Brian O'Rorke

New Zealand born O'Rorke was a well-known Modernist designer who was trained in architecture at Cambridge University and the Architectural Association, London. His reputation was made as a designer for the Orient Line luxury steamships, particularly the Orion liner (1934-5), featured in the pro-Modernist Architectural Review in 1935, and the Orcades (1937). Working closely with the Orient Line's owner, Kenneth Anderson, who was anxious to give his ocean liners a clean, modern aesthetic, O'Rorke also designed furniture and chairs. Other designers commissioned by Anderson included Edward McKnight Kauffer and Marion Dorn. O'Rorke was also responsible for many other interiors for aircraft and trains as well as domestic and commercial commissions that included the Berkeley Hotel, London, and the Mayor Gallery, London (1933). The latter was an important promoter of Modernism, showing the work of avant-garde artists, architects, and designers including members of Unit One. O'Rorke also designed the Royal Observatory, Herstmontceux, built between 1953 and 1958.

New Zealand-born architect, he was best known for his Modernist interiors from the 1930s, including the liner Orion (1934–5) and the Mayor Gallery, London (1933). He was appointed Architect of the National Theatre to be erected in London, but the project was abandoned (Lasdun's National Theatre was erected on a different site and to a much expanded brief). At Derby Hall, University of Nottingham (early 1950s), however, he used a stripped-down Classical manner derived from the work of Soane that influenced McMorran & Whitby in their work for the same University.

Bibliography

• personal knowledge; Pevsner (ed.), BoE, Nottinghamshire (1979)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)