Transcripts of correspondence from Geoffrey Collens to John Peverley 2
Three letters written by Geoffrey Collens to John Peverley - with footnotes provided by John Peverley in 2021
Geoffrey Collens writing in the early 1960s about his job offers as a newly qualified landscape architect, why Lovejoy associates appealed to him, possible work placements for planners (ie for John Peverley), mutual friends and colleagues from their time as young architects at Basil Spence’s practice, more on Derek Lovejoy
Bexhill Sept 3 1962
I have been meaning to write to you for some time but I waited until I had a reasonable amount to report. As I now have your vast query list and as I fly off to Palma Majorca en route for San Antonio Abad on the island of Ibiza tomorrow it is kinda now or never. I meant to send you a card from Ibiza but you will be of no fixed address at that time so I will not.
I had 6 job offers back here and after negotiations akin to entry to the Common Market, I was inclined towards Lovejoy associates. Derek Lovejoy only set up office (in Caterham Surrey) 3 years ago but now has the largest LA practice in Britain and also does Arch and TP commissions. His biggest commission is for LA to Islamabad being planned by Doxiadis. He wants me to go to Pakistan but I will only join the firm if I stay in England for the time being at any rate – I expect final negotiations to succeed for me to start work on Sept 24th. I don’t much like the idea of living outside London but the chance to get prof LA practice while still doing architectural jobs is too good to miss.
I would probably become an Associate at £1700 a year and share in the profits (Keep these figures confidential, man.), within a few months.
The combination of Architecture and Landscaping in the same office was main aim and several offices could offer me this. Building Design Partnership ((Rock[1] Branch) was a close second to Mr Lovejoy and my joining that firm at a later date can’t be ruled out. I may find D.L.A unsatisfactory – you never know until you try.
Elsewhere I was offered salaries around £1500 and fringe benefits. More commercially inclined offices will pay more than that and these jobs are available everywhere. The most chronic shortage is for landscape architects and many top official posts for them remain unfilled after months of advertising.
Livingstone New Town, Skelmersdale New Town, Basingstoke expanded town (very much like Hook), Graham Shankland (who is replanning central Liverpool) and [W Konrad] Smigielski’s new planning department at Leicester are all after planners and urban designers, so the scope is very considerable.
The ever rising cost of living in the SE make the financial offers more tempting, the further they get away from London.
I am still very tempted to return to the US but I find that at this stage of one’s career the sort of jobs offered are of a senior, permanent nature often leading to Associateship or partnership so one has got to settle one side of the Atlantic sooner or later if one is to get on professionally.
Report on offices
Canonbury – very precious atmosphere. Anthony Blee an Associate. BS [Basil Spence] usually absent.Only barracks and Embassy being done there. Embassy coming on nicely.
[Pier Luigi] Nervi is engineer for it. Roland P [Paoletti] is in Venice studying and will probably be site architect. Brian N [?] still at Canonbury – happily married these days.
Fitzroy Sq
Messrs Bonnington and Collins in full charge of vast planning factory, former is dominant in the organisation. Many old stagers still around. Most work out of control eg parts of Brighton have been given to other architects to do in order to keep up to schedule and still they are behind hand.
AR [Andrew Renton]
Not very busy but good things coming up soon they hope, meanwhile competitions being done. Obviously a top heavy organisation with too many good and senior people for so small a firm. M [Morrice][1] as ever; Ian N [Noble] is back in old window seat doing details!
I have not got round to seeing Messrs Streatfield[2] and Buckhurst[3], but have been to see Messrs Rock, Smart Winchester and Cobb[4] at BDP (Wheatley was on vacation when I called). Rob Smart arrives USA on Oct 1st for 2 month tour on Victory scholarship and Messrs Winchester and Bill Clark are also planning USA trips – so I am always being asked for my biased advice.
Mike Graham is a DLA Associate in the Bournemouth office. Address [ ] Lymington Rd Highcliffe, Christchurch Hants.
The old Streatfield address I know is the one in the [?] ….
I look forward to getting the AJ and the plant charts you are sending – I can probably comment fairly quickly before I get too embedded in work.
Edinburgh was very enjoyable even though the weather was cold and wet.
Well John, fancy you having matrimonial ideas towards Miss B – what next? I guess a lot of us have cause to envy him his good fortune.[5] I am only sorry I didn’t manage to pull off a similar feat while in the US – I can’t remain on the shelf for ever. I shall be interested to hear if he is still going to St Louis.
You still seem to be good at getting places good luck to you Klaus[6] on your tour (say hi! to anyone who knows me, you see in Boston or elsewhere)
Well that will have to be all for the present as I have packing etc to do. I will have to leave to another time my impressions of Britain when seen through the eyes of a semi – tourist. It sure is good to not work for few months – makes you feel very superior to the poor mice in the eternal rat-race who don’t seem to have much time to observe or to think.
