Louis Emmanuel Jean Guy de Savoie-Carignan de Soissons [commonly known as Louis De Soissons and as Baron Longroy Viscomte d'Ostel, and Louis DeSoissons] was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, on 31 July 1890. His family moved to Britain while he was a child and he was educated in London.
In c.1906, at the age of 16, he was articled to the architect John Henry Eastwood (1844-1913) and studied at the Royal Academy Schools in London and the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He also attended the British School at Rome on a RIBA Henry Jarvis Scholarship awarded in 1913. The year before he had ben awarded the Tite Prize.
Following World War One (during which time he served as liaison officer to Italian Army), he was in partnership with Philip Hepworth (1919), and George Grey Wornum (1921-30). de Soissons was known for his work in the field of public housing and town planning in Britain, particularly at Welwyn Garden City in Hertfordshire, England, where he was appointed architect in 1919.
During the 1920s he was in partnership with Arthur William Kenyon (1885-1969) as De Soissons & Kenyon. Together together they designed houses in Welwyn Garden City, Hertfordshire.
From 1942-69 de Soissons was consultant architect for the Joseph Rowntree model village New Earswick in York. During World War Two, de Soissons was appointed the Imperial War Graves Commission's Principal Architect for the Mediterranean, and designed several cemeteries and memorials in the region.
Following the war, de Soissons was senior partner in the architectural firm Louis De Soissons, Peacock, Hodges, and Robertson and was involved in the rebuilding of the bombed centre of Plymouth in Devon. Other projects in which he was engaged included the restoration of the Nash terraces in Regent's Park, and buildings at Cheltenham College
de Soissons was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA) in 1918 and a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (FRIBA) in 1923. His address was given as Blue Ball Yord, 64 St. James's Street, London in 1923 and 1939. He died in London on 23 September 1962.
Architectural projects by de Soissons included Earl Haigh Memorial Homes in Sheffield, England (1928-29), Larkhall Flats in London (1929) and Broom Park and Huxhams Cross Houses at Dartington Hall at Totnes in Devon, England (1932-33) and Constable House in Primrose Hill, London (1953-54). Other notable works included factories for Murphy Radio and Shredded Wheat. He also planned the village settlement and schools for the Wedgwood factory at Barlston in 1937.
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187 houses at Welwyn Garden City, 19-23; 143 workmen's dwellings for Welwyn R.D.O., 1922-23; houses at Heacham, Norfolk, 1920; Wareham, Dorset, 1921; Cumnor, Berks, 1922; and Bagshot, Surrey, 1914. Power station Welwyn Garden City, 1920. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1923]
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Welwyn Garden City; also houses at Haileybury, Bagshot, Wareham, (Dorset), Cumnor (Berks), Heacham (Norfolk); cottages at Plaw Hatch (Sussex), Westerfield and Haileybury; schools, elementary, private and nursery, at Welwyn Garden City; reinforced concrete bridge at Welwyn Garden City in collaboration with W. E. James, A.M.I.C.E.; Shredded Wheat factory, Welwyn Garden City. [Source: Who's Who in Architecture 1926]
Chambers, Theodore. 'The Larkhall Estate'. Architectural Review vol. 66, July 1929 pp. 7-16
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 1: A-K. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
'Obituary'. Royal Institute of British Architects Journal vol. 69, November 1962 p. 431
Orfeur, Ronald. 'New wine: the theatre at Welwyn'. Architectural Review vol. 63, April 1928 pp. 138-144 [Discusses a new theatre in Welwyn, Hertfordshire designed by De Soissons and A. W. Kenyon in 1925]
Oswald, Arthur. 'Restoring halls of the City companies: som recent work at Fishmongers Hall and Leathersellers' Hall'. Country Life vol. 112, 14 Movember 1952 pp. 1564-1567 [Report on the restoration by Louis de Soissons of Leathersellers' Hall in London, badley damaged during World War Two]
Who's Who in Architecture 1923. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1923
Who's Who in Architecture 1926. Edited by Frederick Chatterton. London: The Architectural Press, 1926