William Holford, Baron Holford

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William Graham Holford, Baron Holford FRIBA (born March 22, 1907 in Johannesburg , South Africa ; † October 17, 1975 in London , England ) was a British architect , urban planner and university lecturer who was a member of the Life Peerage Act 1958 as a Life Peer House of Lords was.

Life

Studied and professor at the University of Liverpool

After attending Diocesan College in Cape Town, Holford began studying architecture at the chair of Charles Herbert Reilly at the University of Liverpool , from which he graduated in 1930 with honors. He then completed a study visit to the British School at Rome with financial support through a scholarship , where he dealt in particular with the architecture of squares and urban planning in Italy . There he met Marjorie Banks, who was also studying wall painting in Rome with the support of a scholarship , and married her in 1933.

On his return to Great Britain, Holford, who became an associate member of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1932 , became a lecturer at the University of Liverpool in 1933 and treasurer of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1935. After completing his diploma in urban planning with honors, he completed a study visit to the USA with financial support from the University of Liverpool .

In 1937, on his return, he took over the professorship for urban and regional planning at the University of Liverpool as the successor to Patrick Abercrombie . During the Second World War , Holford led a group of architects on behalf of the government who designed the designs for arms stores, barracks and ammunition factories. At the same time he became a member of the Royal Fine Art Commission in 1943, to which he belonged until 1969.

Post-war period, professorship at UCL and urban planning concepts

After the end of the war, he was one of the leading figures in the development of post-war urban planning and as such made a significant contribution to the design of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947 .

In 1948 Holford succeeded Patrick Abercrombie again, this time as Professor of Urban Planning at University College London (UCL), where he taught until his retirement and subsequent replacement by Richard Llewelyn-Davies, Baron Llewelyn-Davies in 1970. At the same time he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1948 .

Since the 1950s he designed some important urban planning concepts such as 1950 for Cambridge and in 1950 and 1951 for the City of London . He was then Vice President of the Royal Institute of British Architects from 1951 to 1952 and President of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI) between 1953 and 1954. In 1953 he also became a member of the Historic Buildings Council, which was newly created on the basis of the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953 .

In 1956, Holford, who was beaten to a Knight Bachelor degree in 1953 and henceforth the suffix "Sir", began developing a plan for the redesign of Paternoster Square north of St Paul's Cathedral . Based on these plans, the area between Cathedral and Newgate Street , which was destroyed during the air raids by the German Air Force called The Blitz in World War II, was redesigned from 1961 to 1967.

He was supported by the government in mid-1950s Australia requested an investigation into the planning and development of Canberra perform that on the global economic crisis had suffered the 1930s, the effects of the Second World War and the economic constraints of the post-war period. His report led to the creation of the National Capital Development Commission (NCDC), which oversaw Canberra's development between 1957 and 1989. His report led to the development of Canberra into a city with suburbs dominated by car commuters based on the British concept of the British New Towns . He also remained an advisor to the NCDC until 1970.

In 1962, Holford, who was President of the Royal Institute of British Architects between 1960 and 1962 and became an associate member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1961 , presented a plan to transform Piccadilly Circus into two levels. Pedestrian traffic should take place in a second ring above ground level traffic. This concept was discussed until the end of the 1960s, but was ultimately abandoned as the plan only provided for a traffic increase of 20 percent, while the government called for a possible traffic increase of 50 percent.

House of Lords

Through a letters patent dated January 29, 1965, Holford, who was awarded the Royal Gold Medal in 1963 , was raised to the nobility and under the Life Peerages Act 1958 as a life peer with the title Baron Holford , of Kemp Town in the County of Sussex belonged to the House of Lords as a member until his death.

Baron Holford, who had received honorary doctorates from the University of Liverpool (Hon. LL.D.) and the University of Durham (Hon. DCL.), Became a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1968. On behalf of the government of South Africa , he also designed a regional plan for Durban in 1968 . In 1969 he held after the evolutionary biologist George Romanes named Romanes Lecture in the Sheldonian Theater of the University of Oxford on A World of Room .

After completing his teaching activities at the University College of London, he founded an architecture and town planning office in Edinburgh in 1970 , in which the Scottish architects Kenneth Waltham Whitfield and Graeme Gibson Dobson were among his partners.

In addition, he has been involved since 1972 as director of the Leverhulme Trust Fund , a foundation for science and research, founded in 1925 by William Lever, 1st Viscount Leverhulme . He was also appointed chairman of the Bath Planning Committee set up by the Ministry of the Environment in 1974.

Publications

  • Civic design: An inquiry into the scope end nature of town planning , 1949
  • Proposals for the development of a site for the University of Liverpool , 1949
  • Cambridge planning proposals: A report to the Town and Country Planning Committee of the Cambridgeshire County , 1950
  • The city of London: A record of destruction and survival, the building development of the City, the damage suffered in the years 1940–1945, and the proposals for reconstruction as incorporated in the final report of the planning consultants , 1951
  • Design in town and village , 1953
  • Report to the Court of Common Council of the Corporation of the City of London on the precincts of St. Paul's , 1956
  • Observations on the future development of Canberra, ACT: made at the request of the Commonwealth Government , 1958
  • Brasilia , 1961
  • Power production and transmission in the countryside: preserving amenities , co-author Christopher Hinton , 1960
  • An advisory report on the landscape of the Canberra Lake Scheme with special reference to the central basin and its surroundings , 1961
  • Piccadilly Circus, future development: Proposals for comprehensive development , 1962
  • The city and the farm , 1964
  • The built environment: its creation, motivations, and control , 1965
  • A review by Lord Holford on the growth of Canberra, 1958-1965 and 1965-1972 , 1965
  • The growth of Canberra: 1958-1965 and 1965-1972 , 1966
  • Piccadilly Circus and the new London Pavilion , 1966
  • Durban 1985: a plan for central Durban in its regional setting , 1968
  • Report to the Common Council of the Corporation of London on the area south and west of St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London , 1968
  • Preservation and prejudice , 1970
  • The architect and power engineering , 1971
  • Our heritage of landscape & building: How much can we afford to preserve? 1975

Web links

Life

Publications

Individual evidence

  1. ^ William Graham Holford - papers [M1945–1948 , 1948–1974 ] (State Library of New South Wales )
personal data
SURNAME Holford, William, Baron Holford
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Holford, William Graham, Baron Holford, of Kemp Town in the County of Sussex (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British architect, urban planner and university professor
DATE OF BIRTH March 22, 1907
PLACE OF BIRTH Johannesburg , South Africa
DATE OF DEATH 17th October 1975
Place of death London , England