Sincerely Geoffrey
Geoffrey A Collens MLA (Pennsylvania) Dipl Arch (Leeds) ARIBA AILA Architect and Landscape Architect
Old Lane Cottage, Stanstead Rd, Caterham, Surrey. 14 May 1963
Dear John
Many thanks for your quite fabulous letter. You will no doubt have heard that Paul[7] has a grant to study precast work in Scandinavia, so we will probably compare notes.
My second hand information on British Council schools to Italy[8] is that supervision is not too heavy and that travel from the University of your choice is quite feasible – bit it is second hand information I am giving you.
I am sorry if I have ruined Al’s plans[9] but realism is essential. I know of 2 clear instances of Americans working in Europe (one UK one Denmark) and in both cases they returned early both sad and penniless. My present salary is £1800 x $2.80 = $5,040. For anyone working here for a limited period only such a salary is VERY rare, except in the most soulless planning factory – especially for someone who is not an architect. Looking for an apartment recently I was offered a new bed-sitter – unfurnished in Croydon at $90 a month exclusive of heat light etc so you can see that prices are rocketing. On the other hand if Al went to Edinburgh salaries are much the same as London but rents are only a fraction – that is if you can stand the cold clammy days! As far as prices compare these – petrol is 55c a gallon an airmail letter costs 16c to mail, train fares are 4c a mile now, Sunday newspapers are up to 6c, a BR [British Rail] cup of coffee is 11c a modest BR train meal costs £1.50 and so on. Honestly you will be amazed – I was – at the steady unending rise in costs. There are some things which are still cheaper here but around London commodity no 1 which is housing is very dear. The new small flats on the Stag Brewery site let at $3000 a year. New Wates detached houses at Dulwich sell at $60,000 each, terrace houses at $36,000 and smallish flats at $28,000. Miserable “Dormy” houses in Caterham sell at $30,000 each! Compared with these, Pei’s Society Hill houses in Phila [Philadelphia] don’t seem bad at $45,000. If you buy a typical basket of goods at a supermarket the price here would only be 10% less than US and for most fruits, fruit juice etc it would be more not less.
Planning here is certainly better and more productive than in USA but it is weakening at the knees on all sides owing to an apathetic government and some very forceful developers. The average standard of architecture is higher here because architects are employed more often.
I must transfer to airmail paper to keep the weight down!
Our office is currently besieged by planners who want to leave local govt for private consultancy – we could get another 10 Associates in the next month, if we wanted them.
I only know about Shankland’s Liverpool job. BDP seem to do buildings only. Comprehensive planning schemes except for Aldershot do not occur in that firm. They are specialising more in on Hospitals.
If Hancock[10] is using your name DLA cannot. I have spoken to Derek and he would like David Crane[11] (and Al?[12]) to write in giving details of their past experience so that we can add them to our list of ‘consultants available for association’ if the job comes off. These already include a county planning officer of high repute. Please ask them to write before May 22nd if they are still interested.
The answer to the Buckhurst party query is S * X. in other words a good old fashioned English type party! Planning my trip is very difficult owing to lack of information from one or two vital quarters and as the money has not yet come thru’ yet. Most likely I will go S to Tennessee and then to Seattle (I heard from Gary[13] in Anchorage!) to Detroit and Boston around Aug 6th. If an office job in the Bahamas comes off I would then go down to Nassau – but that seems very doubtful.
The information you sent was VERY useful. I am writing letters like crazy and have passed the 50 mark. Actually some of the buildings you mentioned such as Earth Sciences is “in situ” I find and Kips Plaza. Nevertheless a useful list t start from. I find that there are more interesting p.c [pre cast] structures within 20 miles of London than all over the US but of course nothing here to the standard of the Phila Police HQ and Ian asakin’s [??][14] “frozen gothic.” I have nevertheless unearthed a SECRET building by SOM (Bunshaft has been seen here!) very similar to the Banque Lambert in Brussells [sic].
I am in touch with the A. Concrete Trust and the Portland Cement Association but they can give no information on things UNDER construction, which of course is the most interesting stage.
Things couldn’t be more busy at present as I try to plan my trip and do office work which includes a shopping centre at Bournemouth, the whole of Basildon Town Park (sod-cutting ceremony last week) and acres of Wates Housing (statue unveiling on one site last week!). I do a planting plan just about every other day at present!
I hope to get a few slides together of new developments over here to show the Americans how modern Britain is but it depends on time and weather conditions! Does Mr Hancock want a landscape Consultant for his Middle East work. We are firmly established in Pakistan and almost certain of getting a war office job in Aden, so we could help him …. Same in Europe I have done a private garden in Rome and the office may be doing all of Gio Ponti’s site planning in Italy - so once again ………….
I will let you know when and if I am arriving in Boston.
