Peter Blake Papers, 1943-1979

Peter Blake was a noted architect and author of architectural publications. He was associated with "Architectural Forum," a leading and influential journal, from 1942 to 1972, as a contributing author, associate editor, managing editor, and as its editor in chief, a position he held from 1964 to 1972. From 1955 to 1957 he was the architecture editor of "House and Home." He also was chief publisher of "Architecture Plus" from 1972-1975. He was the author of more than 15 books including “The Master Builders: Le Corbusier, Mies van der Rohe, Frank Lloyd Wright,” which was published in 1960 and became a standard textbook in architecture programs, and “God’s Own Junkyard: the Planned Deterioration of America’s Landscape” that was published in 1964. He also wrote books about the architecture of several noted architects including Ulrich Franzen, Philip Johnson, Harry Seidler, Arthur Erickson, and Edward Larrabee Barnes. Blake was noted for his critical nature of modern architecture, which he wrote numerous articles about and also authored a book in 1978 titled, “Form Follows Fiasco: Why Modern Architecture Hasn’t Worked.” Blake also was a professional architect and was associated with numerous architects in the 1950s including Julian Neski and James Baker. He designed about 50 buildings during the span of his career. Other positions he held in his career include being the curator of the Architecture and Design unit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City from 1948-1950, serving as chairman of the Boston Architectural Center, School of Architecture in the 1970s, and serving as department chair and instructor at the Department of Architecture and Planning at Catholic University from 1979 to 1991. Peter Blake was born on September 20, 1920, in Berlin, Germany. He attended the University of London where he earned a math degree in 1938. He also studied at the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture in London in 1939. He then immigrated to the United States. He received a scholarship to the School of Architecture of the University of Pennsylvania in 1941. He became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1944 and enlisted in the U.S. Army where he served in Europe. He was in the Army until 1947 at which time he went to New York City and settled in Long Island. He then received an architecture degree from Pratt Institute in Brooklyn in 1949. Considered among his friends and colleagues were renowned architects Phillip Johnson, Frank Lloyd Wright, Paul Rudolph, Eero Saarinen, and Buckminster Fuller and artist Jackson Pollack. He died on December 5, 2006 in Connecticut.