OBITUARY: SIR MILES WARREN 10/05/1929 – 9/08/2022
Sir Miles Warren, who died on 9 August 2022, was a member of the generation of architects who entered the profession in the decade following World War Two, at a time when Modernism had become the accepted architectural language in New Zealand. Within that group, he rose to a position of unsurpassed eminence and became the most honoured architect of his generation. For the public at large, he was probably the best-known and most widely respected New Zealand architect. His buildings include some of the most admired designs from any period in this country’s architectural history.
Frederick Miles Warren was born in Christchurch on 10 May 1929. He was educated at Christ’s College, Christchurch, where he was strongly influenced by an architectural environment that dated back to the 1860s. He was academically gifted but his choice of architecture as a career was seen as regrettable; “Oh, Warren minor, we had high hopes for you”, was the crushing verdict of his headmaster. The two years he spent in the Christchurch office of Cecil Wood, from 1946 to 1947, were formative and his admiration for Wood was life long. Wood’s skill as a draftsman, his sensitivity to materials and his respect for tradition were important influences. Warren excelled as a student at Auckland University College School of Architecture in 1949 and 1950. Travelling to the United Kingdom, he found employment in the Housing Division of the London County Council. Under the leadership of Colin Lucas, the Housing Division was at the cutting edge of British architecture and Warren was able to absorb the lessons of post-war New Brutalism at its source while working on the designs for the Roehampton Estate (1953–1954). Travel in Europe further broadened his architectural horizons.
Warren returned to Christchurch in 1955 and entered private practice. A brief partnership with G.T. Lucas was followed by one formed with Maurice Mahoney in 1958. Warren described their