Sincerely Geoffrey
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Old Lane Cottage, Stanstead Rd, Caterham, Surrey. 9th April 1963
Dear John
Many thanks for your letter – it may be late but its length makes up for it. Believe it or not but your Christmas card was address-less hence my lack of knowledge of your exact whereabouts!
The Trustees of the Scholarship are the Arthur Louis Aaron VC Memorial Scholarship people who give post graduate scholarships to Leeds graduates only…. All in memory of Mr Aaron killed in the war after starting studying at Leeds. The subject is my own choice (foolish or otherwise). DL was surprised that I managed to get a scholarship to return to somewhere that I had only just left. That goes to show how my smooth talk baffled the jury of 7 into no asking the leading question even though they knew I had been in USA recently.
The scholarship is hardly enough to do a proper job and so I am throwing in the money I would have spent o some Mediterranean jaunt to make 6 weeks possible. I am of course going to study comparable examples here so that I will see both sides of the picture. But although there are many advances here there is nothing yet to compare with the Phila Police Blg – Although AR and Associates[15] and Bob Smart are working up things as good, or nearly so. and there is nothing here to compare in finish [?] with the Denver Hilton and what I hear of the Yamasaki wedding cake at Seattle. Do let me know of anything I can add to my list - mighty soon please.
Could find out for me the three [?] addresses of Minoru Yamasaki, Ming Pei and Gordon Bunshaft of SOM with their appropriate degrees etc.
I hope to get organised quickly in which case I will be over in June – so I hope to see you then (if there is anything precast worth seeing in the Boston area!)
Actually I would throw a word of warning to Al Rattray [Alexander Rattray] about coming here …. There are hundreds of jobs going BUT – the cost of living continues to rise alarmingly and accommodation gets dearer and scarcer everyday especially in the overcrowded SE. in fact it can cost as much to live in London as in New York these days on ½ the salary! Any hope of maintaining US living standards while saving for continental jaunts is just eyewash. Sorry but that’s how it is now!
I apologise unreservedly about the Rattray’s religious affiliations – although I don’t like your use of the word “accusation”. A Jew is as good as a gentile or any other religion as far as I am concerned – some of my best friends are Jews. All I can say is that I passed on (unthinkingly no doubt) a “fact” which seemed to be common (obviously erroneous) knowledge at Penn. SUBJECT NOW CLOSED I HOPE.
So glad your planning job is going well – I hope you can see something achieved on the ground before you leave!
Planning in England is not as good as you hope for the following reasons:-
1. The new towns now approved are much too late in the day and should have followed after the other ones.
2. They are far too near existing cities and will often be more like satellite suburbs than independent units – especially Redditch.
3. The London Plan has many inherent weaknesses in spite of one or two sparks of realism.
4. The Govt is weakening on green belts under the pressure of speculators and developers. The London belt is to be selectively nibbled and several major areas around other towns have been squashed altogether by the Minister.
5. The Beeching Plan threatens total chaos to all conurbations and complete death to N Scotland and all rural communities. It is a real piece of commercial anti-planning.
6. In hundreds of Town centres, compulsory purchase powers are being mis-used by Local Authorities to hand over large cleared sites to the property developer tycoons. This sort of thing is not only undemocratic, but kills off the small trader, favours the multiple stores, the get rich quick speculators and is disastrous to the character of every major town and city. The more intimate the town the greater the disaster of its ‘central development schemes’.
I could go on but it is no use the speculators win everywhere – London skyline, St Paul’s precinct, Georgian Squares - money is the final arbiter of taste.
Thinks – that should make him think!
I couldn’t possibly give you advice on where to work although private practice is booming and more and more local authorities are using planning / architectural / landscaping consultants from outside. Personally I couldn’t stand the local authority “atmosphere” to work. Our office is already preparing an application for Dawley [Shropshire] and so far we haven’t considered using outside consultants, although we will think about it now. Many, many firms are thinking of applying here and I would not personally consider that the chances were very good for any firm unless it had considerable practical planning experience, an established office in Britain and a fairly large staff to cope with the work. I don’t think DLA stand much chance and a consortium of people living outside Britain sounds very dubious to me. We are consulting the TPI re the costing angle as it is very very tricky. I don’t consider it worthwhile forming a private group – the competition from Holford, Max Lock, Jellicoe, Vincent [?] Mathew, [16]Graham Shankland etc would just be too over-powering.
I don’t know anyone going in for the Tel-Aviv competition.
The DLA work has only a smattering of Architecture and planning and every conceivable type of landscape scheme – and the latter are pouring in – we simply can’t catch up and there just don’t seem to be any qualified staff that we can get hold off (landscapers only please!)
