Background
Gibberd was born on January 7, 1908, in Coventry, the eldest of the five children of a local tailor.
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Gibberd was born on January 7, 1908, in Coventry, the eldest of the five children of a local tailor.
Frederick Gibberd was educated at the city's King Henry VIII School. In 1925 he was articled to a firm of architects in Birmingham and studied architecture under William Bidlake at the Birmingham School of Art, where his roommate was F. R. S. Yorke.
Gibberd set up a private practice in 1930, winning his first commission for Pullman Court in Streatham at the age of 23 – an acclaimed project that led to commissions for a number of similar schemes, including Park Court in Sydenham, and Southgate’s Ellington Court.
Increasingly recognised as the ‘flat’ architect, Gibberd, along with Yorke, co-wrote the influential publication ‘The Modern Flat’ in 1937. At this time Gibberd also became a member of the Modern Architectural Research Group (MARS) alongside other key figures of twentieth-century modernism including Serge Chermayeff, Wells Coates and Berthold Lubetkin.
Unfit for service during the Second World War, Gibberd was appointed principal of the Architectural Association, ensuring students continued to receive training throughout this period. He also began to extensively study town planning, leading to his appointment in 1947 as planner for the new town of Harlow, Essex – recognised today as one of the most successful schemes of its kind. Gibberd also won commissions for a number of religious buildings, for which he is perhaps best known, including the Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral (1962-67) with its distinctive ‘crown of thorns’, and the London Central Mosque (1977-78) on the edge of Regent’s Park.
Gibberd wrote "Harlow: The story of a New Town" in collaboration with Len White and Ben Hyde Harvey. In 1953 he published Town Design a book on the forms, processes, and history of the subject.
Gibberd retired in 1978, but his practice (established in 1945) still operates today, whilst his own home and much-loved garden in Harlow remain open to the public.
London Central Mosque
Liverpool Metropolitan Cathedral
Didcot power stations
Pullman Court
Somerford Estate, Hackney, London
Nuneaton Town Centre
Bath College
Civic center
Fulwell Cross Library, Ilford
Water Gardens
Arundel Great Court, The Strand
Coutts Bank Headquarters, The Strand
Royal Spa Centre, Leamington Spa
The Harvey Centre, Harlow
Sir Frederick was totally committed to Harlow and its people. He bought the site in Marsh Lane in 1957, in order to make a landscaped garden. In his will Sir Frederick left his house, garden, sculptures and art collection to Harlow Council for the benefit of the people of Harlow.
