It is with great sadness we learn about the death of Peter Maurice Rich, 1930 – 2018, who passed away after a period of illness on 7 July.
Pete led a wonderful and vibrant life, full of travel, adventure and excitement, whilst also being a top-notch architect. He retained his acute mental sharpness and sense of fun right up until the time of his death.
Pete began his career young, as an office boy at a large Building and Civil Engineering Contractors Company in Central London. At the age of fifteen, he began attending evening classes at the Regent Street Polytechnic and gained a Higher National Certificate in Building.
Between the ages of eighteen and twenty Pete spent nearly two years in the army as a national conscript. On leaving the army Pete worked as a junior assistant for an architect for one year before emigrating first to Canada and then to the US. In 1954, he was offered a position at Skidmore Owings and Merrill in New York. In 1955 Pete returned to England.
After a period of work at George Wimpey, Pete decided that being a senior technician was not enough for him. His work in America had convinced him that he could be an architect. His quest to qualify began. He fought hard and was rewarded by a place in the Architectural Association School of Architecture in 1958.
The five years of full time education, between the ages of twenty-eight and thirty-two, was regarded by Pete as the turning point in his life. He enjoyed the company of his fellow students and teachers, and absorbed everything that the school offered him. Lifelong friendships were made and Pete graduated with honours, a very proud moment for him.
Pete held every post in the Students Union at the AA, and following graduation he was voted onto the Architectural Association’s Board of Governors as the students’ representative. He served in this role for many years, and on retirement Pete was awarded a life membership of the Association for services rendered.
Pete’s life as a qualified architect began in 1962 when he was offered work by the then head of the Architectural Association, Bill Allen, and subsequently he joined the architectural practice of Associated Architects and Consultants. There, Pete worked on large-scale social housing schemes.
Pete resigned from the partnership in 1972, and lectured at both the Bartlett School of Architecture and at the (then) Polytechnic of North London. Eventually Pete switched to being a full time lecturer at the Polytechnic of North London and he developed a BSc Architecture course for mature part time students. By 1978 Pete was the course lecturer for both the full and part-time BSc courses.
Pete enjoyed a gradual retirement over twelve years from full-time to three days to two days to one to half a day per week.
