Max remembers Neave

The introduction came through the Pentad Housing Association, where we both worked on the now Grade II-listed Winscombe Street.

Neave was a very clever designer with a strong vision, and a very practical understanding about the way things worked physically. When he was working on the tender drawings for the project, he asked me to work on the building services. He knew exactly what was needed and he brought the plans to me with a list of items that needed to be designed.

The stipulation for ‘clean, modern, electric heating’ became ‘off-peak, electric, controllable, fanned, quiet heating designed to be incorporated into Neave’s special furniture’ under his direction. He included the requirement for ‘plans for the placing of three WC sets, not quite one-above-the-other, to allow for zoning or division into flatlets’. Did this mean I had to prove it was not possible? Not according to Neave. It meant I had to draw a way to make it work.

I learned to enjoy all this with Neave. Other stimulating details arose to suit the architectural programme. Were they all solved? Well, it was great intellectual fun and I appreciated the stimulation he offered. I earned a lot of knowledge and about two and half denarii an hour.

Neave spent a long time on those Pentad houses, but once they were complete he needed to find another job. The new Borough of Camden offered an idealistic framework overseen by then-borough architect Sydney Cook, for what has come to be recognised as ‘Cook’s Camden’. Built during the 60s and 70s, it’s a programme widely regarded as the most important urban housing constructed in the UK in last century.

Neave rose to the challenge, working first on Fleet Road, and then on the greater design challenge at the Alexandra and Ainsworth Estate at Alexandra Road. He would proudly tell the story of the Planning Committee rising to a chorus of spontaneous applause when Alexandra Road was presented for approval.

While working in Camden he stimulated a similar body of housing work in Camden, Branch Hill, Maiden Lane, Mansfield Road, Gordon House Road and more.

I believe that the economic turmoil of the 1970s, including the introduction of the three day week, led to the decline in the appreciation of architectural value in society. It led to Neave having to change his style of life in many ways. He accepted a professorship at the University of Karlsruhe, moving to a more academic approach to architecture, teaching and further developing his theories. He often commented that, even though his academic ideas and ideals had earned authority and kudos, his detailed design work was less valued.

Having lived in one of the Pentad houses, he downsized to a flat on the Dunboyne Estate in Fleet Road and transferred much of his energy to improving the life of tenants on estates, and attitudes towards property maintenance. He enrolled to study art at Goldsmiths and became an accomplished painter. I would visit with him in the mountains of the Cévennes in France, where we would walk amongst the rocky hills, admiring the cliff scape and engaging in intellectual discussions on social structures, sustainability and the evolution of the human race. The conversations were often quite forceful, even aggressive at times, where no opinion was taboo.

All of Neave’s built work has been acknowledged with heritage listings. He was a thoroughly deserving winner of the RIBA Gold Medal. I thank him for his friendship, and his intellectual rigour. I shall miss him.'

Max Fordham, 29^th January 2018