Peter Meinhard Moro (27 May 1911 – 10 October 1998) was a London-based
architect
An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...
whose practice developed many notable
public buildings
A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and funct ...
. He was the son of Austrian physician and paediatrician
Ernst Moro
Ernst Moro (8 December 1874 in Laibach, Duchy of Carniola, Austria-Hungary, today Ljubljana, Slovenia – 1951) was an Austrian physician and pediatrician who was the first in western medicine to describe the infant reflex that was named after h ...
.
Life and works
Moro was born in
Heidelberg
Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...
, Germany to Professor
Ernst Moro
Ernst Moro (8 December 1874 in Laibach, Duchy of Carniola, Austria-Hungary, today Ljubljana, Slovenia – 1951) was an Austrian physician and pediatrician who was the first in western medicine to describe the infant reflex that was named after h ...
, a renowned Austrian physician and pediatrician, and Margareta Hönigswald.
He initially trained in Stuttgart and then at the
Berlin-Charlottenburg Technical Academy. Having a Jewish grandmother, he was obliged to move to Zurich for his final two years, studying under
Otto Salvisberg.
On graduating in 1936 he moved to London with no money and limited English. He worked for two years with
Berthold Lubetkin
Berthold Romanovich Lubetkin (14 December 1901 – 23 October 1990) was a Georgian-British architecture, architect who pioneered International style (architecture), modernist design in Britain in the 1930s. His work includes the Highpoint I, Hi ...
, "by far the most interesting architect I ever worked with."
In 1938, Moro and
Richard Llewelyn-Davies
Richard Llewellyn-Davies, Baron Llewelyn-Davies (24 December 1912 – 27 October 1981) was a British architect.
Career
He worked at the Architecture Association where his contemporaries included Elizabeth Chesterton and Ann MacEwan.
...
were commissioned to build a house, Harbour Meadow at
Birdham
Birdham is a village and civil parish in the Chichester District of West Sussex, England. It is located on the Manhood Peninsula, south-west of the city of Chichester. The parish church is dedicated to St James, although the dedication was to S ...
, Sussex, one of the least known but most original modern houses of the 1930s, now
Grade II listed
In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...
.
Moro was briefly interned as an "
enemy alien
In customary international law, an enemy alien is any native, citizen, denizen or subject of any foreign nation or government with which a domestic nation or government is in conflict and who is liable to be apprehended, restrained, secured and ...
" on the
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight ( ) is a county in the English Channel, off the coast of Hampshire, from which it is separated by the Solent. It is the largest and second-most populous island of England. Referred to as 'The Island' by residents, the Isle of ...
, then from 1941-47 taught at the
Regent Street Polytechnic
The University of Westminster is a public university, public university based in London, United Kingdom. Founded in 1838 as the Royal Polytechnic Institution, it was the first Polytechnic (United Kingdom), polytechnic to open in London. The Polyte ...
establishing a reputation as someone who knew how to teach architecture in a modern way. Students from his class were drafted into the design team for the
Festival Hall. "I chose a handful of the best of my former students whose ideas of design were sympathetic to my own."
He was made a
RIBA
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 ...
Fellow
A fellow is a concept whose exact meaning depends on context.
In learned or professional societies, it refers to a privileged member who is specially elected in recognition of their work and achievements.
Within the context of higher education ...
in 1948.
From 1952 to 1984 he led Peter Moro and Partners, designing Fairlawn Primary School, Lewisham in 1957. His design for his own house at 20, Blackheath Park, a pavilion with a raised living floor, was one of the first post-war buildings to be listed. The practice also designed public housing for the
Greater London Council
The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 198 ...
and the
London Borough of Southwark
The London Borough of Southwark ( ) in South London forms part of Inner London and is connected by bridges across the River Thames to the City of London and London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was created in 1965 when three smaller council areas ...
.
In 1964, Moro completed his first theatre,
The Playhouse, Nottingham.
It was one of the earliest theatres to be adaptable either as a
proscenium stage
A proscenium ( grc-gre, προσκήνιον, ) is the metaphorical vertical plane of space in a theatre, usually surrounded on the top and sides by a physical proscenium arch (whether or not truly "arched") and on the bottom by the stage floor ...
or as a
thrust stage
In theatre, a thrust stage (also known as a platform stage or open stage) is one that extends into the audience on three sides and is connected to the backstage area by its upstage end. A thrust has the benefit of greater intimacy between performe ...
("peninsular"), projecting forward. Moro is quoted as saying that "a theatre, however attractive, which does not work backstage, is a nuisance: a theatre which has the correct technology, but no magic, is even worse."
He also designed theatres at
Hull University
, mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £18.8 million (2016)
, budget = £190 million ...
, the
Theatre Royal, Plymouth
Theatre Royal, Plymouth, is a theatre venue in Plymouth, Devon. It consists of a 1,300-seat main auditorium, The Lyric, which regularly hosts large-scale musicals, opera and ballet; a 200-seat studio, The Drum; and a 50-seat studio, The Lab. ...
(1982) with an adaptable auditorium, and three theatres at the
Academy of Performing Arts, Hong Kong (1983–85).
He was appointed a
CBE
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations,
and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...
in 1977.
Moro rejected criticisms of modern architecture, but in a way his whole output was a critique of what he called "the banality of functionalism", which, as he repeatedly demonstrated, could be overcome by the imaginative and technically skilful transformation of the ordinary.
National Life Stories
National Life Stories is an independent charitable trust and limited company (registered as the ‘National Life Story Collection’) based within the British Library Oral History section, whose key focus and expertise is oral history fieldwork. S ...
conducted an oral history interview (C467/7) with Peter Moro in 1996 for its Architects Lives' collection held by the British Library.
[National Life Stories, 'Moro, Peter (1 of 15) National Life Stories Collection: Architects' Lives', The British Library Board, 1996]
Retrieved 10 April 2018
Personal
Moro married Anne Margaret Theodosia Vanneck (20 May 1918 – 2000), the daughter of
William Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield
William Charles Arcedeckne Vanneck, 5th Baron Huntingfield, (3 January 1883 – 20 November 1969) was a British Conservative Party politician, Governor of Victoria, and Administrator of Australia. He was the first Australian-born governor of an ...
, on 2 March 1940. They had three daughters. The couple were divorced in 1994.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moro, Peter
1911 births
1998 deaths
Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
20th-century British architects
People from Heidelberg
Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany to the United Kingdom
Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects
Technical University of Berlin alumni
Academics of the University of Westminster
Architects from London