Francis Reginald Stevens Yorke
b. Stratford-upon-Avon, 1906;
d. London, 1962.

Pioneer of the Modern Movement in England and founding partner of YRM, a practice which continues to enjoy an enviable reputation in the British architectural scene. Yorke studied architecture and town planning at the University of Birmingham before setting up in private practice in 1930. Principal influences include famous architects Le Corbusier and Mies Van Der Rohe, and from the outset Yorke’s work reflected the aspirations of a committed Modernist. For example he was an early member of the MARS Group (1933), an early exponent of reinforced concrete (1933) and a partner alongside ex- Bauhaus tutor Marcel Breuer (1935). Although this partnership was dissolved after two years (when Breuer accepted Walter Gropius’s invitation to teach at Harvard), they completed several influential commissions which established Yorke’s position in the vanguard of British Modernism. The YRM partnership, formed in 1944, with Eugene Rosenberg and Cyril Mardall, secured a succession of important public sector commissions throughout the 1950s and 60s. During the war Yorke became a member of William Holford’s team of architects that designed army and internment camps and other structures for the War Ministry. Yorke died at the early age of 55 in 1962 but his influential, discursive and important books that record the growth of the Modern Movement in architecture in England remain the chief sources for the whole period.

Major buildings / works:
Gidea Park Housing, Essex (with William Holford), 1933.
House, Clifton (with Marcel Breuer), 1936.
Gatwick Airport (phase 1), Sussex, 1957.
US Embassy, London (with Eero SAARINEN), 1960.
Leeds Polytechnic (stage 3), 1960.

Bibliography:
F. R. S. Yorke, The Modern House, London, 1934.
F. R. S. Yorke, The Modern Flat, London, 1937.
F. R. S. Yorke and Colin Penn, A Key to Modern Architecture, London, 1939.
Reyner Banham (intro.), The Architecture oF Yorke, Rosenberg, Mardall, London, 1972. MC