2024-11-21T10:41:20-05:00 https://archinect.com/news/article/150339135/robert-geddes-former-princeton-architecture-dean-and-philadelphia-roundhouse-designer-passes-away-aged-99 Josh Niland 2023-02-14T12:47:00-05:00 >2024-10-25T04:07:38-04:00 <img src="https://archinect.gumlet.io/uploads/84/84ddd6ecea2ab62740c2f9a09921d6a8.jpg?fit=crop&auto=compress%2Cformat&enlarge=true&w=1200" border="0" /><p>Former <a href="https://archinect.com/princetonsoa" target="_blank">Princeton University School of Architecture</a> Dean Robert Geddes has passed away at 99.</p> <p>Born in Philadelphia in 1923, Geddes served in the United States Army Air Force during World War II before finishing his studies at <a href="https://archinect.com/yale" target="_blank">Yale</a> and then earning an M.Arch from the <a href="https://archinect.com/harvard" target="_blank">Harvard Graduate School of Design</a>. From there, Geddes went on to practice briefly under Hugh Stubbins in Cambridge, designing what would be the <a href="https://www.robertgeddesarchitect.com/_assets/pdf/writings-interviews-lectures/2006-Second-Thoughts.pdf" target="_blank">runner-up</a> in the Sydney Opera House competition before returning to Philadelphia to form <a href="https://archinect.com/firms/cover/52878419/geddes-brecher-qualls-and-cunningham" target="_blank">Geddes Qualls Brecher Cunningham Architects</a> (or GQCA) in 1960.</p> <p>Their most significant building, the 125,000-square-foot Brutalist Philadelphia Police Headquarters has turned into one of the city&rsquo;s most fraught and essentially iconic landmarks. After initially being intended as a progressive example of then-Mayor Richardson Dilworth&rsquo;s &ldquo;de-politicized&rdquo; police force, the structure would later take on a more sinister connotation as a symbol of violent authoritarianism and abuse thanks to (un-autho...</p>