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Obituary: Geoffrey Wilson, OBE
Creative property developer whose vision changed the business face of London
December 3, 2021 24:00
Creative property developer whose vision changed the business face of London
December 3, 2021 24:00My father, Geoffrey Wilson, who has died aged 87, was part of a new wave of property developers who changed the look of London during the 80s.
One Embankment Place, Sir Terry Farrell’s landmark post-modern development above Charing Cross station, might never have been created without Geoffrey’s vision to buy a vault beneath the station and build into the air. Other iconic projects were 250 Euston Road, a paean to the era with its bold mirrored façade, and One Finsbury Square, the Grade ll-listed first building in the Broadgate development that raised the standard of office block design in Britain almost overnight.
It was a long way from the suburban semis of Dollis Hill where Geoffrey Alan Wilsick was born, the eldest of three brothers, to Doris (née Shrier) and Lewis, company secretary at the United Synagogue. The family anglicised their name when my father was eight. It was a bookish household where poetry was prized alongside traditional Jewish values.
Geoffrey was a child of the Blitz. On the eve of his tenth birthday, Doris had managed to find eggs to bake a cake but a V2 rocket exploded nearby, leaving a hole in the roof of the house and shrapnel in his cake. The experience was to give him a lifelong empathy for children who experienced the terror of bombings — and an aversion to celebrating his birthday.
He attended Haberdashers Aske’s school, then joined the agent Hamptons as post boy before studying at the College of Estate Management. After national service as a Royal Artillery officer in Woolwich, he started in private practice in Haymarket, leasing to the likes of hairbrush manufacturer Mason Pearson with innovative three-year contracts.
In 1960, aged 26, my father got his big break with a job at Amalgamated Investment and Property (AIP) under Gabriel Harrison, a stylish character who became something of a mentor.
When Harrison’s nephew Peter Olsberg joined the company, the two became firm friends and after my father borrowed some capital to develop a group of houses in north-west London, they also become neighbours. By now he had married my mother Marilyn (née Freedman), who shared his love of antiques and the arts.
In 1971, he and Peter Olsberg teamed up with Sir Stuart Lipton and Michael Gilbert to form Sterling Land, for which they were branded the Beatles of the property world. “Young tigers on the prowl” ran an Observer headline. More success followed in 1976, when Lipton and Geoffrey co-founded Greycoat Estates, going public two years’ later. My father inspired Sir Stuart with his own love of architecture. “He was always a keen exponent of good architecture as good business”, Sir Stuart said, adding, “whenever you were out with him you’d be having a good time. He was a terrific chap — someone I will miss”.
In these times of remote working, many question the role of communal workspaces. For Geoffrey, they were places where creativity could soar. “People need offices as a place of intellectual exchange,” he told Alastair Ross Goobey, in his book, Bricks and Mortals (Random House, 1993), which gives the inside story of the property world in the 80s and 90s. “Cities are where one intellect is honed on another.” After he retired as Greycoat chairman, he remained busy, chairing the steering committee behind English Heritage’s review of heritage protection in the early 2000s, and receiving an OBE in 2004.
“What are your interests?” The Queen asked him at the ceremony. My father was rarely lost for words but apparently on this occasion he could only manage one: “Buildings”. And English Heritage was where he cemented his relationship with Sir Terry Farrell.
“He was a great client, (we built Charing Cross together) but became close friends during the time he was involved in English Heritage,” Farrell said. “Geoffrey was a man I admired a lot, and learned a lot from. His wit and intelligence and kindness I will never forget.”
My father also lent his business expertise to the Museum of London, City Lit, the Peabody Trust Housing Association and Jewish charities such as ORT and World Jewish Relief.
Modest, despite his success, my father was known for his love of cats and French culture. He was often spotted at the Institut Français and read Le Monde every day. He loved to meet new people and hear their stories:, often with his wry sense of humour.
Geoffrey Wilson is survived by his wife Marilyn, children, James, Sophie and Annabel, daughter-in-law Arielle, sons-in-law Matt and Alan and grandchildren Louis, Violet, Lydia, Daisy and Kalman
Geoffrey Wilson born 19 February, 1934. Died June 5, 2021.
