Spence Sir Basil

Biography

Sir Basil Spence was an eminent Scottish architect celebrated for his Modernist and Brutalist designs. He is best known for winning the 1951 competition to rebuild Coventry Cathedral, a masterpiece of post-war regeneration, and for designing the distinctive Beehive executive wing of the New Zealand Parliament Buildings.

Born in Bombay to Scottish parents on August 13, 1907, he was educated in India before moving to Scotland in 1919, eventually studying architecture at the Edinburgh College of Art and London's Bartlett School of Architecture. He then worked in the office of renowned architect Sir Edwin Lutyens on the Viceroy's House in New Delhi. During World War II, he served in the British army and participated in crucial D-Day deception operations in Normandy.

Following the war, Spence achieved international fame for Coventry Cathedral, seamlessly blending modern design with the ruins of the 14th-century church that was destroyed in a WWII bombing raid. In addition to Coventry and the New Zealand Beehive, his portfolio includes the University of Sussex campus, Glasgow Airport, Edinburgh University Library, the British Embassy in Rome and the Home Office. However, in the years before his death in 1976, public tastes had turned sharply against Spence's brutalist style. The writer Graham Greene accused him of designing "monstrous" buildings.

Spence served as President of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He was knighted (KBE) in 1960 and was awarded the prestigious Order of Merit (OM) in 1962.