7 January 1929 — 21 December 2019

In 1949 Jean McKenzie, New Zealand's first female diplomat, was appointed charge d'affaires at the newly opened New Zealand legation in Paris. Using money left over from the war debt she set up bursaries enabling New Zealand students to study in Paris. Architect Peter Bartlett was one of the first graduates to arrive. He spent a full year at the Cite Universitaire studying French architecture and architects. That was the year Sidney Holland stopped off at the Embassy on his way to the coronation, and Hillary climbed Everest.

Peter stayed on after his scholarship year for another three years, designing "Corbusier" housing and community projects among Algerian and Tunisian immigrants in the north-east of Paris. They were exciting times. Paddy Costello, First Secretary at the Embassy, arranged introductions to, among others, Le Corbusier. With the Cold War under way this was the period when Costello's astonishing intellect and linguistic skills made it seem that he had "other" sources of information. He was under surveillance by the British and allegedly active as a Soviet agent. Paddy was "The Sixth Man" in James McNeish's book.

Peter returned to New Zealand and went into private practice. His competence and skill was immediately evident. The Newcomb house won a bronze medal in 1968 and also an enduring architecture award. Much later Peter and Ian George were awarded an NZIA National Award for the Auckland Grammar Centennial Hall in 1975. A whole generation has taken delight in Peter's buildings.

Then academia called. The 1960s were a boom time for New Zealand universities. The 1961 Universities Act established the University of Auckland. The Hughes Parry Report of 1960 led to funding for buildings, libraries and staff. Peter Bartlett, Harry Turbott and Bill Wilson were appointed as sessional staff to the School of Architecture in 1961. The era of the University of New Zealand was left behind. A new Master of Architecture degree was introduced in 1962.

The city was very different then with the University woven into the fabric of the city. The old army sheds provided an architectural base but did not contain the intellectual debate of a University committed to being the "critic and conscience of society". In 1963 Bill Wilson set up the AAA in the Wynyard Building so that discourse could carry on when the Kiwi Hotel closed at 6pm. Harry Turbott's office was over the road in St Paul's Street. University staff Pud Middleton and John Goldwater were living on the other side of Blanford Park. Symonds Street was both a social occasion and a hotbed of gossip.

In 1964 Peter was appointed to teach architectural history and theory. He completed a PhD at the School in the late 1970s, focusing on the psychology of perception. Along the way Modernism had morphed into Post-modernism, and then swung back to Neo-Modernism. Peter preferred to talk about "regional modernism" by which he meant "the quest for a New Zealand vernacular".

Peter had already been exploring these ideas about vernacular when he was still a student. He had helped James Garrett with the 1954 exhibition in the Auckland Art Gallery, mostly remembered now for popularising the "man alone" image, which hung in the Architecture Library for all of Peter's career, and only disappeared when the library was recently closed, along with the library's richly complex record of architectural discourse. The problem with architecture today is that it is so boring and introverted. It is difficult now to imagine a time when brilliant intellects were valued more than cheap opinions.

A new School of Architecture was built. Over the years there were factions, frictions and fierce competition. Architects tend to have strong personalities. It has been said that "Peter was the glue. If he had not been there the place would probably have pulled itself apart".

Peter retired in 1993. That was the year of the UIA/AIA Chicago Congress and the NZIA Papatuanuku Conference. The previous year UNCED in Rio had signalled the end of the golden environmental era that began with Stockholm 1972. Peter had ridden the crest of a wave through the whole of an era.

After his retirement Peter kept a lively debate going for another 25 years. He was a steady hand but always open to new ideas. As the Holocene gave way to the Anthropocene, people began focusing on themselves rather than life. Within the School there had been a change from staff involved with practice to staff with no knowledge of actual building.

Architecture is not just about buildings. Architecture is about politics, social aspirations and giving form to culture. Peter was a Renaissance man. You could say that his life traced the history and intrigues of the post-war world. It was a wild world in which Kiwis with courage could grasp outrageous opportunities. Peter was not only a man of his time. He embraced architectural life in all its fullness and so his time became our time. We will not see his like again.