John K. Rauch, celebrated architect and cofounder of Venturi & Rauch, has died at 91
He was pragmatic, diplomatic, and adept at organizing finances and construction schedules. So he was in charge of the architectural firm's day-to-day operations. He was also a talented painter.
John K. Rauch, 91, of Philadelphia, retired award-winning architect, cofounder and managing partner of the Venturi & Rauch architectural firm, and painter, died Tuesday, Aug. 16, of end-stage dementia at Brandywine Hall in West Chester.
From 1964, when he and architect Robert Venturi established Venturi & Rauch in Philadelphia, through 1987, when he resigned as partner of Venturi, Rauch & Scott Brown, Mr. Rauch supervised the strategy, project management, construction, finances, contracts, client relations. and other aspects of the prestigious firm.
A gregarious role model to younger colleagues and known for “his masterful grasp of the totality of architecture,” Mr. Rauch helped the firm gain hundreds of contracts for celebrated institutional designs in the United States, Europe, and the Middle East. With Venturi and his wife, Denise Scott Brown, creating many of the designs and Rauch overseeing day-to-day operations, the firm grew from fewer than 50 employees and billings of $2.5 million in 1986 to 75 people and billings of $8 million in 1987.
Noted by critics for its “architectural design elements of wit, humanity, and historical reference,” the firm’s projects included work for the National Gallery in London, Princeton and Shippensburg Universities, and museums in Seattle; Austin, Texas; La Jolla, Calif.; and elsewhere. Its local designs were featured at, among other places, the University of Pennsylvania, the Guild House on Spring Garden Street, the Philadelphia Zoo, and the world headquarters of the Institute for Scientific Information at 35th and Market Streets.
In 1986, Mr. Rauch said the ability of his architects to complete diverse projects kept the company in demand. He told The Inquirer: ”There are no dos or don’ts. … The assumed business imperatives of profit maximization and return on capital are really not the higher priorities in our business. And yet, if you were to proceed in a way that was not businesslike, you’d blow yourself up in six months.”
Venturi, known by many as the father of postmodern architecture, told The Inquirer in 1986 that Rauch was “a very good architect and one of the best design critics I have ever known.” A mutual friend said Venturi referred to his partner as his “Rauch of Gibraltar.”
Through 2012, the firm, later called Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates Inc. and known now as VSBA Architects & Planners, received nearly 100 awards for its designs, including the 1983 Firm Award from the American Institute of Architects. Mr. Rauch resigned after differences surfaced among the partners but remained as a consultant in 1988 and 1989.
Mr. Rauch won the 1992 John Frederick Harbeson Award from the Philadelphia chapter of the AIA for “significant contributions over [his] lifetime to the architectural profession and its related disciplines.” He was active on several architectural boards, councils, and committees; was an AIA fellow emeritus; and served as president of the Philadelphia chapter of the AIA and as a member of the national AIA’s documents board.
“He had an unshakable understanding of and commitment to the underlying design intent of each project,” a colleague said in a tribute. “His imprint is on all the buildings produced by the firm.”
After his retirement, Mr. Rauch painted often, especially landscapes. He earned a certificate from the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in 2001, and his work was shown at the Artists’ House Gallery and elsewhere.
Born Oct. 23, 1930, in Philadelphia, Mr. Rauch graduated from Lower Rancocas Valley Regional High School in Mount Holly in 1948. He spent two years at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, served as a military policeman in the Army, and earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture at the University of Pennsylvania in 1958.
He married Carol Pfaff in 1953, and they had sons Dave, Dan, and Peter, and daughters Kate and Anne. After a divorce, he married Carol McConochie in 1981, and they lived in a house he designed in Chestnut Hill.
Mr. Rauch had a wry sense of humor, liked to whistle, and walked often along the Wissahickon Creek. He and his wife played Scrabble, and he read deeply about history, political and social science, and economics.
His wife said she often describes him with three words. Dignity. “Almost everyone called him ‘sir,’” she said. Integrity. “He was false to no man,” she said. And charity. “He had a deep kindness in him,” she said.
“He was a great companion,” his wife said. “He taught me so much.”
In addition to his wife, children, and former wife, Mr. Rauch is survived by five grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, a sister, and other relatives. A brother died earlier.
Services are to be later.
Donations in his name may be made to the Friends of the Wissahickon, 40 West Evergreen Ave., Suite 108, Philadelphia, Pa. 19118, and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Attn: Development Department, 128 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, Pa. 19102.