George Abraham Crawley [also known as George A. Crawley] was born in Upper Norwood, Surrey [now London], England on 24 June 1864. From 1882 to 1885 he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge. He spent the early years of his career in the United States, and although he had received no training as an architect, he was commissioned by John Schaffer Phipps to design Westbury House, a house for him n Long Island, New York. He subsequently worked on the commission from 1904 to 1910 and in 1915-16. In 1906 Crawley established an architectural office in the Flat Iron Building in New York. He had two assistants to help him - Alfred Charles Bossom (1881-1965) whom he brought out with him from England, and a young American architect named Hinckle. In 1907, however, Crawley decided to return to England. He initially settled in London. Soon after he moved to Crowhurst, Surrey, where he restored a Crowhurst Place, a medieval house for himself and his wife. After that they lived in a bungalow in Shinglestreet on the Suffolk coast.
Between c.1913 and c.1920 he was in partnership with the architects Gervase V. Bailey (1876-1959) and Alexander McInnes Gardner (1878-1934). They designed interiors of ocean liners including the "Alsation" for the Allan Line and "Empress of Russia" and "Empress of Asia" for the Canadian Pacific Railway Company in c.1913.
After military service in World War One, Crawley resumed his activities as an architect
Crawley died in Chelsea, London on 11 July 1926
A biographical file on George Abraham Crawley is available on request from the Enquiry Desk, Royal Institute of British Architects Library, London
Principal architectural work by George Crawley: included structural alterations, etc., Henry Phipps’s house in Fifth Avenue, New York; Westbury House, a house for John Schaffer Phipps in Long Island, New York; tenement buildings in Alleghany; commercial buildings in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania; a house for Stanley Brotherhood, Esq., at Thornhaugh, near Peterborough; restoration and remodelling of Crowhurst Place in Crowhurst, Surrey; Old Hall in Batchwood, near St. Albans, Hertfordshire; additions to the Grange, Hackbridge, London, for W. J. Mallinson; a house for Cuthbert Heath at 15 Aidford Street, Park Lane, London; a house for Mrs. Blake at Sunningdale, Berkshire; and the re-design the public rooms in four Irish cross-Channel steamers for the L.N.W.R. Co. Ships wholly or partially decorated by George Crawley included S.S. “Empress of Russia” and “Empress of Asia” for Canadian Pacific Railways. Co. (1912); S.S. “Alsatian” and “Calgarian” for Allan Line Steamship Co. (1912-13); S.S. “Missanabie” and “Metagama”, built by Messrs. Barclay Curle, and “Princess Margaret” and “Princess Irene’’, built by Messrs. Denny for C.P.R. Co. (1913-14); S.S. “Melita” and “Minnedosa” built by Messrs. Barclay Curie for lake service in Canada (1914-15); S.S. “Empress of Canada” and “Montcalm,” “Montclare” and “Montrose” for Canadian Pacific Railways. Co. (1919); and S.S. “George Washington” and other vessels for U.S. Shipping Board (1921-28). [Source: Cuthbert Headlam. George Abraham Crawley. A Short Memoir (1929)]
Azarm, Marian and Bland Gerald. ‘English taste: American flavour’ [Architect: (1906) George M. Crawley] Connoisseur vol. 207, no. 833, July 1982 pp. 215-218
Headlam, Cuthbert. George Abraham Crawley: A Short Memoir... With a foreword by May Crawley. London: [privately printed], 1929