Peter Yates (architect)
Peter Yates (19 July 1920 – 16 November 1982) was a British born artist and architect. Yates was best known for his partnership with Gordon Ryder in the North of England architectural firm, Ryder and Yates. Biography. Early life and education. Peter Yates was born in Leytonstone, East London in 1920. He was attracted to the visual arts at an early age, winning a painting competition in "Chicks' Own" in 1925. Whilst at Wanstead School from September 1934 to July 1936, he painted a mural, "Events at Sea". Peter worked as a furniture and model maker during 1937  before attending the London Polytechnic School of Architecture, studying under Sir Hubert Bennett, Peter Moro and Robin Day from January 1938 to April 1941. Career. War years. Peter Yates served as a fireman on the St Paul's Watch in early 1941, during which he painted Wren's churches during the London Blitz. He met the antiquary and architectural historian, Gerald Cobb, while drawing in Ludgate Circus and they became lifelong friends. Peter joined the RAF in July 1941 and was stationed in Wales and Ireland before going to Versailles in 1944 with the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces. Peter  Yates lived in Paris following the war where he met many artists and writers, including Georges Braque, , , Juliette Gréco, , Gertrude Stein, Alice Toklas, Andre L'Hote, Sylvia Beach and Le Corbusier. Early practice. Peter Yates and Clive Entwistle were invited to work on plans for a new UNO building in New York by Le Corbusier. Pyramid Project for the New Crystal Palace with Clive Entwhistle at Ove Arup's office, Soho 1947. Masterplan for Peterlee new town with Berthold Lubetkin in 1948 (where Peter Yates first met Gordon Ryder). Peter Yates returned to Paris in 1950 as Chief Designer at "Unité  d’Informations Visuelles", a commercial art studio located in the Old Alhambra night club in the gardens of the Champs Élysées. From here, he contributed to exhibitions across Europe. These included Europa Zug and Atoms for Peace. (Here, Peter collaborated with from whom Ryder and Yates later commissioned murals for Norgas House, Killingworth). Ryder and Yates. In 1953, after a chance meeting in London, Peter Yates moved to Newcastle upon Tyne to form an architectural practice with Gordon Ryder. Initial work included exhibition design and soon progressed onto a series of private domestic architectural commissions. A new multidisciplinary approach which included  engineers fuelled their progress. Their buildings were highly regarded. Large scale commissions for industrial complexes for British Gas, Sterling Organics and others followed. Social projects in Newcastle and Sunderland for the Salvation Army, a large social housing project in Kenton as well as various local government and healthcare projects. Ryder and Yates' extensive portfolio of acclaimed buildings won numerous architectural awards over the following three decades from their inception in 1953. 'Ryder and Yates were Lubetkin's sole professional heirs – a legacy mutually recognised – and their work is a compelling reminder of Lubetkin's lesson that the poetic and the  rational were inextricable impulses in modern architecture's original vision.' John Allan, Director of Avanti Architects. A book about Ryder and Yates was published as part of the RIBA 20th Century Architects series. Notable Ryder and Yates buildings include: Marriage and children. Peter Yates married musician Helen Maud Southgate from New Zealand in 1958 and had five children. Helen died in 1972. Peter married his second wife Gillian Jessica Eden in 1976. Gillian died in 2015. Death and afterward. Peter Yates died in 1982. Influences. Peter's main influences were Le Corbusier and Berthold Lubetkin. Other influences were though his  friendships with Austin Wright, Kenneth Rowntree and Diana Rowntree, Dennis Flanders and others. Peter Yates nominated and successfully campaigned for Berthold Lubetkin to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, 1982 Peter Yates curated an exhibition of Le Corbusier Lithographs at the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull in 1976 Murals. Like Le Corbusier before him, Peter Yates hand painted murals in many buildings. Printed murals also appeared in several commercial interiors. Public : Bevin Court, London; "Lake with Dragonflies", Lloyds Bank, The Citadel, Killingworth; Northern Rock Building Society, Newcastle upon Tyne; Martin's Bank (now Lloyds Bank) interior, Priestpopple, Hexham; Lettering  in grey, white and black, R.H. Patterson, Ford Main Dealer; "Nonsuch Palace", Linden Hall, Northumberland; Miner's Cafeteria, Peterlee; "Time", The Golden Egg Restaurant, Newcastle upon Tyne; "The Italian Mural", Castle Eden; "Shadows on the Wall", Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne; "Carbon Molecular Structures", Sterling Organics Reception, Dudley; "Origins of Gas, Gas Rig", Norgas House (Pierre Boucher); "Processions of Shells", Beacon House Lobby, Whitley Bay; "Flags", Tynemouth Sailing Club, Tynemouth. Domestic : Grand Parade, Tynemouth; Trees, Woolsington; Scotby, Cumbria. Exhibitions. One man exhibitions:<BR> 1975 Ultramarinos, Colbert Gallery, Durham<BR> 1976 England! Colbert Gallery, London<BR> 1978  England 2, Downstairs Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne<BR> 1979 Central Sea Paintings of the Mediterranean, Downstairs Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne<BR> 1982 Paris! Pen Gallery, Blackheath, London<BR> 1982 The Lakes Bridge House Gallery, Coniston<BR> 1982 Cyclops Rock, Paintings of England, France, Spain, Italy and Greece Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne<BR> 1983 Peter Yates Retrospective, Durham Light Infantry, Durham <BR> 1985 England, France and Cyclops Rock, RIBA, London <BR> 2010 Peter Yates British Landscapes, Margaret Howell, London <BR> 2015 Peter Yates Paintings  1939-1982, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne Group exhibitions:<BR> Whitechapel Art Gallery (1942, 1943)<BR> The Essex Art Club (1944, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)<BR> Royal Academy (1943)<BR> Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours / Royal Watercolour Society (1943, 1944, 1946, 1982)<BR> Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead<BR> Royal Institute of British Architects (1946)<BR> Durham Images. Colbert Gallery, Durham<BR> Wallsend Arts Centre<BR> Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne<BR> RIBA NE Reinvigorating the Region (2010) Works in private collections in Great Britain, Europe, USA and New Zealand  Further reading. Peter Yates – Le Corbusier, A Personal Appreciation, Northern Architect, September 1965<BR> Peter Yates – RIBA Lecture, Architects approach to Architecture, 4 November 1975<BR> Stephen Gardiner – Proclaiming the Winner : Call for more Architectural Competitions, Observer Review, 28 November 1976<BR> Peter Yates – Ideas, Northern Architect, January 1976<BR> Stephen Gardiner – V for Vickers, Observer Review, 1982<BR> Stephen Gardiner – Yates on View, Observer, 22 September 1985<BR> Allan, J. (1992) Bertold Lubetkin: Architecture and the tradition of progress, RIBA Publications, pp. 449–518. <BR> A.  Peter Fawcett – Learning from Le Corbusier and Lubetkin: the work of Ryder and Yates. The Journal of Architecture, Volume 6, Issue 3 September 2001, pages 225 – 248 <BR> Rutter Carroll – The Architecture of Ryder and Yates, The Twentieth Century Society, Spring 2004 Newsletter<BR> Rutter Carroll – Ryder and Yates (RIBA Publications and the 20th Century Society, 2009)