George Esslemont Gordon Leith (1885–1965) was a South African architect.

Johannesburg Park Station, 1932

Career edit

He started his career working for Herbert Baker.[1]

Leith served as a captain in the Royal Field Artillery (and was later recovering from a Western Front gas attack).[2]

Leith was assistant architect to the Imperial War Graves Commission in England from 1918 to 1920, before going back to South Africa, where he set up his own practice.[1]

Leith's works include the Calais Southern War Cemetery, France (1918–20), Johannesburg Park Station (1927–32), the Town Hall, Bloemfontein (1920–40), the South African Reserve Bank, Johannesburg (1938),[1] and the Queen Victoria Hospital, Johannesburg (1943).[3]

Personal life edit

He married Ethel Mary Leith, née Cox (1888–1974). Their daughter Sarah Greenaway Leith (1918-2010), was a British rally driver and novelist, and a Second World War codebreaker at Bletchley Park.

References edit

  1. ^ a b c "George Esslemont Gordon Leith - oi". Retrieved 20 November 2017. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  2. ^ Fox, Paul. "Sarah Greenaway [Sally] Miall [née Leith] (1918–2010)". oxforddnb.com. ODNB. Retrieved 20 November 2017.
  3. ^ "Hospital Hill (Old Suburb between Braamfontein & Hillbrow)". Johannesburg 1912 - Suburb by suburb research. 2 January 2016. Retrieved 17 January 2019.