Louis Osman

Proposal for St John's Smith Square architectural design by Louis Osman FRIBA

1953

Louis Osman was born on January 30, 1914, in Exeter. He was an architect, artist, goldsmith, silversmith and medallist. Very few people matched his creations as a goldsmith and consequently, Osman was chosen to make the crown for the investiture of the Prince of Wales in 1969. Many of his other works are in public collections in the UK and worldwide. After Hele's School in Exeter, he studied at the Bartlett School of Architecture which was part of University College London, in 1931. Osman later attended the Slade School of Art and he left the Bartlett and was awarded the top first and won the Donaldson Medal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Subsequently, he trained with Sir Albert Richardson. Serving during the Second World War as a Major in the Intelligence Corps, Osman was a specialist in Air Photography and served on the Beach Reconnaissance Committee before the June 1944 Normandy landings. Following the war, he was busy as an architect and worked for Westminster Abbey, Lincoln, Exeter, Ely and Lichfield Cathedrals. During the 1970s, Osman and his wife lived at Canons Ashby House in Northamptonshire, which was given to the National Trust in 1981 when he was not able to keep the tenancy any longer. At Canons Ashby, he established a workshop and had a team of silversmiths and goldsmiths working for him. In 1974, he created an exhibition celebrated by a lavishly illustrated catalog. Osman's 1969 crown for the investiture of the Prince of Wales was on display, together with many other items of his creation and also by other silversmiths such as Malcolm Appleby, Philip Noakes and Stephen Nunn and also acknowledging the work of Desmond Clen-Murphy, Peter Musgrove and Chris Philipson in his works. In 1976, he made the gold enameled casket that holds a copy of the Magna Carta on view in the United States Capitol, Washington, DC. Osman died on April 11, 1996.