Sir Basil Spence
b. Bombay, 1907;
d. Eye, Herefordshire,I 1976.

Sir Basil Spence, a distinguished British Modern famous architect responsible for Coventry Cathedral. Educated at the Edinburgh School of Architecture and the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College, London, Spence found his first employment as an assistant in the office of Sir Edwin Lutyens and then worked with William Kininmonth in the Edinburgh office of Rowand Anderson & Paul (1931-3), becoming a partner in the firm (1934-7). He subsequently established his own practice in Edinburgh. A Modernist tinged with Scandinavian eclecticism, Spence had his first success winning the competition to restore Coventry Cathedral (1950), which established his reputation as a leading architect. Coventry was heavily bombed during the Second World War and the cathedral had been reduced to a shell. This important piece of reconstruction coincided with the rebirth of post-war Britain after the austerity of the 1940s, and Spence, forward- looking and innovative, cleverly married new elements with old, opting for a modern form with Gothic aspirations. Consecrated in 1962, Coventry Cathedral featured contributions from artists and craftsmen such as Graham Sutherland, John Piper and Geoffrey Clarke. In subsequent years Spence worked on university projects in Liverpool, Southampton, Nottingham, Edinburgh and the development of Sussex. Despite his preference for traditional materials, Spence endowed his buildings with an individual artistic vision and continued to attract controversy with such projects as the Knightsbridge Barracks, London and the British Embassy in Rome. Sir Basil Spence was knighted in 1960.