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'''Roderick Gradidge''' (1929 – 2000) was a [[United Kingdom|British]] [[architect]] and [[writer]] on architecture.
== Biography ==
=== Career ===
Roderick was an evangelist for the [[Arts & Crafts]], the [[Victorian]] and a [[vernacular]] architecture which had become so unfashionable by the beginning of his career. It is this passion that drove him to his writing career and to become a repository of the knowledge of the architecture of this period and in particular in the County of [[Surrey]], near his home at [[Chiswick]], where so much interesting architecture was produced in this period. Roderick had the opportunity to work on a number of buildings in the County by prominent architects, such as [[Sir Edwin Lutyens]], [[Harold Falkner]], [[Thackeray Turner]], [[Detmar Blow]] and [[Charles Voysey]]. He completed a number of interesting projects, particularly with fine interiors and country houses.
He was active in the [[Art Workers Guild]], acted as its Secretary from 1977-84 and Master in 1987. He was a founding member of the [[Georgian Society]] (later to become the [[20th Century Society]]) and was prominent in the [[Victorian Society]], at a time when these were marginal interests within the architectural profession.
===Partnership with Michael Blower===
Roderick completed a number of fine restorations and extensions to country houses in Surrey in the 1980’s and 1990’s. He did these in a loose partnership with the prominent Surrey-based architect, Michael Blower. Their first project was on [[Detmar Blow]]’s Charles Hill Court for an Austrian industrialist. From there, they went onto [[Harold Falkner]]’s Tancreds Ford, which they designed and built for the writer [[Ken Follett]] and his first wife, and which was published in two articles in Country Life<ref>Country Life</ref>. Next came The New House, reputedly designed by [[Thackeray Turner]] and for which they jointly one a [[RIBA]] Award. Just prior to his death, they were working on a project at Combe Court, which was completed by Michael Blower’s practice, Stedman Blower.
=== Personal life ===
Roddy was born [[3 January]] [[1929]] in [[Old Hunstanton]], [[Norfolk]], and died [[20 December]] [[2000]] in [[London]], aged 71. H. His father [[Brigadier]] John Gradidge, was posted in [[India]] at the time of his son's birth, who was then brought up amidst the splendours of the [[British Raj]]. He was sent off to school at [[Stowe]] and from there, he moved to [[London]] and the [[Architectural Association]], where he completed his training as an architect and was elected an Associate of the [[Royal Institute of British Architects]] ([[ARIBA]]). He remained in [[London]] parctising as an architect and writer for most of his life, where he was a prominent figure in social and architectural circles in the last half of the [[20th Century]]. He had no children and was never married.
== Legacy ==
[[The Telegraph]] obituary from the 22nd December 2000 described him as 'one of the most colourful and underrated [[English]] architects of recent years'. Obituaries also appeared in [[The Times]] on the 1st January 2001 and in [[The Independent]] on the 2nd January 2001, the latter one penned by the prominent architectural historian and critic [[Gavin Stamp]]. At the twightlight of his career, he was awarded a [[RIBA]] Award, (the gold-standard of archiectural awards in the UK) for the design of a house in the [[Surrey Hills]].
==Bibliography==
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