Basic Biographical Details Name: | Donald Paterson Reay | Designation: | | Born: | 17 July 1914 | Died: | 2 January 2002 | Bio Notes: | Donald Paterson Reay was born on 17 July 1914 in Liverpool. While he was still at school he showed considerable talent for drawing and when he was a teenager he spent a year as an exchange student in Germany where was able to study as well as enjoy various outdoor activities including mountaineering, skiing sailing and cycling. From 1931-36 he studied architecture at the University of Liverpool and was admitted ARIBA in 1937. In the following year he worked as an architectural assistant with Barnish Silcock & Thearle in Liverpool. Having been awarded a Commonwealth Fellowship he chose to study at the University of Columbia in New York where he graduated MSc in city and regional planning in 1939. He travelled widely in Europe in 1933, 1935 and 1936 (often by bicycle) and in North and Central America in 1937, 1938 and 1939. During his time at Columbia he met and married a fellow student, Sylvia Shimberg who went on to become a distinguished architect in her own right.
At the outbreak of World War II Reay was in the United States as a British citizen and was unable to return home. He therefore joined the Royal Canadian Air Force based in Nova Scotia as head of the Commonwealth Air Training Programme and from 1940 to 1945 acted as Chief Architect to the RCAF in which post he designed all buildings – flight training schools and aerodromes, including Goose Bay which was the largest base in North American- as well as installing camouflage for vital services on the east coast.
After the cease of hostilities, Reay and his wife and young family returned to the United Kingdom and for the next 10 year played a significant role in the development of architecture and town planning here. He took a post initially with the Ministry of Town and Country Planning in London, working with Sir William Holford on the technical aspects of the 1946 New Towns Act and the 1947 National Planning Act.
In 1947 he was appointed Chief Architect and Planning Officer with East Kilbride Development Corporation in which post he remained until 1952, moving to a similar post in Stevenage in 1952 where he remained until 1955. In these posts he was the design architect responsible for the overall planning and urban design of numerous industrial projects, commercial buildings and housing.
As a consequence of his achievements in these two posts Reay was elected FRIBA in 1956, proposed by D L Bridgwater, William A Holford and Hugh Casson.
The previous year Reay had accepted a visiting lecturer post at the University of California in Berkeley. He progressed up the academic ladder rapidly. He was a professor within a year while at the same time working in private practice. He entered a partnership with Professor Vernon DeMars and together with Donald Hardison won the competition for the UC Berkeley Student Centre, which resulted in the construction of four buildings: The Martin Luther King Jr Student Union, the Student Commons cafeteria and the dining room complex, Zellerbach Auditorium and Eshleman Hall. The firm undertook a number of other large projects in California and in 1965 designed two buildings at the California College of Arts and Crafts.
Reay continued his significant architectural and urban design practice from 1965 as Reay-Tsuruta Associates and from 1975 as Reay Associates. The practice undertook projects as far afield as Australia. At the age of 87 he was still an active consultant with the San Franscsco firm Del Campo and Maru.
In his academic work Reay was considered a very effective and energetic teacher and a source of inspiration to all those who passed through his classes.
Reay died on 2 January 2002, survived by his wife, three daughters, one son and eight grandchildren.
| Private and Business AddressesThe following private or business addresses are associated with this : | | Address | Type | Date from | Date to | Notes | | Torrance House, East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, Scotland | Business | 1950 * | | |
* earliest date known from documented sources.
