Harold Arthur Turbott (16 December 1930 – 4 March 2016) was a New Zealand architect and landscape architect. He was the first New Zealander to gain a university degree in landscape architecture.

Early life and education

Turbott was born on 16 December 1930, the son of doctor Harold Bertram Turbott and Eveline Lilian Turbott (née Arthur). His first job was as an office boy for the

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

architectural practice,

Gummer and Ford Gummer and Ford was an architectural firm founded in 1923 in Auckland, New Zealand, by William Gummer and Charles Reginald Ford. It was among the country's best-regarded architectural firm of the first half of the 20th century, designing numer ...

, and he subsequently studied architecture at

Auckland University College , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, graduating in 1954. He was awarded a

Fulbright scholarship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States Cultural Exchange Programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people of ...

and went to

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, where he became the first New Zealander to complete a degree in

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

—a Master of Landscape Architecture supervised by

Hideo Sasaki Hideo Sasaki (25 November 1919 – 30 August 2000) was a Japanese American landscape architect. Biography Hideo Sasaki was born in Reedley, California, on 25 November 1919. He grew up working on his family's California truck farm, and harvestin ...

. He then spent 16 months working for

Dan Kiley Daniel Urban Kiley (2 September 1912 – 21 February 2004) was an American landscape architect, who worked in the style of modern architecture. Kiley designed over one-thousand landscape projects including Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis ...

on projects including the Independence Mall in Philadelphia, before returning to New Zealand in 1960.

Career

Turbott practised as an architect and landscape architect, often combining the two disciplines in his projects. As an architect, Turbott is best known for the Becroft house (1962–64) in

Takapuna Takapuna is a suburb located on the North Shore of Auckland, New Zealand. The suburb is situated at the beginning of a south-east-facing peninsula forming the northern side of the Waitematā Harbour. While very small in terms of population, it ...

, which he designed with Peter Middleton and won a

New Zealand Institute of Architects Te Kāhui Whaihanga New Zealand Institute of Architects (NZIA) is a membership-based professional organisation that represents 90 per cent of all registered architects in New Zealand, and promotes architecture that enhances the New Zealand livi ...

(NZIA) bronze award in 1966 and an NZIA 25-year award in 1994, and the Arataki Visitor Centre, opened in 1994, in the Waitākere Ranges. Turbott was associated with environmentalists Bill Ballantine and Roger Grace, and was a pioneer in the establishment of national coastal and marine reserves in New Zealand. He was in the vanguard of New Zealand landscape architects, introducing the discipline into projects such as motorways, waterfronts, parks and residential developments, including the Gisborne city and foreshore (1966), the

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

motorway, and the management plan for Maungawhau / Mount Eden Domain. He also taught at the School of Architecture and Town Planning at the

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn F ...

, and was involved in the establishment of the landscape architecture course at Unitec Institute of Technology in Auckland. In 1983–1984, he was a visiting professor in the Department of Landscape Architecture and Regional Planning at the University of Pennsylvania. From 1989 to 1993 he supervised the restoration of the

Para O Tane Palace The Para O Tane Palace is a historic building in Avarua, Rarotonga in the Cook Islands. Built in the 1830s by Makea Pori Ariki, it was later the residence of Makea Takau Ariki and the place where she signed a treaty making the Cook Islands a Bri ...

Rarotonga Rarotonga is the largest and most populous of the Cook Islands. The island is volcanic, with an area of , and is home to almost 75% of the country's population, with 13,007 of a total population of 17,434. The Cook Islands' Parliament buildings a ...

Cook Islands ) , image_map = Cook Islands on the globe (small islands magnified) (Polynesia centered).svg , capital = Avarua , coordinates = , largest_city = Avarua , official_languages = , lan ...

Death

Turbott died on 4 March 2016.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Turbott, Harry 1930 births 2016 deaths University of Auckland alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni New Zealand architects New Zealand landscape architects Academic staff of the University of Auckland New Zealand environmentalists