The George Pace Project

1. Former South Aisle now Nave of Saint Martin-Le-Grand, York UK, 2. Exuberant cames by George Pace at Selby Abbey, 3. Saint Martin Le Grand York, 4. Saint Martin Le Grand York

George Pace is one of my all time favourite architects and I am planning on visiting a few more of his churches in the new year to photograph them.

I have set up a flickr group called 'The George Pace Project'. The aim of the group is to collate images and information about George Pace's works.

Here's a bit more about George Pace:

English Architect George Pace 1915-1975, was born in Croydon Surrey.

During his formative years he became a member of the Society of Antiquaries and won many prizes as a student including the Pugin studentship in 1937 and the RIBA Asphitel prize for the best architectural student in England.

Mackintosh was an early influence and a fellow student quoted "whilst most of the students enthused about Lloyd Wright or Gropius, George was more concerned with the ideas of William Morris, Lethaby and Burges". (taken from The Architecture of George Pace by Peter Pace, Batsford, London, 1990)

Pace, however declared a respect for Gropius whilst at the same time pursuing a passion for medieval Gothic nurtured by his childhood years drawing churches with his father.

During the early stages of his practice, Pace developed a strong relationship with the Ecclesiastical. He formed a close bond with the Dean of York Minster and through his patronage became architect to several major Cathedrals.

Pace believed strongly in the tradition of skill and craftsmanship and developed long lasting relationships with several firms.

Pace's later designs for completely new buildings were rooted in this unique mix of the modern and the conservative, the Gropius and the Morris. Added to this mix, was the belief that industrial architecture was an underestimated art form.

I believe that it is the combination of these elements which take George Pace's architecture to a new level of Gothic - beyond Lethaby but retaining it's roots (and therefore not cut off from such cultural nutrients) within that tradition.

Whilst walking around one of Pace's buildings, I am always struck by its contemporary resonance, the spatial poetics, and the symbiotic relationship with the past Gothic tradition often articulated in traditional materials, textures and methods.

More on George Pace on my blog

George Pace on My del.icio.us

My George Pace flickr set