Employment and TrainingEmployers
RIBARIBA Proposers
Buildings and DesignsThis was involved with the following buildings or structures from the date specified (click on an item to view details): | | Date started | Building name | Town, district or village | Island | City or county | Country | Notes | | | Housing, Murray 1st Development | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Named as responsible for design as former Chief Architect to East Kilbride Development Corp (per RIAS Journal p11) | | 1949 | Housing at Glasgow Road | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1950 | Blocks of Flats, Whitemoss | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1950 | Eighteen Flats, East Kilbride | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1950 | Limekilns Housing | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1950 | Markshill Housing | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | As Chief Architect | | 1950 | Scheme of Houses, East Kilbride | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1950 | Second Development of Whitemoss Housing Scheme, East Kilbride | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | To prepare plans | | 1950 | Shops, Whitemoss | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | As Chief Architect | | 1951 | Corporation Works Department, Ringside Farm | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1951 | East Milton Primary School | Westwood, East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | To prepare plans | | 1951 | Factory, Nerston | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1951 | Houses, Stuart Street | Whiteness | | East Kilbride | Scotland | | | 1951 | Housing, Westwood Site | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1951 | Limekilns Housing Third Development, East Kilbride | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1951 | Primary School, Platthorn | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Development Corporations were not usually involved with the construction of schools within their new town, though Donald Paterson Reay was referred to in the Builder of 27 April 1951, p606 | | 1951 | Twenty-two Houses, Murray Street | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | | | 1952 | Development Corporation Housing, East Kilbride | East Kilbride | | | Scotland | To prepare plans | | 1952 | Housing, Murray Development Site 6 | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | Prepared plans for 18 flats | | 1952 | Murray 2nd Development Housing | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | To prepare plans | | 1952 | New shops, East Kilbride | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | To prepare plans | | 14 March 1952 | East Kilbride Development Corporation Housing | East Kilbride | | | Scotland | To prepare plans | | 17 October 1952 | Development Corporation Housing, East Kilbride | East Kilbride | | | Scotland | 41 new Weir Housing Corporation houses | | 27 March 1953 | Houses and shops, Markethill Housing Site | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | To prepare plans for new housing and shops | | 10 April 1953 | Mains Housing Site, East Kilbride | East Kilbride | | Lanarkshire | Scotland | New housing - working with Scott & Hudson |
ReferencesBibliographic ReferencesThe following books contain references to this : | | Author(s) | Date | Title | Part | Publisher | Notes | | Glendinning, Miles | 1997 | Rebuilding Scotland: The Postwar Vision, 1945-75 | | Tuckwell Press Ltd | p13 Murray 1st Development Housing, East Kilbride | | http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/inmemoriam/DonaldP.Reay.htm | | http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/senate/inmemoriam/DonaldP.Reay.htm | | | | | RIBA | 1950 | The RIBA Kalendar 1950-1951 | | London: Royal Institute of British Architects | |
Periodical ReferencesThe following periodicals contain references to this : | | Periodical Name | Date | Edition | Publisher | Notes | | Builder | 16 August 1949 | | | p245 | | Builder | 19 August 1949 | | | p245 | | Builder | 27 January 1950 | | | p150 | | Builder | 1 December 1950 | | | p582 | | Builder | 8 December 1950 | | | p617 | | Builder | 17 February 1950 | | | p279 | | Builder | 26 May 1950 | | | p725 | | Builder | 21 July 1950 | | | p109 | | Builder | 18 August 1950 | | | p203 | | Builder | 12 January 1951 | | | p87 | | Builder | 12 October 1951 | | | p502 | | Builder | 19 October 1951 | | | p535 | | Builder | 23 February 1951 | | | p301 | | Builder | 16 March 1951 | | | p401 | | Builder | 27 April 1951 | | | p606 | | Builder | 25 May 1951 | | | p768 | | Builder | 4 May 1951 | | | p640 | | Builder | 1 June 1951 | | | p803 | | Builder | 10 August 1951 | | | p197 | | Builder | 17 August 1951 | | | p231 | | Builder | 14 March 1952 | | | p429 | | Builder | 21 March 1952 | | | p464 | | Builder | 18 April 1952 | | | p605 | | Builder | 25 April 1952 | | | p641 | | Builder | 11 July 1952 | | | p76 | | Builder | 27 March 1953 | | | p509 | | Builder | 10 April 1953 | | | p581 |
Archive ReferencesThe following archives hold material relating to this : | | Source | Archive Name | Source Catalogue No. | Notes | | RIBA Archive, Victoria & Albert Museum | RIBA Nomination Papers | | Reay: F no5152 (Combined Box 60) |
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