![Loughborough Estate 1](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/Loughborough_Estate_1.jpg)
Sir John Leslie Martin (17 August 1908, in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...
– 28 July 2000) was an
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
architect, and a leading advocate of the
International Style. Martin's most famous building is the
Royal Festival Hall. His work was especially influenced by
Alvar Aalto.
Life
After studying at
Manchester University
, mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity
, established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...
, Leslie Martin taught at the
University of Hull
, mottoeng = Bearing the Torch f learning, established = 1927 – University College Hull1954 – university status
, type = Public
, endowment = £18.8 million (2016)
, budget = £190 million ...
. In 1937 he co-edited with
Ben Nicholson
Benjamin Lauder Nicholson, OM (10 April 1894 – 6 February 1982) was an English painter of abstract compositions (sometimes in low relief), landscape and still-life.
Background and training
Nicholson was born on 10 April 1894 in De ...
and
Naum Gabo
Naum Gabo, born Naum Neemia Pevsner (23 August 1977) (Hebrew: נחום נחמיה פבזנר), was an influential sculptor, theorist, and key figure in Russia's post-Revolution avant-garde and the subsequent development of twentieth-century scul ...
the journal ''
Circle
A circle is a shape consisting of all points in a plane that are at a given distance from a given point, the centre. Equivalently, it is the curve traced out by a point that moves in a plane so that its distance from a given point is con ...
'', which reviewed avant-garde abstract art and architecture. In 1939 Martin and his wife,
Sadie Speight, co-wrote ''The flat book''.
During the Second World War Martin was assigned to the pre-nationalisation Railway companies to supervise re-building of bomb-damaged regional rail stations.
In this capacity Martin developed pre-fabricated designs to speed construction. Following the war he was made a Deputy Architect to the
London County Council
London County Council (LCC) was the principal local government body for the County of London throughout its existence from 1889 to 1965, and the first London-wide general municipal authority to be directly elected. It covered the area today kno ...
(LCC), and in 1948
Hugh Casson
Sir Hugh Maxwell Casson (23 May 1910 – 15 August 1999) was a British architect. He was also active as an interior designer, as an artist, and as a writer and broadcaster on twentieth-century design. He was the director of architecture for t ...
selected him to lead the design team for the
Royal Festival Hall, the most prestigious building project of the
Festival of Britain
The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people:
...
. Partly in recognition of his achievement, Martin was made Chief Architect of the LCC in 1953; he used his position to promote emerging younger architects
Colin St. John Wilson,
James Stirling, and
Alison and Peter Smithson
Alison Margaret Smithson (22 June 1928 – 14 August 1993) and Peter Denham Smithson (18 September 1923 – 3 March 2003) were English architects who together formed an architectural partnership, and are often associated with the New Brutalism ...
.
From 1956, he was made head of the
Architecture School
This is a list of architecture schools at colleges and universities around the world.
An architecture school (also known as a school of architecture or college of architecture), is an institution specializing in architectural education.
Africa
...
at
Cambridge University
The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...
where Colin St John Wilson was his assistant. He was
Slade Professor of Fine Art
The Slade Professorship of Fine Art is the oldest professorship of art and art history at the universities of Cambridge, Oxford and University College, London.
History
The chairs were founded concurrently in 1869 by a bequest from the art collect ...
at the
University of Oxford
, mottoeng = The Lord is my light
, established =
, endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019)
, budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20)
, chancellor ...
for 1965–66.
Planning work
Martin was involved initially with Patrick Hodgkinson in the
Brunswick Centre, an early experiment in planned mixed-use development in
Bloomsbury that was partially completed. The 1950s also saw the creation of the Loughborough Estate in
Brixton, south London, designed by Martin.
In the 1960s the British government commissioned Martin to draw plans for a wholesale demolition and redevelopment of the area between
St James's Park
St James's Park is a park in the City of Westminster, central London. It is at the southernmost tip of the St James's area, which was named after a leper hospital dedicated to St James the Less. It is the most easterly of a near-continuous ch ...
and the
Thames Embankment
The Thames Embankment is a work of 19th-century civil engineering that reclaimed marshy land next to the River Thames in central London. It consists of the Victoria Embankment and Chelsea Embankment.
