Peter Yates (19 July 1920 – 16 November 1982) was a British born artist and architect. He was best known for his partnership with Gordon Ryder in the North of England architectural firm, Ryder and Yates.
Contents
Biography
Early life and education
Peter Yates was born in Leytonstone, East London in 1920. He was attracted to the visual arts at an early age, winning a painting competition as a 5 year-old in Chicks' Own (1925). Whilst at Wanstead School from September 1934 to July 1936, he painted the mural, Events at Sea.
He worked as a furniture and model maker during 1937 before attending the London Polytechnic School of Architecture, studying under Sir Hubert Bennett, Peter Moro and Robin Day from January 1938 to April 1941.
Career
Yates served as a fireman on the St Paul's Watch in early 1941. It was during the London Blitz, that he painted the Wren’s churches. He met the antiquary and architectural historian, Gerald Cobb, while drawing in Ludgate Circus and they became lifelong friends. He joined the Royal Air Force in July 1941 and was stationed in Wales and Ireland before going to Versailles in 1944 with the Supreme Headquarters Allied Expeditionary Forces.
He lived in Paris following the war, where he met many artists and writers, including Georges Braque, Édouard Pignon, Jaime Sabartes, Juliette Gréco, Leon Gischia, Gertrude Stein, Alice Toklas, Andre L'Hote, Sylvia Beach and Le Corbusier.
Yates was invited, with Clive Entwistle, to work on plans for a new United Nations building in New York by Le Corbusier. He worked on the Pyramid Project for the New Crystal Palace with Entwhistle at Ove Arup's office in Soho during 1947.
He completed a masterplan for Peterlee new town with Berthold Lubetkin in 1948, where he first met his subsequent business partner, Gordon Ryder.
Yates returned to Paris in 1950 as a Chief Designer of Unité d’Informations Visuelles, a commercial art studio located in the Old Alhambra night club in the gardens of the Champs Élysées. From there, he contributed to exhibitions across Europe, including Europa Zug and Atoms for Peace. In Paris, he collaborated with Pierre Boucher (photographer) from whom Ryder and Yates later commissioned murals for Norgas House, Killingworth.
In 1953, after a chance meeting in London, Yates moved to Newcastle upon Tyne to form an architectural practice with Gordon Ryder. Initial work included exhibition design, which progressed onto a series of private domestic architectural commissions. A new multidisciplinary approach which included engineers fueled their progress. Their buildings were highly regarded by the public and opened opportunities of large scale commissions of industrial complexes for British Gas, Sterling Organics and others. The company designed buildings for social projects in Newcastle and Sunderland for the Salvation Army, a large social housing project in Kenton, as well as various local government and healthcare projects.
Personal life and death
In 1958, Yates married musician Helen Maud Southgate, from New Zealand, with whom he had five children. Helen died in 1972. He married his second wife, Gillian Jessica Eden, in 1976. She died in 2015.
Yates died in 1982.
Influences
Peter's main influences were Le Corbusier and Berthold Lubetkin. In 1976, he curated an exhibition of Le Corbusier Lithographs at the Ferens Art Gallery, Hull. He nominated and successfully campaigned for Lubetkin to be awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture in 1982.
Other influences were though his friendships with Austin Wright, Kenneth Rowntree and Diana Rowntree, Dennis Flanders and others.
Ryder and Yates buildings
Notable Ryder and Yates buildings include:
R H Patterson, a Ford dealer, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1964
North Kenton Housing Scheme (subsequently known as the Kenton Bar Estate), Newcastle upon Tyne, 1964
Norgas House, Killingworth, 1965
Engineering Gas Research Station (ERS), 1967
The Citadel, Killingworth, 1967
Sterling Organics, Dudley, 1972
Northern Gas Computer Centre, Killingworth, 1974
Salvation Army 'Men's Palace', Newcastle upon Tyne, 1974
MEA House, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1976
The On-line Inspection Centre (OLI), Cramlington, 1979
Studio 5, Tyne Tees Television, Newcastle upon Tyne, 1981
Swan Lodge, for the Salvation Army, Sunderland, 1982
Vickers, Newcastle and Leeds, 1982
Murals
Like Le Corbusier before him, Yates hand painted murals in many buildings. Printed murals also appeared in several commercial interiors.
Public
Bevin Court, London
Lake with Dragonflies, Lloyds Bank, The Citadel, Killingworth
Northern Rock Building Society, Newcastle upon Tyne
Martin's Bank (now Lloyds Bank) interior, Priestpopple, Hexham
Lettering in grey, white and black, R.H. Patterson, Ford Main Dealer
Nonsuch Palace, Linden Hall, Northumberland
Miner's Cafeteria, Peterlee
Time, The Golden Egg Restaurant, Newcastle upon Tyne
The Italian Mural, Castle Eden
Shadows on the Wall, Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle upon Tyne
Carbon Molecular Structures, Sterling Organics Reception, Dudley
Origins of Gas, Gas Rig, Norgas House (Pierre Boucher)
Processions of Shells, Beacon House Lobby, Whitley Bay
Flags, Tynemouth Sailing Club, Tynemouth.
Domestic
Grand Parade, Tynemouth
Trees, Woolsington
Scotby, Cumbria.
Exhibitions
One man exhibitions
Ultramarinos, Colbert Gallery, Durham (1975)
England! Colbert Gallery, London (1976)
England 2, Downstairs Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne (1978)
Central Sea Paintings of the Mediterranean, Downstairs Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne (1979)
Paris! Pen Gallery, Blackheath, London (1982)
The Lakes Bridge House Gallery, Coniston (1982)
Cyclops Rock, Paintings of England, France, Spain, Italy and Greece Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne (1982)
Peter Yates Retrospective, Durham Light Infantry, Durham (1983)
England, France and Cyclops Rock, RIBA, London (1985)
Peter Yates British Landscapes, Margaret Howell, London (2010)
Peter Yates Paintings 1939-1982, Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne (2015)
Group exhibitions
Whitechapel Art Gallery (1942, 1943)
The Essex Art Club (1944, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49)
Royal Academy (1943)
Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours / Royal Watercolour Society (1943, 1944, 1946, 1982)
Shipley Art Gallery, Gateshead
Royal Institute of British Architects (1946)
Durham Images. Colbert Gallery, Durham
Wallsend Arts Centre
Hatton Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne
RIBA NE Reinvigorating the Region (2010)
His works are also held in private collections in Great Britain, Europe, USA and New Zealand.