Howard Robertson (architect)
Sir Howard Morley Robertson MC RA (16 August 1888 – 5 May 1963) was an American-born British architect, President of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1952 to 1954 and a Royal Academician.
Life
Born on 16 August 1888 in Salt Lake City, Utah, United States,[1] Robertson trained at the Architectural Association School of Architecture, from which he graduated in 1907, and also in the United States and Paris.[2]
In 1919, with John Murray Easton, he formed the partnership of Easton & Robertson, which continued until 1931, and was also a principal of the Architectural Association from 1920 to 1935.[2]
With Le Corbusier, Oscar Niemeyer, Sven Markelius, and others, Robertson was a member of the 'distinguished committee' which designed the United Nations Headquarters (1947-1952) in New York, using reinforced concrete, glass curtain walls, and aluminium.[2][3]
Robertson was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy on 22 April 1949 and a Royal Academician on 24 April 1958.[1] He was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1952 to 1954. In that role, his portrait was painted by Rodrigo Moynihan.[4]
He died on 5 May 1963.[1]
Work
Robertson's notable buildings include the Metropolitan Water Board Laboratories, in London (1938), in which he paid tribute to the work of Erich Mendelsohn, and the Bank of England Printing Works at Loughton in Essex (1956). His Shell Centre (also called the Upstream Building, 1961), at Waterloo, London, was so high that it caused planning arguments, while its Art Deco style was unwelcome to other architects, who considered it out of keeping with the Modernism of other large new buildings in the neighbourhood.[2]
Notes
- ^ a b c Sir Howard Robertson, R.A. at racollection.org.uk, accessed 26 May 2011
- ^ a b c d 'Sir Howard Robertson, Graduated AA 1907', in AA Alumni RIBA Gold Medal Winners at aaschool.ac.uk, accessed 26 May 2011
- ^ The Story of United Nations Headquarters at un.org, accessed 26 May 2011
- ^ Sir Howard Robertson at ribapix.com, accessed 26 May 2011
External links
- RAA/LIB/2/137 Sir Howard Robertson, member's file 1949 at racollection.org.uk