History
There had been a long history of ...
in London. It would have involved the demolition of most of the Victorian and Edwardian government offices (the Foreign Office, the Commonwealth Office, the old Home Office, etc.) in
Whitehall
Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea. It is the main thoroughfare running south from Trafalgar Square towards Parliament Sq ...
, which were then scheduled for demolition, and left the
Banqueting Hall as a traffic island and the original Scotland Yard building enveloped in the middle of a courtyard of offices.
The plans met with determined opposition from the public and conservation groups, especially the
Victorian Society
The Victorian Society is a UK amenity society and membership organisation that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. It is a registered ...
, and their implementation was delayed.
Edward Heath
Sir Edward Richard George Heath (9 July 191617 July 2005), often known as Ted Heath, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1970 to 1974 and Leader of the Conservative Party from 1965 to 1975. Heath a ...
's government eventually formally abandoned Martin's plan in 1971. The existing buildings were subsequently restored and opened to the public.
Taking a broader view of Martin's work, a picture emerges of the man as a quiet achiever ''par excellence''. Through his skilled networking in support of promising younger architects, and his self-effacing work on committees, he strongly influenced the course of post-war British architecture. "He was efficient, cooperative, impeccably well networked and calmly authoritative, justifying his advice with his immense architectural expertise and his scientific investigations of planning needs."
Architectural commissions
Martin with Wilson completed a number of academic buildings including halls of residence Harvey Court for
Gonville and Caius College
Gonville and Caius College, often referred to simply as Caius ( ), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1348, it is the fourth-oldest of the University of Cambridge's 31 colleges and one of th ...
, one of the most important examples of brick
brutalism, and the
William Stone Building for
Peterhouse
Peterhouse is the oldest constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England, founded in 1284 by Hugh de Balsham, Bishop of Ely. Today, Peterhouse has 254 undergraduates, 116 full-time graduate students and 54 fellows. It is quite o ...
; and the
Tinbergen Building and the St. Cross faculty libraries for
Oxford University
Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to th ...
. Martin was also the masterplanner for
Leicester University
, mottoeng = So that they may have life
, established =
, type = public research university
, endowment = £20.0 million
, budget = £326 million
, chancellor = David Willetts
, vice_chancellor = Nishan Canagarajah
, head_label ...
.
One of his later projects was an extension to
Kettle's Yard
Kettle's Yard is an art gallery and house in Cambridge, England. The director of the art gallery is Andrew Nairne. Both the house and gallery reopened in February 2018 after an expansion of the facilities.
Kettle's Yard galleries, shop and caf ...
Art Gallery to house the works of Dame
Barbara Hepworth, Ben Nicholson, and others.
Martin and his wife, Sadie Speight, were responsible for the modernist house Brackenfell (Grade II listed) in
Brampton
Brampton ( or ) is a city in the Canadian province of Ontario. Brampton is a city in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) and is a lower-tier municipality within Peel Region. The city has a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 Census, making it ...
,
Cumbria
Cumbria ( ) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in North West England, bordering Scotland. The county and Cumbria County Council, its local government, came into existence in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972. C ...
. Designed in 1936 and completed in 1938 for textile designer and artist Alastair Morton, of Edinburgh Weavers. The interior colour scheme was reputedly designed by Ben Nicholson who lived locally when married to
Winifred Roberts. Brackenfell is still a private house.
[Campbell, L. "Constructivism and contexualism in a modern country house: the design of Brackenfell (Leslie Martin and Sadie Speight, 1937–8)", ''Architectural History'', vol. 50 (2006), pp. 247–266]
References
*
Notes
{{DEFAULTSORT:Martin, Leslie
1908 births
2000 deaths
Brutalist architects
Alumni of the Manchester School of Architecture
Academics of the University of Hull
Fellows of Jesus College, Cambridge
Knights Bachelor
Recipients of the Royal Gold Medal
20th-century English architects
Slade Professors of Fine Art (University of Oxford)
Modernist architects from England
Royal Academicians