Maurice Edward Mahoney (1929 – 31 October 2018) was a New Zealand architect.

Early life

Mahoney was born in 1929 in Plaistow in the south-east of London to working class parents, Doris and Ernest Mahoney. The family came to New Zealand when Mahoney was 10 via one of the last passenger ships that would leave Europe after the outbreak of

World War II 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 ...

. They settled in the

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

suburb of

Sydenham Sydenham may refer to: Places Australia * Sydenham, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney ** Sydenham railway station, Sydney * Sydenham, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne ** Sydenham railway line, the name of the Sunbury railway line, Melbourne un ...

. In his early 20s, his family moved to

Opawa Opawa (; ) is an inner residential suburb of Christchurch, New Zealand. It is located approximately south-east of the city centre. Prior to European settlement, much of the area consisted of marshlands and mixed-use vegetation. By the 185 ...

Professional career

The Mahoney family could not afford to send their son to university, and it took him 12 years to achieve an architectural degree alongside full-time work in architectural practices. Mahoney first met

Miles Warren Sir Frederick Miles Warren (10 May 1929 – 9 August 2022) was a New Zealand architect. He apprenticed under Cecil Wood before studying architecture at the University of Auckland, eventually working at the London County Council where he was ...

(1929–2022) when they were 16. In 1958, they formed the architectural practice of

Warren and Mahoney Warren and Mahoney is an international architectural and interior design practice - one of the few third generation architectural practices in the history of New Zealand architecture. It is a highly awarded architectural practice, with office ...

. The two architects were like "chalk and cheese" according to Mahoney's daughter, and this is why the company was so successful. Warren had the ideas, was the orator, and sought publicity, while Mahoney worked out the details in the backroom and made things work. Warren himself stated that they worked well together "because each of us supplied what the other lacked". The Christchurch architectural historian Jessica Halliday described Mahoney as a "giant of New Zealand architecture".

Awards

In the

2010 Birthday Honours The 2010 Birthday Honours for the Commonwealth realms were announced to celebrate the Queen's Birthday on 7 June 2010 in New Zealand, on 12 June 2010 in the United Kingdom, The Bahamas, Grenada, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Sai ...

, Mahoney was appointed an Officer of the

New Zealand Order of Merit The New Zealand Order of Merit () is an order of merit in the New Zealand royal honours system. It was established by royal warrant (document), royal warrant on 30 May 1996 by Elizabeth II, Monarchy of New Zealand, Queen of New Zealand, "for th ...

for services to architecture. In 2017, he was made the inaugural distinguished fellow of the

New Zealand Institute of Architects Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) is a membership-based professional organisation that represents approximately 90 per cent of registered architects in Aotearoa New Zealand and supports and promotes architecture in ...

Personal life

After moving to Opawa in the 1950s, he married his neighbour Margaret in 1960. They were to have three daughters and one son. Mahoney died on 31 October 2018 at Nurse Maude Hospice in

. He was survived by his wife and their children. His service was held at St Barnabas Church.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mahoney, Maurice 1929 births 2018 deaths 20th-century New Zealand architects 21st-century New Zealand architects Architects from Christchurch People from the London Borough of Bromley