British architect and illustrator Roderick Eustace Enthoven was born in Seal, Kent, England, on May 30, 1900. He studied at Clifton College and then at the Architectural Association School, London, from 1919 until 1924. He became an associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1925 and later fellow in 1932. In 1926, he began teaching at the Architectural Association School. That year, he also became a partner in Pakington, Enthoven and Grey. He remained in partnership with Humphrey Pakington until war broke out in 1939.

In 1940, Enthoven began serving as a civil camouflage officer at the Air Ministry before commissioning into the British Army as a second lieutenant and was soon promoted to the rank of captain to serve as a British MFAA officer in Italy. In August 1944, he was assigned to the MFAA Subcommission’s headquarters but arrived in Tuscany to assist in the inspection and inventorying of the repositories in and around Florence. He was later transferred to the Piemonte and Venezia regions over the course of 1945. In Florence, he helped officials select an architect to replace the Ponte della Vittoria and assisted in the return of Giambologna’s sixteenth-century bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I alongside fellow Monuments Man Captain Deane Keller. The massive statue made its way to its former position in the Piazza della Signoria by way of rollers, levers, and ropes while local Florentines, joyous at the prospect of peace, heralded the statue’s return in the streets.

In May 1946, Enthoven presented a lecture detailing his personal experiences saving artwork and monuments in Italy to the Architectural Association. The Association published it in their journal as “Architectural Journey in War-Time Italy” soon after. That year, he returned home and was appointed librarian at the Royal Institute of British Architects before returning to private practice and his own firm in 1948. His practice oversaw major building projects such as the extensions at City of London College, Goldsmiths’ College and Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford. He also served as the president of the Architectural Association in 1948, vice-president of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1951 until 1953, and chairman of the Education Board from 1956 to 1958. He was named master of the Art Workers Guild in 1976.

He died in London on November 24, 1985.