ARIBA 1930; ISAA.
Worked for four years in J WATERSON's office in Johannesburg while studying architecture at the University of the Witwatersrand. In 1928 he went to London to study at the Architectural Association from where he graduated in 1930 and passed the RIBA final examination in the same year. He remained in Britain for some time, spending six months in the office of Pite, Son & Fairweather in London, detailing the new Sutton Hospital. He spent five years with Lanchester & Lodge, FFRIBA, London, preparing and supervising the working drawings for the new Birmingham Hospital Centre. Throughout this period overseas he travelled, visiting other parts of England as well as Holland, Belgium, France and America. In 1934 he worked in New York, and then in Canada and in 1935 he entered for the Henry Saxon Snell Prize. In 1936 he was placed second in the competition for the government offices in Salisbury (Harare), Rhodesia (Zimbabwe). His experience in England led him to specialise in the design and planning of hospitals, useful on his return to South Africa in 1936, where he entered into partnership with GFC STEGMANN in about 1937 in the firm STEGMANN, ORPEN & PORTER. This practice was responsible for the design of several large hospitals in the Transvaal. He is recorded in 1959 of address 10th Floor, Management House, c/o Siemens Street and Melle Street, Braamfontein, Johannesburg. His practice continued at the same address (recorded in 1969) as STEGMANN and PORTER, after ORPEN had resigned his membership of the ISAA in 1957 in order to act as executive director of the Timber and Allied Materials Development Association.
(ARIBA nom papers (1930) 4578; SAAR Dec 1930:133; SAAR May 1936:170) (Transvaal Inst. practicing. ISAA Yearbook, 1959) All truncated references not fully cited in 'References' are those of Joanna Walker's original text and cited in full in the 'Bibliography' entry of the Lexicon. Books citing PORTER |