Wellington architect Stanley William “Bill” Toomath FNZIA has died.

Born in Lower Hutt in 1925, Bill gained his BArch from what was then the Auckland College of the University of New Zealand in 1949 before completing a MArch at the Harvard Graduate School of Design. A brief stint working with Walter Gropius at the Architects’ Collaborative and then with I. M. Pei in New York was followed by a return to New Zealand in 1954.

In 1957, along with Derek Wilson, Bill established Toomath and Wilson, which in turn became Toomath Wilson Irvine Anderson in 1972.

Notable projects include: Toomath Senior house, Lower Hutt (1949); Wool House, Featherston Street, Wellington (1955); Mackay house, Silverstream (1961); Toomath House, Mt Victoria (1964) – in which he built a replica of the study from Antonello da Messina’s St Jerome in his Study (circa 1460-1475); and which was recognised with an enduring architecture award from the NZIA – and Wellington Teachers’ College, Donald Street, Karori (1966–1977).