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Peter Carter fonds

Peter Carter fonds

Part of

People

  • Peter Carter (archive creator)
  • Peter Carter (architect)

Title

Peter Carter fonds

Dates of creation

1943-1996

Form

  • archives

Level of archival description

Fonds

Extent and Medium

  • 7263 drawings (including reprographic copies)
  • 2007 photographic materials
  • Approximately 65 panels
  • 3 l.m. textual records
  • 26 models
  • 1 enclosing unit
  • 1 carpet sample
  • 1 graphic design layout for stationery letterhead
  • 1 brown oak sample
  • 1 window sample
  • 1 sign
  • 1 carioca stone
  • 1 travertine block
  • 1 grey carpet tile

Scope and Content

The Peter Carter fonds, 1943-1996, documents the professional career of architect Peter Carter. More specifically, materials in this fonds relate to the various phases of Carter`s career, ranging from student projects he executed at the Northern Polytechnic School of Architecture and the Illinois Institute of Technology to architectural projects he completed for the offices of Mies van der Rohe and Bregman & Hamann. The largest portion of the archive corresponds to projects Carter completed as principal of the office, Peter Carter Architect (1974-96).

Approximately 86 built and unexecuted projects are represented in this fonds. The fonds holds a vast selection of architectural drawings, consisting of surveys, maps, conceptual and study drawings, design development, working, consultant, and presentation drawings. Photographs display architectural drawings, construction materials, construction sites, and the interior and exterior views of models and completed buildings from various perspectives. The fonds includes a portrait of Carter’s office team, two views of his team at work and a publicity photograph of Carter and Dennis Mannina during the Mansion Square Project Inquiry. Presentation and study panels display architectural drawings and photographs of various built projects.

Textual documentation consists of correspondence, meeting minutes, contracts, project descriptions, planning committee reports, memos, public enquiry documents, financial reports, invoices, estimates, notes, architectural details, office calendars, promotional materials, newspaper clippings, book excerpts, periodicals, and published articles by Peter Carter.

Artefacts in this fonds include models for the following architectural projects: the City Planning Studies, the British National Theatre Project, the Toronto Dominion Centre- Third Building, the King Street Tower, the Hambro Life Centre / Fleming Way Development I, the Chivas Brothers / Seagram Ltd. Bottling Plant, the Garden Court Housing Community and the Hambro Life Centre. The fonds also contains the following objects for the Hambro Life Centre project: a full-size sample of an enclosing skin unit, a carpet sample, an English brown oak sample, a graphic design layout for stationary letterhead for Hambro Life Centre Architects, a Hambro Life Centre sign, and a full-size sample of a window construction. A carioca stone, a travertine block, and a grey carpet tile used in the construction of the Hambro Life Tricentre (Allied Dunbar) are also included in this fonds.

Reference Number

AP047

Arrangement

The fonds has been arranged into 9 series to reflect the phases of Carter’s academic and professional career.

Series Student Projects: England 1943-1950

Series Work with London County Council Architect’s Department and Independent Projects: England 1950-1956

Series Eero Saarinen’s Office and Independent Projects: USA 1956-1957

Series Studies at the College of Architecture, Illinois Institute of Technology: Chicago, USA 1957-58

Series Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Office and Independent Projects: Chicago 1958-71

Series Bregman & Hamann's Office: Toronto, Canada 1971-74

Series Peter Carter Architect: England 1974-96

Series Peter Carter Miscellaneous Projects and Documents

Series Other Architects

Biographical notes

Peter Carter (March 7, 1927- 2017) was born in London, England. He studied architecture at London’s Northern Polytechnic School of Architecture from 1943-50. From 1950-1956, Carter worked on a number of post-war housing projects for the London County Council Architect's Department. After turning down an Architectural Fellowship to study at Yale University in 1956, Carter joined the office of Eero Saarinen in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.

From 1957-1958, Carter completed a master’s degree at the Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture in Chicago; there, he studied under German-American architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Upon graduation, Carter was appointed an associate at the office of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. As an associate of Mies’s firm, Carter contributed to the design of various projects; he was the project architect for the Toronto Dominion Centre in Toronto (1970) and the Mansion House Square in London (1971). During this period, he authored the monograph, Mies van der Rohe at Work (1974).

In 1971, Carter left Mies’s office and moved to Toronto, Canada to join the practice of Bregman & Hamann. There, he was the design architect for several executed and unexecuted projects, including the Massey Concert Hall (1972), the Stock Exchange Project (1973), the Ontario Law Courts (1974), and the CBC Radio and Television Centre (1974).

In 1974, Carter returned to London and established the office of Peter Carter Architect. His team consisted of two former graduates of the Illinois Institute of Technology's College of Architecture: Dennis Mannina and Stephen LeRoith. Noteworthy commissions undertaken by Peter Carter, Architect include the Chivas Bros/Seagram Ltd. Bottling Plant, Darnley, Scotland (1974); the Arrow Chemical Plants, Swadlincote (1977); the Hambro Life (Allied Dunbar) Tricentre, Swindon (1985; 1990; 1991); the Allied Dunbar Financial Management College in Chisildon and Wanborough (1987); the Hambro Life Centre, Swindon (1988); the Anthony Wedgewood Benn Archive Library, Stanstead (1989); the Chamber Theatre Arts Centre, Moscow (1990); and the Opera House Project, London (1992).

In the early 1990s, Carter closed his architecture office in London, but continued to design and plan architectural projects.

Conditions governing access

  • Open for use by qualified researchers. Access by appointment only. Please speak with reference regarding any citations related to materials from this archive.

Conditions governing reproduction

  • For copyright information or permission to reproduce material from the fonds, please contact the CCA (reproductions@cca.qc.ca).

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

  • Gift of Peter Carter, 2000 Gift of Bregman & Hamann Architects, 1992, 1997

Custodial history

The Peter Carter fonds was donated to the Canadian Centre for Architecture on March 28, 2000 by Peter Carter. The CCA received the materials in 1992 and 1996. An addition was made to the fonds in 1992 and 1997 by Bregman & Hamann Architects.

Archivist's note

  • The materials in this fonds were arranged by the CCA in 1997. A fonds level description was created by Patricia Di Palma on February 8, 2017.

Location

England United Kingdom

Credit line

When citing the collection as a whole, use the following citation:
Peter Carter fonds
Collection Centre Canadien d'Architecture/
Canadian Centre for Architecture, Montréal
When citing specific collection material, please refer to the object’s specific credit line.

Language of material

English

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