Sir James Maude Richards,

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

FRIBA The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

(13 August 1907 – 27 April 1992) was a British architectural writer. James Maude Richards was born in 1907, at Ladypath, Park Lane,

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. His father, Louis Saurin Richards, was a solicitor, and his mother, Lucy Denes (''née'' Clarence), was born in Ceylon, now

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. Educated at

Gresham's School Gresham's School is a private school (English fee-charging boarding and day school) in Holt, Norfolk, England, one of the top thirty International Baccalaureate schools in England. The school was founded in 1555 by Sir John Gresham as a f ...

, Holt, and

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, he trained as an architect at the Architectural Association. He worked at J. Lyons & Co., assisting

Oliver Percy Bernard Oliver Percy Bernard Officer of the Order of the British Empire, OBE Military Cross, MC (8 April 1881 – 15 April 1939) was an English architect, and scenic designer, scenic, graphic design, graphic and industrial designer. He was instrumental ...

, before being sent to work as an architectural assistant for the engineer, Owen Williams. But his main career was as a writer on architecture. As well as publishing many books, he served as editor of the ''

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism � ...

'' from 1937 to 1971, the longest period in office of any of its editors. He had a short, unhappy marriage to artist

Peggy Angus Margaret MacGregor Angus (9 November 1904 – 28 October 1993) was a British painter, designer and teacher. Born in Chile, she spent her career in Britain. Early life Angus was born in Chile on 9 November 1904, in a railway station, the eleve ...

, with whom he had a daughter, Victoria, and a son Angus. The couple married in 1936 and divorced in 1948. In 1954, he married Kit Lewis, also an artist; the couple had one son. He died in

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, on 27 April 1992.

Major publications

* "Towards a Rational Aesthetic: An Examination of the Characteristics of Modern Design with Particular Reference to the Influence of the Machine," in ''Architectural Review'' 77 (1935): 211-18. * ''High Street'' (Country Life, 1938) with illustrations by

Eric Ravilious Eric William Ravilious (22 July 1903 – 2 September 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver. He grew up in Sussex, and is particularly known for his watercolours of the South Downs, Castle Hedingham and othe ...

* ''A Miniature History of the English House'' (Architectural Press, 1938) * ''An Introduction to Modern Architecture'' (Penguin Books, 1940, revised 1953 and 1963) * ''The Castles on the Ground'' (Architectural Press, 1946), 2nd edn with subtitle ''The Anatomy of Suburbia'' (John Murray, 1973) * ''Functional Tradition in Early Industrial Buildings'' (Architectural Press, 1958) * "

Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...

's New Commercial Centre," in ''

'' 130 (August 1961): 104-14. * ''Guide to Finnish Architecture'' (1966) * ''The Anti-rationalists'' (University of Toronto Press, 1973) (ed. with Nikolaus Pevsner) * ''The Professions: Architecture'' (David & Charles, 1974) * ''Provision for the Arts in the Republic of Ireland'' (Gulbenkian Foundation, 1976) * ''Who's Who in Architecture from 1400 to the Present Day'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1977) * ''Eight Hundred Years of Finnish Architecture'' (David & Charles, 1978) * ''Memoirs of an Unjust Fella'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1980) * ''The National Trust Book of English Architecture'' (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1981) * "Marcel Breuer: 1902-81," in ''Architectural Review'' 170, no. 1014 (1981): 69-70. * "Carl Ludwig Engel, Finland's Neo-Classical Master," in ''Architectural Review'' 171, no. 1021 (1982): 52-59. * "Peter Reyner Banham," in ''Architectural Review'' 183, no. 1095 (1988): 9-10.

References

Bibliography

* *Kelly, Jessica (2015). "Vulgar modernism: J.M. Richards, modernism, and the vernacular in British architecture," ''Architectural History'', Vol.58, pp. 229–259 *Kelly, Jessica (2016). "To Fan the Ardour of the Layman: The Architectural Review, The MARS Group and the Cultivation of Middle Class Audiences for Modernism in Britain, 1933-1940," ''Journal of Design History'', Vol.29(4), pp. 350–365

External links

*
James Maude Richards at isbn.pl
1907 births 1992 deaths Knights Bachelor English architecture writers People educated at Gresham's School Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects 20th-century English architects 20th-century English male writers Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire {{England-writer-stub