William Toomath
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| Stanley William Toomath | |
| Personal Information | |
|---|---|
| Name | Stanley William Toomath |
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Birth date | 1925 |
| Birth place | New Zealand |
| Work | |
| Significant Buildings | Toomath Senior House Wool House (Wellington) |
Contents |
[edit] Introduction
Stanley William (Bill) Toomath is a significant Wellington (New Zealand) architect. He was born in 1925 in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, and was a founding member of the Architectural Group in Auckland in 1946, and is a life member of the Wellington Architectural Centre, and a Fellow of the New Zealand Institute of Architects. Both the founding of the Group and the Architectural Centre were important moments in New Zealand's modernist architectural history. Toomath studied architecture at the Auckland College of the University of New Zealand, and completed an MArch at the Harvard Graduate School of Design where he was taught by I. M. Pei and a co-student with John Hejduk (1929-2000). He briefly worked with Walter Gropius at the Architects Collaborative and then with I. M. Pei before returning to New Zealand in 1954.
[edit] Architectural Practice
On his return from New York he joined with Derek Wilson to set up Toomath and Wilson. Toomath and Wilson were later joined by Don Irvine and Grahame Anderson in 1972, forming the firm Toomath Wilson Irvine Anderson Ltd.
Toomath's work reflects an exploratory and intelligent engagement with modernist architectural ideas. A key architectural interest has been the articulation of continuous space, which is particularly evident in his Toomath Senior house, Lower Hutt (1949), and the Mackay house, Silverstream (1961). The Toomath Senior house is famous as the site of a discussion Toomath and Lew Martin had with architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner about New Zealand construction. Pevsner found the detailing of a post in the carport unrefined. Toomath argued that it reflected an honesty in detailing, relevant to New Zealand architecture. The Mackay House, Silverstream is symmetrically planned and was designed for a couple without children. It was awarded the N.Z.I.A. Bronze Medal in 1962.
Other key works include Wool House, Featherston Street, Wellington (1955); and the Wellington Teachers' College, Donald Street, Karori (1966-1977). The Wellington Teachers College, Karori, Stage One was awarded N.Z.I.A. Silver Medal (1972), and an N.Z.I.A. Local Award (Enduring Architecture) (2005). Wool House (also now known as Old Wool House) was recognised with an N.Z.I.A. Wellington Branch Enduring Architecture Award (2002).
 South tower block of Wellington Teachers College |
 Detail of Wellington Teachers College |
 Pedestrian overbridge at Wellington Teachers College |
[edit] Architectural Exhibitions and Advocacy
Following his return from studying architecture in America and working with Walter Gropius and I.M.Pei, Toomath has spent the majority of his architectural career in New Zealand (including over 35 years in professional practice). He was an advocate for several heritage buildings (see below), and played key roles in the Wellington Architectural Centre's projects on Wellington's urban form, namely: "Te Aro Replanned" (1947), "Homes Without Sprawl" (1957), "City Approaches" (1959) and Wgtn 196X" (1961). Toomath also presented professional evidence for the Wellington City Council on proposals for controlling building heights, protected viewshafts and urban form planning (1989-1990) in hearings before the Planning Tribunal.
Toomath led a small team whose report on the Old Town Hall stopped moves for its demolition. He has written papers on conservation matters and presented evidence in support of a number of heritage buildings including: the AMP Head Office Building, the State Fire Insurance Building, Wharf Sheds 7 and 21. He had an active role in campaigns to save Old St Pauls.
[edit] Design Educator
Toomath was also the Head of the School of Design, Wellington Polytechnic (1979-1989), and a contributor of articles to the New Zealand journal Designscape. He was a regular participant of the "Designmark" Advisory Panels, New Zealand Industrial Design Council from 1969, and a Judge of the Prince Philip Award for New Zealand Industrial Design (1981-1985).
[edit] References
Clark, Justine and Paul Walker Looking for the Local (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 2000)
Dudding, Michael "A Final Formality: Three Modernist Pavilion Houses of the Early 1960s" "... about as austere as a Dior gown ...": New Zealand Architecture the 1960s: a one day symposium ed Christine McCarthy (Wellington: Centre for Building Performance Research, 9th December 2005) pp. 7-11.
Dudding, Michael. 'A Useful Exercise: The context, content, and practical application of W H Alington's 'Thesis on the Theory of Architectural Design'. unpublished Masters’ thesis, Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington, 2005.
Findlay, Michael "House your father" New Zealand Heritage (Autumn 2006) n. 100, pp. 44-45.
Garrett, James "Home Building - Our Tradition" Home and Building (1st October 1958) v. 21, pp. 33-45.
Kernohan, David Wellington's Old Buildings (Wellington: Victoria University Press, 1994)
"Living Rooms" Design Review (July-August 1953) v. 5, n. 3, pp. 63-65.
McCarthy, C. M. Going for Gold: New Zealand houses in the 60s through the veil of the N.Z.I.A. Bronze Medals "... about as austere as a Dior gown ..."New Zealand Architecture the 1960s ed. Christine McCarthy, Centre for Building Performance Research, Victoria University, Wellington, New Zealand (9th December 2005) pp. 48-55.
McCarthy, C. M. High modern Architecture New Zealand (March/April 2006) pp. 65-69.
New Zealand Who's Who Aotearoa 2001 ed. Alister Taylor (Auckland: Alister Taylor Publishers, 2001) p. 880.
Toomath, Bill and Bruce Rotherham "The gestation of the Group; As I see it" Architecture New Zealand (March/April 2004) n. 2, p. 17.
Toomath, Bill "Geoff Nees: trailblazer for good design" Prodesign (April/May 1999) pp. 84-85.
Toomath, Bill "Past Indicative" Designscape (February 1980) n. 121, pp. 13-15.
Toomath, S.W. "Le Corbusier" Journal of the New Zealand Institute of Architects (December 1964) v. 31, n. 11, pp. 328-333.
Toomath, S. William "Architecture in the next Fifty Years" Journal of the New Zealand Institute of Architects (April 1956) v. 23, n. 3, pp. 55-61.
Toomath, S. William "The design of Interiors, Furniture, and the Selection of Components" Journal of the New Zealand Institute of Architects (April 1956) v. 34, n. 3, pp. 75-76.
Toomath, W. "A House at Lower Hutt" Design Review (July/August 1951) v. 4, n. 1, pp. cover, 9-11.
Toomath, William "A House in Stokes Valley" Design Review (October/November 1952) v. 4, n. 5, pp. 110-111.
Toomath, William "Anscombe’s 1940 Centennial Exhibition; and an historic confrontation" Formulation Fabrication: The Architecture of History: Proceedings of the seventeenth annual conference of the Society of Architectural Historians, Australia and New Zealand: Wellington, New Zealand, November 2000 (Wellington: SAHANZ, 2000) pp. 101-112.
Toomath, William Built in New Zealand: the houses we live in (Auckland, N.Z.: HarperCollins, 1996)
Toomath, William "Education by design" Architecture/New Zealand (July/August 1996) pp. 59-62.
Toomath, William "Into the Post-War World" Exquisite Apart: 100 years of architecture in New Zealand (Auckland: Balasoglou Books, 2005) pp. 42-51.
Toomath, William "Search for Expression of Human Values" Journal of the New Zealand Institute of Architects (20 June 1973) v. 40, n. 6, pp. 152-153.
"Wool House: New Building at Wellington for the New Zealand Wool Board" Home & Building (1 July 1958) v. XXI, n. 2, p. 55.
