John Penn (11 March 1921 – 14 February 2007) was a

modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

British architect. He gained notability, and is best remembered, for the nine "temple-form" houses that he built in Suffolk between 1962 and 1969.In recent years these houses have been referred to as "Gold Dust".

Early life and education

Penn was educated at Eton, and then at Trinity College, Cambridge. He studied History at Cambridge, and his studies were interrupted when he served in the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. During his time in the military, he won the

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

for bravery.

Career

He spent some time in the United States with

Richard Neutra Richard Joseph Neutra ( ; 8 April 1892 – 16 April 1970) was an Austrian-American architect. Living and building for most of his career in Southern California, he came to be considered a prominent and important modernist architect. His most ...

and his buildings were influenced by the

Case Study Houses The Case Study Houses were experiments in American residential architecture sponsored by '' Arts & Architecture'' magazine, which commissioned major architects of the day to design and build inexpensive and efficient model homes for the United Sta ...

. His work includes a factory, and a pavilion for

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a Colleges of the University of Cambridge, constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any ...

, and several private houses in

Suffolk Suffolk ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and East Anglia. It is bordered by Norfolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Essex to the south, and Cambridgeshire to the west. Ipswich is the largest settlement and the county ...

Artist

As an artist, Penn was greatly influenced by Rothko and American Abstract Expressionism. He first exhibited in San Francisco in 1952; in succeeding years, his work could be seen at one-man shows at various galleries in London and Suffolk.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Penn, John 1921 births 2007 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Architects from Northamptonshire