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 and Denise Scott Brown.

Early life and education

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

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

. 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. Founded in 1831 as a Men's colleges in the United States, men's college under the auspices of the Methodist Epis ...

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 (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

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 U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of Philadelphia. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the township's population was 37,074, reflecting an increase of 1,189 (+3.3%) from the 35,885 count ...

. 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 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 A guildhall, also known as a "guild hall" or "guild house", is a historical building originally used for tax collecting by municipalities or merchants in Great Britain and the Low Countries. These buildings commonly become town halls and in som ...

(1964), the Institute for Scientific Information 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''.

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. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...

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