Te Kāhui Whaihanga is sad to learn that architect Morton Jordan died on Friday, 22 September. Our thoughts and condolences are with his family and friends at this time.
Morton was born in Ohakune on December 23, 1936, where his father was the local doctor. He moved to Auckland and trained as an architect at the University of Auckland in the 1950s. While there, as part of a one-day assignment to design a shelving system, Morton invented Laddershelving, a clever prefabricated scheme that developed into a successful commercial business.
After graduation, Morton worked with Jim Hackshaw and Gummer & Ford. Domestic architecture was his specialty and he favoured simplicity in design and had great respect for materials. He designed his own family home in Glendowie in the 1960s, a dwelling described by friend Tony Watkins as “truly great architecture”. One of his final architectural projects was to design and build an extension to the house.
While working as an architect, Morton also created Timber Tanks, a business fabricating wooden water tanks. With his pilot’s licence and plane, he was able to fly himself to tank construction sites to direct and help with construction and installation. His two sons, Justin and Giles, now run the business.
Described by colleagues as a “thoroughly decent joker”, a “compelling character” and a “one off”, he will be missed.
From Grant Coupland, AFNZIA
Morton Jordan was such a compelling character. Brimming with self confidence and conviction, he was able to lead his clients, sometimes outside their comfort zones, to buildings that they came to enjoy, often without quite understanding how they arrived there.
After graduating, he worked for some years with Jim Hackshaw and adopted many of Jim’s very direct building practices and simple details, influenced to some degree by Jim’s work in the Group. Domestic architecture was his forte. In building, he relished being in charge of all aspects of the construction and design process. To him, design and building were a thrilling adventure, to be experienced and shared with all involved. Pole houses were amongst some of his earlier work, lending themselves to Morton’s desire for simplicity in structure and its direct expression. Because of his firm belief in his design and construction methods, it’s fair to say that he was sometimes confrontational. One of his last projects was to design and build an extension to his own house, which he had designed and built himself at an earlier time - a construction since demolished for redevelopment.
His delight in practical matters led him to develop the commercial enterprises of Laddershelving, a very simple prefabricated shelving system, and Timber Tanks, a prefabricated water storage system, able to be constructed in remote places.
He has left a legacy of apparently simple buildings that, when examined more closely, reveal a sensitivity to materials and site, the pleasure of use and attractive scale.