William Harrison Cowlishaw
William Harrison Cowlishaw (1869–1957) was a British architect of the European Arts and Crafts school and a follower of William Morris. He lived in Norton, Hertfordshire, at that time something of an artists' colony. One of his most famous works is the unusual towered The Cloisters in neighbouring Letchworth Garden City, planned as a theosophical meditation centre and open-air school and which opened in 1907.
Also recorded as W. H. Howlishaw · William Henry Cowlishaw · W H Cowlishaw · Cowlishaw, William Harrison
William Harrison Cowlishaw
Southwold1966 · CC0
- Name
- W.
- Born
- 1869
- Died
- 1957
- Nationality
- United Kingdom · United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland
- Occupation
- architect
- Languages
- English
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William Harrison Cowlishaw (1869–1957) was a British architect of the European Arts and Crafts school and a follower of William Morris. He lived in Norton, Hertfordshire, at that time something of an artists' colony. One of his most famous works is the unusual towered The Cloisters in neighbouring Letchworth Garden City, planned as a theosophical meditation centre and open-air school and which opened in 1907.
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wikidata · Q3389604 · wikipedia · William Harrison Cowlishaw
In this article
Biography
Biography
An earlier work was "The Cearne" in Crockham Hill, Kent, a house designed for Russian-translator Constance Garnett and her literary-editor husband Edward Garnett. It was built in 1896. Cowlishaw married Edward Garnett's youngest sister, Lucy, in April 1897. At the end of World War I, like many Arts and Crafts architects of the period, he was commissioned by the Imperial (now Commonwealth) War Graves Commission to design memorials and cemetery layouts in Flanders and France under Sir Frederic G. Kenyon, the commission's advisor on architecture and layout. His work included the Pozières Memorial, in the Somme department (completed in 1930), to commemorate the missing of the Fifth and Fourth Armies, killed in 1918. Among the smaller cemeteries he designed were Prowse Point, Rifle House and Devonshire, all around the area of Ypres. At the commission, he worked with Charles Holden, a relationship that continued after the memorial work was completed.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — W. H. Cowlishaw • Born — 1869 • Died — 1957 • Significant Buildings — The Cloisters (Letchworth) • Significant Projects — Commonwealth War Graves Commission sites around Ypres • Illustration — Rifle House cemetery in Belgium
Identity
Identity
William Harrison Cowlishaw is recorded as architect.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1869
William Harrison Cowlishaw born.
1957
William Harrison Cowlishaw died.
Literature
Scholarly footprint
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q3389604: William Harrison CowlishawWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
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