Godfrey Albert Edward Schwabe [also known as G.A.E. Schwabe; and as Bertie Schwabe] was born in Patricroft, Eccles, Lancashire, England on 15 April 1877*. From 1893 he was articled to Edgar Wood (1869-1935) in Manchester and subsequently worked as an assistant to Wood and to James Henry Sellers (1861-1954) until 1910. With his parents and sister he then moved to Braunton, Devon, where he commenced independent practice in 1912. Most of his work consisted of private houses in the Braunton area.
In addition to is work as an architect, Schwabe was also a furniture designer and art metalworker. Between 1909-23 he exhibited at the Royal Academy in London; and at the Royal Cambrian Academy in Conwy, Wales. He was a member of the The Northern Art Workers' Guild and participated in an exhibition of work by members of the group at the Municipal School of Technology in Manchester in 1903.
Although he lived and worked in Devon for most of his career, Schwabe was a member of the Manchester Society of Architects (M.Soc.Arch) for may years.
His address was given as Claremont House 95 Cambridge Road, Hale Cheshire in 1881; Burton Road, Didsbury, Manchester in 1901; Wincott, West Hill Cottage, Braunton, Devon in 1913 and 1936; and Vellator Lane Terrace, Braunton, Devon in 1960. He died in Barnstaple, Devon on 22 August 1960.
* Schwabe's gravestone gives his year of birth as 1876, however, it is generally thought to have been 1877.
Directory of British Architects 1834-1914. Compiled by Antonia Brodie, et al. Volume 2: L-Z. London; New York: British Architectural Library, Royal Institute of British Architects/Continuum, 2001
Who's Who in Architecture 1914. London: Technical Journals Ltd., 1914