The Architecture of Edwin Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew

Reviews / Votes

'There is something very remarkable about the careers of Maxwell Fry and Jane Drew, husband and wife architects, and this has little to do with star architects or spectacular buildings. At last, with this patient and insightful book, we have an account that does full justice to the seriousness of this quiet but extensively-influential modernism.' Mark Crinson, University of Manchester, UK 'With fastidious reference to archival records, and other sources, this well written book provides both a timely and comprehensive history, and an illuminating insight into Fry and Drew's social lives and their prodigious architectural legacy. It also provides a detailed background to the socio-political climate and economy in which Fry and Drew and other young British architects found themselves, as they formed new transnational practices aided by better post-war transport and communication networks ... The chapters on West Africa, meticulously researched, reveal the unique historical background to the architecture which has become synonymous with West Africa's international style.' Ola Uduku, University of Edinburgh, UK 'This fine book fills a significant gap in the history of twentieth-century British architecture. In their absorbing account of the careers of Jane Drew and Maxwell Fry, as individual practitioners, and as a formidable post-war partnership, the authors offer new insights into the evolution of early modernism in Britain, and to the development of new forms of modernism in post-colonial India and Africa. Of particular value is the discussion of Fry and Drew's early careers. Important too is the fact we now have a detailed study of one of the first generation of women to enjoy a significant career in the British profession; a useful reminder of how much the forms of post-war modernism were shaped by women.' Elizabeth Darling, Oxford Brookes University, UK 'This well-researched monograph sets outs its ambitions right from the start. Positing itself b