News and Events
Gavin Stamp (1948-2017).
Gavin Stamp, who died on 30th December 2017, gave the plenary lecture at the project conference on Architecture, Diplomacy and National Identity held at the British School at Rome in 2008. Invited to speak on the topic of Lutyens and Spence, he rose to the challenge with gusto and his lecture provided a wonderfully erudite and engaging start to the conference. (see Conferences: Rome for the text) Gavin proved a stimulating and congenial companion for the next two days of papers and visits before he was whisked off to L’Acquila by his former student Andrew Hopkins.
Gavin recently wrote in his Private Eye column about the Foreign Office’s ill-advised proposal to sell Spence’s Rome Embassy building. Gavin never hesitated to blow the whistle on such projects and warn of the adverse consequences - for architecture, people, and cities - of uncontrolled property development. His death represents a huge loss to architectural history and the conservation movement.
Nigel Grimwade (1930-2015).
Grimwade worked first at the Canonbury atelier and then at 1 Fitzroy Square, where he and Francis MacKenzie assisted Gordon Collins in realising the first buildings at the new University of Sussex, namely Falmer House, the Physics Building and the Biology Building. After Sussex, he worked with Collins and Francis MacKenzie on the design of the Salters Hall in the City of London.
A very modest man but at the same time lively, engaging and of great personal charm, Grimwade took part in the 2008 conference Sir Basil Spence re-viewed: the architect and his office. He gave generously of his time to describe the way in which Modular Concrete (a division of Wates) set up a casting yard on site to make the thin vaults and curved edge beams which gave the buildings of the first phase of Sussex University a distinctive architectural character and superb standards of finish. This amounted to an almost craftsman-like approach to concrete. Grimwade also underlined the role of Collins at Sussex and the importance of the Spence Bonnington & Collins office in bringing to completion the teaching buildings at Sussex, Southampton and Exeter University. These insights enriched the AHRC team’s understanding of the overall organisation of the Spence practice and helped to inform the chapters about the history of the office and about English university design in our book Basil Spence buildings and projects.
After Collins’ retirement in 1972, and Jack Bonnington’s move to Tyttenhanger House, Grimwade left the practice. Latterly he worked for the Brown Matthews Partnership in Warwick, where among other projects he was responsible for detailing the new Cathedral Library at York Minster.
He was a keen photographer, and in 2008 produced a box of slides documenting the early stages of building Sussex University, and an office outing to Spence’s weekend house at Beaulieu in the 1960s. These will eventually be passed to the Sussex Special Collections and RCAHMS.
Geoffrey Clarke (1924-2014).
Roland Paoletti (1931-2013).
Roland Paoletti died in November 2013 at the age of 82. He worked for Basil Spence as an assistant in 1958-9 and again in 1963-70, helping with designs for Sussex University and the British Embassy in Rome.
The long interview he gave to Louise Campbell and Miles Glendinning in 2006 helped to inform Glendinning's chapter on the Rome Embassy in Basil Spence Buildings and Projects.
Andrew Saint's obituary of Paoletti for the Guardian was published on 21 December.