A Tribute to Alan Moody 1930 – 2022
As Honorary Secretary, Alan served members of the Northern Architectural Association Council, guiding the Association through the period leading up to regionalisation of the RIBA when in 1971 the Association ceased to function as the Regional Office. It included negotiations with the Charity Commission on rule changes and membership, based upon his great understanding of the Association’s original aims. In 1985, along with Cyril Winskell, Alan managed arrangements for the John Dobson Festival featuring an exhibition and the Glover Centennial Glover Lecture. He took a leading role in presenting a report to the Northern Architectural Association Council, and in 1989 was instrumental in seeking approval from the Charity Commission in reviving membership of the Association, which took place in 1990, for all architects in Northern Region.
An Associate of the RIBA, through his membership of the Northern Architectural Association, Alan registered as an architect in 1954. He joined the practice of Douglas Wise and Partners in 1960 where, in his early days, he worked mainly on Police Authority buildings and on the Castle Leazes Halls of Residence project, while taking evening classes to teach trainee architectural assistants and technicians.
Alan enjoyed an almost encyclopedic knowledge on many subjects, in particular of historic buildings, becoming a consultant to the Directorate of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings in 1977 and subsequently with English Heritage in 1983, producing reports on many abbeys and castles, supervising consolidation and repair programmes while designing visitor centre facilities, most significantly at Fountains Abbey, Hexham Abbey, Tynemouth Priory and Castle, and Belsay Hall, Castle and Manor. Darlington Borough Council sought his advice on renovation work in the Horse Market area. Quinquennial inspections were completed on numerous churches throughout the diocese. When Secretary to the Newcastle and Northumberland Society, he was frequently consulted by local planning authorities.
Alan was of an age when schools of architecture taught that “all architects are gentlemen” and throughout his career he lived by that professional code and discipline. In 1995 the Douglas Wise Partnership closed and Alan retired with his wife, to live in North Yorkshire, where in 2022 he passed away at the age of ninety two.