Photo Terry Farrell / Alan Williams, CC BY 3.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

We were sorry to hear that The Patron of The Ramsgate Society, Sir Terry Farrell, passed away in September at the age of 87.

Terry was one of the most influential and award winning architects in post war Britain. Some of his most iconic buildings include the MI6 Headquarters on the Thames Embankment, Charing Cross Station, The Edinburgh International Conference Centre, the Home Office Building in Marsham Street and many others both at home and abroad. In fact, by the mid 1990’s he could claim to have designed more buildings in London than Christopher Wren.

He was distinct from the select group of professional leaders he was associated with. He was not a clubbable type; proud of his working-class origins, he was uncomfortable around his well-connected peers and eschewed any kind of personality cult. He was active on design panels and led the Farrell Review in 2014, which called for architectural education to be made more accessible. He was very supportive of civic societies and the civic society movement. He visited Ramsgate on a number of occasions in his capacity as Honorary Patron of The Ramsgate Society and felt very much at home in the town.

Press this link to see the obituary published in the Royal Institute of British Architects Journal with an outline of his life, his career and his many achievements.

John Walker