Mardall, Cyril Leonard Sjöström 1909 - 1994

Cyril Leonard Sjöström Mardall was born Cyril Leonard Sjöström in Helsinki, Finland, on 21 November 1909. He moved to England in 1927 and was naturalized in 1928. He attended the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic of North London from 1927 to 1931 and in 1931 won a scholarship to the Architectural Association Schools in London, from where he was awarded its diploma in 1932. He then went back to Finland to work for Ole Gripenberg (1892-1979) on a design of the stadium for the 1940 Helsinki Olympic Games, which was subsequently cancelled due to World War Two.

He returned to London in 1933 where he set up his own independent architectural practice and worked on various commissions to design prefabricated timber-framed houses. He also began teaching at the Architectural Association. During World War Two he served as an intelligence officer in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve until 1944 when he was seconded to the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration.  By January 1947 he had adopted the surname Mardall.

In 1944 he formed a partnership with Francis Reginald Stevens Yorke (1906–1962) and Eugene Rosenberg (1907-1990) as Yorke Rosenberg Mardall, subsequently known as YRM, in London. All three were dedicated Modernists.  The partnership was initially a loose arrangement and the partners sometimes worked on individual projects.   In addition to his knowledge of timber-framed construction, Mardall specialized in the design of schools and he worked for various local authority clients, notably Hertfordshire County Council.

Mardall was elected an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects (ARIBA). He was also a member of the Architectural Association Council from 1948 to 1951; and a member of the MARS. Modern Architectural Research Group.

Following his retirement from YRM in 1975, he formed a private practice with his wife. They worked on housing projects in Finland and the Caribbean. He died in London on 1 June 1994.