford University Press, 1959, Reprinted 1961 and 1967.
External links