Martin Julius Frishman was born in Belgium in 1936, to the renowned print-maker and sculptor, Margret Kroch-Frishman, and the artist and photographer Marcel Frishman – both of whom had fled from Berlin following Hitler’s accession to the Chancellorship in 1933. The family’s Belgian visas ran out in 1939, and they were forced to return to Germany, but managed immediately to enter France and succeeded in taking a boat from Toulon to Melbourne, Australia. In 1951, Martin and his parents immigrated to the UK, living initially at the Abbey Arts Centre, New Barnet, before moving to a flat in Gerald Street, Belgravia, beneath Noel Coward’s apartments. Martin enrolled at the Regent Street Polytechnic, London, where he studied architecture, and in 1956 is recorded as joining the Architectural Association’s 6-month post-graduate course in the Department of Tropical Architecture. Following graduation in 1957, Frishman appears to have formed a number of partnerships, including that of Frishman Spyer Associates, who were active in the 1960s and built a number of respected private houses and offices – and worked as supervising architects for Marcel Breuer’s Torin Building, in Swindon (1965). Latterly, he practiced as Frishman Rogers, during 1970s –their housing at Auden Place Camden, featured in Building magazine of April, 1976.

Alongside his practice, Frishman retained a connection with architectural education, serving as an AA Council member from 1977 and Vice-President in 1984-85 (a role resigned in protest against the policies of the then AA Chairman Alvin Boyarsky). He also taught at University College London and was co-editor of the seminal study ‘The Mosque: History, Architectural Development and Regional Diversity’ (1994).

Sources

• Architectural Association Student Register 1945-1972, AA Archives
• Department of Tropical Architecture, student listing, Otto Koenigsberger Collection, Box OK27, AA Archives
• Architectural Association Council Minutes, 1977-1985. AA Archives
• Architectural Association Membership List, 1961
• Building, Vol. 230, No.6932(18), April 30th, 1976, p55-58
• Cantos, R. ‘Art on the Wire’, retrieved 8th February 2025. https://inexpensiveprogress.com/5425/art-on-the-wire/