Robert Furneaux Jordan
Encyclopedia
Robert Furneaux Jordan (10 April 1905 – 14 May 1978) was an English
architect
, architectural critic and novelist. Jordan was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham
, Birmingham School of Art
, and the Architectural Association School of Architecture
, London. He married Eira Furneaux Jordan in 1965. He worked as an architect from 1928 to 1961, after which he became an academic, broadcaster and lecturer, writing many books on architecture.
Other positions occupied were:
He wrote five crime novels under the name of Robert Player, mostly set in the Victorian and Edwardian periods and published from 1945 until the late 1970s. They contain a strong element of social satire, concerning the hypocrisy and corruptions of those periods.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
architect
Architect
An architect is a person trained in the planning, design and oversight of the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to offer or render services in connection with the design and construction of a building, or group of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the...
, architectural critic and novelist. Jordan was educated at King Edward's School, Birmingham
King Edward's School, Birmingham
King Edward's School is an independent secondary school in Birmingham, England, founded by King Edward VI in 1552. It is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham, and is widely regarded as one of the most academically successful schools in the country, according to...
, Birmingham School of Art
Birmingham School of Art
The Birmingham School of Art was a municipal art school based in the centre of Birmingham, England. Although the organisation was absorbed by Birmingham Polytechnic in 1971 and is now part of Birmingham City University's Birmingham Institute of Art and Design, its Grade I listed building on...
, and the Architectural Association School of Architecture
Architectural Association School of Architecture
The Architectural Association School of Architecture, more usually known as the AA, is an architectural school in London, United Kingdom...
, London. He married Eira Furneaux Jordan in 1965. He worked as an architect from 1928 to 1961, after which he became an academic, broadcaster and lecturer, writing many books on architecture.
Other positions occupied were:
- 1934-63, Lecturer at the Architectural Association School
- 1948-51 Principal, Architectural Association School
- 1951-61 Fellow, Royal Institute of British ArchitectsRoyal Institute of British ArchitectsThe Royal Institute of British Architects is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally.-History:...
- 1961-62 Hoffman Wood Professor of Architecture, University of LeedsUniversity of LeedsThe University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
- Visiting Professor, Syracuse UniversitySyracuse UniversitySyracuse University is a private research university located in Syracuse, New York, United States. Its roots can be traced back to Genesee Wesleyan Seminary, founded by the Methodist Episcopal Church in 1832, which also later founded Genesee College...
, New York - Architectural Correspondent, The ObserverThe ObserverThe Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. In the same place on the political spectrum as its daily sister paper The Guardian, which acquired it in 1993, it takes a liberal or social democratic line on most issues. It is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper.-Origins:The first issue,...
, London.
He wrote five crime novels under the name of Robert Player, mostly set in the Victorian and Edwardian periods and published from 1945 until the late 1970s. They contain a strong element of social satire, concerning the hypocrisy and corruptions of those periods.
Detective novels
- The Ingenious Mr Stone, 1945: a detective story about the poisoning of the ultra-High ChurchHigh churchThe term "High Church" refers to beliefs and practices of ecclesiology, liturgy and theology, generally with an emphasis on formality, and resistance to "modernization." Although used in connection with various Christian traditions, the term has traditionally been principally associated with the...
headmistress of a girls' school in Devonshire - Let's Talk of Graves, of Worms, of Epitaphs, 1972: ISBN 0575019220. A fictional account of an Anglican clergyman who becomes Pope, loosely based on Lytton StracheyLytton StracheyGiles Lytton Strachey was a British writer and critic. He is best known for establishing a new form of biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit...
's life of Cardinal Manning - Oh, Where are Bloody Mary's Earrings?, 1972: concerns a pair of earrings given as a wedding present by Philip II of SpainPhilip II of SpainPhilip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
to Mary I of EnglandMary I of EnglandMary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
, and the times they were stolen or copied between then and the Edwardian period - The Homicidal Colonel, 1974: concerns a psychopathicPsychopathyPsychopathy is a mental disorder characterized primarily by a lack of empathy and remorse, shallow emotions, egocentricity, and deceptiveness. Psychopaths are highly prone to antisocial behavior and abusive treatment of others, and are very disproportionately responsible for violent crime...
colonel from the American Deep South who reinvents himself as an English country squire and later disappears back to America, there committing a series of sex murders. - The Month of the Mangled Models, 1977: a series of murders set at the time of the Pre-RaphaelitePre-Raphaelite BrotherhoodThe Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais and Dante Gabriel Rossetti...
and Arts and Crafts movementArts and Crafts movementArts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
s
Works on architecture
- European Architecture in Colour: from the Greeks to the Nineteenth Century (1961)
- Le Corbusier (1972)
- Spirit of the Age - Eight Centuries of British Architecture (with Alec Clifton-TaylorAlec Clifton-TaylorAlec Clifton-Taylor OBE was an English architectural historian, writer and TV broadcaster.-Biography and works:...
, John Julius NorwichJohn Julius NorwichJohn Julius Cooper, 2nd Viscount Norwich CVO — known as John Julius Norwich — is an English historian, travel writer and television personality.-Early life:...
, Roy StrongRoy StrongSir Roy Colin Strong FRSL is an English art historian, museum curator, writer, broadcaster and landscape designer. He has been director of both the National Portrait Gallery and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London...
, John SummersonJohn SummersonSir John Newenham Summerson CH CBE was one of the leading British architectural historians of the 20th century....
, Mark GirouardMark GirouardDr Mark Girouard MA, PhD, DipArch, FSA is a British architectural writer, an authority on the country house, leading architectural historian, and biographer of James Stirling.- Family life :...
, Patrick NuttgensPatrick NuttgensPatrick John Nuttgens CBE was an English architect and academic.Patrick Nuttgens was raised in Piggotts Hill, near High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. His father, stained-glass artist Joseph Edward Nuttgens, married twice, and Patrick was one of four children from the first marriage. His mother died...
, Hugh CassonHugh CassonSir Hugh Maxwell Casson, KCVO, RA, RDI, was a British architect, interior designer, artist, and influential writer and broadcaster on 20th century design. He is particularly noted for his role as director of architecture at the 1951 Festival of Britain on London's South Bank.Casson's family...
) (1976) - Concise History of Western Architecture (1984)