Ralph Covell

Ralph was born in Lee, London, on 6 May 1911, the son of George William and Elsie Covell née Covington.[1] The family lived in Lee High Road in the 1930s[2]

In late 1935 Ralph married Marguerite Latter but, after World War II, they had separated and both remarried.[3][4] Covell married Lurline Stanley Knowles (1913–2005) in 1947.[5][6]

Covell won the Ashpitel Prize in 1934 and was admitted ARIBA the following year.[7] Covell founded an architectural practice in 1937 in Westminster where he worked until drafted into the Army. During this period he taught architecture at Croydon College of Art.[8]

During World War II he served with the Royal Engineers and was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant in 1940.[7][9] He was evacuated from Dunkirk and later posted to Orkney where he was involved in the defenses of Scapa Flow. After being recalled to London he was posted to the British Military Attaché in Washington, where he stayed until the end of the war.[10]

Piccadilly Plaza, Manchester (1959)

After the war, he resumed architectural practice and was elected FRIBA in 1946.[7] Covell was joined by Albert Edward Thurman "Gerry" Matthews in 1948 to form "Covell & Matthews".[11] Matthews had also served in the Royal Engineers, seeing service in Italy and the Western Front.[10] They acquired work with the Ministry of Defence allegedly due to Marshall's wartime acquaintance with Montgomery. This work included contracts in Gibraltar during which time Albert Heasman joined the practice as a senior partner.[12][13]

Matthews' connections with developers led to their first major contract, part of the 1959 redevelopment of the Piccadilly Gardens area of Manchester City Centre, which led to the practice opening an office in Manchester.[10] The firm developed 'Piccadilly Plaza', a group of three buildings linked by a podium. The tallest, an office block originally called 'Sunley Tower', features a textured design on one side evoking circuit boards. The second, originally the 'Ramada Manchester Piccadilly' is a hotel. The third, 'Bernard House' featured a unique roof described as a "timber structure of hyperbolic paraboloid form, comprising of a main rib element on each of the four axes of twin Glulam Beams" but was demolished in 2001.[14] The Piccadilly Plaza is now considered by some to be an exemplar of modernist architecture.[15]

Livingstone Tower, Glasgow (1964)

By 1960 the practice had become "Covell Matthews and Partners" and it expanded rapidly over the following decade, with Brian Falk and John Wheatley joining the practice during this period.[10] By 1970 they had offices in Edinburgh and Aberdeen whilst Covell himself mostly remained based at the Lexington Street office in Soho.[8][11][16] Covell himself was elected FRIAS in 1965.[17] During this period the practice was associated with many buildings in Scotland and included the McCance Building (1962–64) and Livingstone Tower (1962-66) for the Royal College of Science and Technology (now Strathclyde University) and the brutalist John Lewis store in Aberdeen (1968–70).[18][19][20][21] However work in England continued including the residential estate at Bar Hill, Cambridge, and a pub in West Ham in 1968.[8]

Although Covell retired in 1972, the practice continued as the "Covell Matthews Partnership" and continued to evolve thereafter.[17]

Covell retired in 1972.[11] During the 1980s he served as governor and chairman of St Clement Danes School, Hertfordshire and was awarded the MBE in 1985.[38] He died in Crowborough, East Sussex on 16 December 2008, aged 77.[39]