Georgie Wolton 1934-2021

Georgie Wolton, architect and landscape designer, died last month on 25th August. Wolton was born in 1934, training at the Architectural Association and later working in the USA. Alongside her sister, Wendy Cheesman, she founded the Team 4 practice with Norman Foster, Richard Rogers and Su Brumwell, despite being the only qualified architect, Wolton left after a few months. Wolton went into practice herself, designing only a handful of buildings over the next 25 years. The most famous of which is the live/work space. Cliff Road Studios in Camden (1968-71).

Fieldhouse, Crocknorth (1969) by Georgie Wolton

Wolton also designed Fieldhouse, a steel house in Crocknorth, Surrey in 1969. The design used CorTen steel cladding, contemporary with John Winters house in Highgate. The house was dismantled in 1993, and is now in storage. She was influenced in the design for the house by Van Der Rohe’s Farnsworth House and the Cape Cod house of Serge Chermayeff, which she had visited. 

House, Belsize Lane (1976) by Georgie Wolton

Wolton also designed a house for herself in Belsize Lane (1976). The house is a single storey structure in brick, with a small glass pyramid rooflight. Wolton later went into landscaping, designing gardens for The River Cafe and RSH+P’s Thames Reach. Wolton also worked on the gardens at the Dartington Hall Estate in Devon. Jonathan Meades priased her work and described her as the "outstanding woman architect of the generation before Zaha Hadid".

Thames Reach Studios (1984-7) by RSH+P, landscaping by Georgie Wolton.