Actually DL is maddeningly un thorough and disorganised and this makes working for him both exciting and very maddening. I must say that the prospect of 2 months away from the hurly burly of deadlines to be met, will be a great relief, although the office will probably go to pot while I am away! (and my share of the profits)
We almost want to discourage anyone else joining who is not a pure landscapist – we have enough frustrated Architects and planners. There are a few advantages in being just outside London – no hectic sardine ride to work – fresh air ALL day etc. and of course one can get up to London for evenings (as I do frequently … I am now a “Friend of Covent Garden”’).
I am fighting hard for a London Office but I will settle for the top floor of Europe’s tallest office block shortly to be built in Croydon (more like Manhattan every day!) The Highcliffe office [DLA] does not flourish and MG is not too happy about things
I sure went to the Buddhist party !!......
At that time I heard that the Egypt trip[17] was off owing to the plane people failing – but perhaps they went by another company after all – I have not heard one way or the other.
Well you hope to hear from me soon so that’s your lot – now I must get back to whipping off a few more planting plans.
Sincerely Geoffrey
Will you be in Boston June/July?
Excuse the scrawl - it’s that or nothing these hectic days!
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Postscript and footnotes by John Peverley (23 03 2021)
Geoffrey and I both trained as architects and initially we both worked as architects in architectural practices (ie. we both worked for Basil Spence), but we both studied parallel disciplines, Geoffrey’s was landscape architecture, mine was planning and urban design, and these became our main careers in later life. It’s clear from Geoffrey’s letters, that initially he was keen to work for DLA because it included both architecture and landscape, and at that point it seems that joining DLA was primarily to get his professional practice in landscape and that he still expected to continue his career in architecture.
I guess that as DLA didn’t produce much architecture (I think that’s correct), Geoffrey’s work at DLA was primarily as a landscape architect and that he grew to enjoy that kind of work more and more. It’s difficult to conjecture whether he ever regretted that his career had veered away from architecture.
In 1963, I had several offers to continue working in architecture, but moved into planning and urban design. I’ve often wondered what my life would have been like if I’d stayed in architecture. On reflection, I think being an architect is more creative, demands more hard work and is more stressful, but you do see the results of your work, whereas although there is creativity, hard work and stress in planning, there is generally a much longer time scale involved and less obvious creativity and job satisfaction and less likelihood of seeing a final outcome.
Footnotes
[1] Rock refers to David Rock, architect, employed by Basil Spence in the late ’50’s, later President of the RIBA.
[2] Morrice refers to Ken Morrice, architect, working in the Andrew Renton branch of Basil Spence
[3] David Streatfield, I think we met up when he arrived in America and I think I have a photo of him from that time. From the Wikipedia entry it looks as if he and I might have studied landscape together with Peter Youngman, as he also received a Certificate in Landscape Architecture at the University of London, but I can’t remember if that is so.
[4] Buckhurst refers to Paul Buckhurst. Paul and I studied together in the same year at the Canterbury College of Art, School of Architecture (1953-57). He has lived since the 1960’s in Manhattan and also knew Geoffrey.
[5] Derek Cobb, architect.
[6] In my letter to Geoffrey, I probably bewailed the fact that my flatmate, while I was studying at Harvard, David Owers had married Janet, the Dean’s secretary. David went on to live for a while in St Louis with Janet, before returning to England and working for Leslie Martin.
[7] Klaus Uhlig, a German architect who studied with me at Harvard and with whom I drove round the States in my Austin Mini in the Autumn of 1962, lasting 8 weeks and covering nearly 11,000 miles.
[8] Paul Buckhurst
[9] I was thinking of applying for an Italian Government Scholarship, through the British Council, to study in Italy and was asking Geoffrey for information. I was awarded a Scholarship and lived in Rome from Oct 1963 to Sept 1964, during which time Geoffrey came and stayed with me for a few days.
[10] Al Rattray was asking for information about opportunities for working in England and the cost of living. Al was part of the team that I was working in at the Boston Redevelopment Authority between Nov 1962 to Sept 1963 and I think he may have been part of a team of three of us who submitted an entry in the competition for the Tel Aviv central area in 1963.
[11] Tom Hancock, architect, responsible in the later 1960’s for the Master Plan for the Peterborough Town Expansion.
[12] David A. Crane was in charge of the planning department at the Boston Redevelopment Authority
[13] Al Rattray
[14] Gary Hansen, architect. Similarly to Paul Buckhurst, Gary, Paul and I studied together at Canterbury. He has lived since the 1970’s in Tiburon, San Francisco
[15] The reference to Ian Asakin's might be Geoffrey’s bad writing of Yamasaki, which he mentions in the third letter, below, but I’m not sure.
[16] Andrew Renton
[17] The reference in red to Matthew is probably to Robert Matthew Johnson Marshall
[18] a visit was being organised by Paul Buckhurst for staff at Richard Sheppard’s office where Paul was working. Paul had hired a Dakota aircraft for a trip to Egypt and the Nile, but for some reason, it never happened.