Reference
Z368
Title
Gift from Mr Victor Farrar, architect of Bedford and successors
Production date
From: 1962 To: 1995
Admin/biog history
Victor John Frederick Farrar, RIBA, PPFAS, FRSA died in Bedford Hospital from a heart attach on 23 August 2006, aged 77, following an operation on a fractured hip, sustained in a fall at his home in Wilden a month earlier.
Born in Bedford, Victor was educated at Bedford Modern School between 1940-46. The following obituary was written by Richard Wildman and appeared in the January 2007 edition of The Eagle the BMS school magazine.
'An outstanding cross-country runner, later representing Bedford and the county: he was made an honorary life member of the English Cross-Country Union. After National Service in the Royal Engineers, Victor studied architecture at Rochester Technical college and with Bedfordshire County Council (under county architect S C Jury). Victor qualified as a building surveyor and joined the practice of Professor Sir Albert Richardson in 1950, later becoming chief assistant in the Ampthill office [Beds & Luton Archives have the Richardson collection]. This gave Victor training in classical design techniques, which he put to excellent use in his chosen speciality of building restoration. He started his own architectural practice in 1962, which later became the Victor Farrar Partnership. Victor was known throughout the dioceses of St Albans and Peterborough as a highly conscientious and efficent architect to numberous historic churches. In 1976, he wrote (for the Bedford Society) a report suggesting new uses for Bedford's four redundant parish churches, St mary, St Cuthbert, Holy Trinity and St Leonard, only the last of which has since been demolished. He was responsible for the restoration of the nave and chancel, and the re-ordering of the interior of St Paul's Bedford, in 1978, as part of which he reinstated a west gallery and crated useable spaces underneath.
Victory was a member of Great Barford parish council for 21 years from 1959, and became chaiman of the council. He was also honorary treasurer of the Bedfordshire Parish and Town Councils Committee for many years. He was a Past President of the Faculty of Architecs and Surveyors, and a member of the Architects' Benevolent Society executive committee, amongst several other professional bodies. Victor's other interests included inland waterways: he was a council member of the Great Ouse Restoration Society and had helped organise the Great Barford and Bedford River Festivals. For many years he kept a narrowboat on the Grand Union Canal.
Victor had served as chairman of the Bedford Society, a local amenity society, since 1980. Previously, he was the Society's consultant architect, and in that role he organised the successful restoration of the listed Regency-style Priory Terrace, 20-48 Bromham Road which was jointly owned by the Borough and County Councils. In 1970 they resolved to demolish it. At his own expense, Victor prepared a restoration scheme, and found a developer (Kingsbury Securities) willing to buy the near-derelict terrace and convert it into offices and flats. The restored Priory Terrace was opened by Michael Barratt of BBC TV's Nationwide, in 1975, and is now considered to be one of the town's showpieces. At that time it was rare to find a professional willing to take a public stand against the post-war 'establishment', which in Bedford, as in many towns, saw little merit in the preservation of what we now call 'heritage.'Later on, with typical generosity, when approached by the Club and the School, Victor immediately offered to act, without charge, as supervising architect for the restoration of the Writing School Gates at the School Field in Clarendon Street, completed in 2005. Nothing was too much trouble for Victor to undertake on behalf of an historic building or piece of craftsmanship. Like his mentor Sir Albert Richardson, Victor was adept at lightning sketches, especially of churhces, which he would sometimes work up into designs for Christmas cards. Victor leaves a widow, Denise and two children Roxana and Nicholas.'
Level of description
fonds