Lanre Towry-Coker

Dr. Lanre Towry-Coker FRIBA (born 1944) is a Nigerian architect,^[1] politician and socialite. He has worked in the public sector as well as the private sector and was the first Commissioner for Works and Housing of Lagos State.^[2][3][4]

Lanre Towry-Coker
Born	1944
Nationality	Nigerian
Occupation	Architect

Early life and career

Born in 1944^[5][6] to a Nigerian civil engineer, who was the planning adviser to the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, Tunku Abdul Rahman, in the early 1960s, Lanre Towry-Coker attended St. Matthias School, Lagos, and Kingston College, Surrey, England, before going on to the Architectural Association School of Architecture and the University of North-East London for his architectural training. He subsequently earned a further qualification from the Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration (OPM).^[7][4]

He established his architectural firm, Towry-Coker Associates,^[8] in 1976. An indigene of Lagos (Towry Street on Lagos Island was named after his family)^[4] He was one of the original planners of the capital city Abuja, and has won numerous awards for his work on major buildings in Nigeria.^[4]

In 1999, Towry-Coker was the first Commissioner for Works and Housing in Lagos State.^[2][3][4] He is the author of the book Housing Policy And The Dynamics Of Housing Delivery In Nigeria: Lagos State As Case Study, published by MakeWay Press in 2012.^[9]

Towry-Coker is a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Architects (FNIA) and an Associate of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (ACI.Arb.) in the UK.^[4] In 2017 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, the only Nigerian and one of currently just 30 architects worldwide accorded that honour.^[10]

Personal life

He married Bisi Towry-Coker but they are now separated.^[2][11] He has three children including a son, Olaotan.^[3]

See also

• List of Nigerian architects