John Keiser Rauch Jr. (October 23, 1930 – August 16, 2022) was an American architect. He was a co-founder of the firm Venturi, Rauch & Scott Brown, with

Robert Venturi Robert Charles Venturi Jr. (June 25, 1925 – September 18, 2018) was an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates. Together with his wife and partner, Denise Scott Brown, he helped shape the way that ...

and

Denise Scott Brown Denise Scott Brown (née Lakofski; born October 3, 1931) is an American architect, planner, writer, educator, and principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates in Philadelphia. Early life and education Born to Jewish parents Simon a ...

Early life and education

John K. Rauch Jr. was born on October 23, 1930, in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

. In 1948, he graduated from Lower Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mount Holly. As a young man, Rauch helped his father in building a log cabin in Medford Lakes. This and other work in construction as a teenager inspired his interest in architecture and construction as an adult. Rauch attended

Wesleyan University Wesleyan University ( ) is a Private university, private liberal arts college, liberal arts university in Middletown, Connecticut, United States. It was founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the Methodi ...

for two years. In 1951, he left and joined the Army where he served as a military policeman. Rauch graduated from the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (Penn or UPenn) is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. One of nine colonial colleges, it was chartered in 1755 through the efforts of f ...

with a BA in Architecture in 1958.

Career

In the summer of 1956, Rauch worked as a draftsman at an architectural firm in

Pennsauken, New Jersey Pennsauken Township is a township in Camden County, in the Philadelphia Metropolitan Area in the U.S. state of New Jersey, and it is located outside of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, which it borders directly on the Delaware River. As of the 202 ...

. In the summer of 1957, he worked for an architect in Ocean City, New Jersey. In 1958, Rauch moved to Philadelphia for fulltime employment at the firm of Cope & Lippincott, where he worked from 1958 to 1961. In 1961, he joined the firm Venturi & Short in Philadelphia. In 1964, Rauch and Robert Venturi founded the firm of Venturi & Rauch. Rauch and Venturi designed the influential

Vanna Venturi House The Vanna Venturi House, one of the first prominent works of the postmodern architecture movement, is located in the neighborhood of Chestnut Hill, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Chestnut Hill in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was designed by arch ...

and Fire Station #4. Brown joined the firm in 1969. Rauch was instrumental in the selection of educational institution commissions for Yale, Princeton, and Ohio State University. He helped design and realize Guild House (1964), the

Institute for Scientific Information The Institute for Scientific Information (ISI) was an academic publishing service, founded by Eugene Garfield in Philadelphia in 1956. ISI offered scientometric and bibliographic database services. Its specialty was citation indexing and analysis, ...

headquarters (1979), and the Trubek and Wislocki Houses (1971). Rauch House 2

Rauch resigned as partner in 1987. He consulted for the firm in 1988 and 1989. In retirement, Rauch painted regularly, focusing on landscapes. After his death, he was called “one of the unsung heroes of postwar American architecture” by the ''

Architectural Record ''Architectural Record'' is a US-based monthly magazine dedicated to architecture and interior design. Its editor in chief is Josephine Minutillo. ''The Record'', as it is sometimes colloquially referred to, is widely-recognized as an important ...

''.

Awards and honors

In 1992, Rauch received the John Frederick Harbeson Award from the Philadelphia chapter of the

American Institute of Architects The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C. AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach progr ...

Personal life

Rauch married Carol Pfaff in 1953. They had three sons and two daughters. They divorced in 1977. In 1981, he married Carol McConochie. Rauch died aged 91 on August 16, 2022, in West Chester.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rauch, John 1930 births 2022 deaths Architects from Philadelphia University of Pennsylvania School of Design alumni 20th-century American architects