Peter Jost Blake

Record status: unconfirmed. Class-roster match confidence is medium. Correct the infobox if you have a source, and note it on talk.

Peter Jost Blake
Personal details
Born	1920 Berlin, Germany
Died	5 December 2006 Branford, Connecticut
Nativity	Germany
Religion	Jewish
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch	United States Army
ASN	0929736
Rank	Private First Class
Camp Ritchie	Class 23 (25 September – 23 November 1944)
Section	5A
Team	MII 440-G

Teammates

Team — MII 440-G

These are other soldiers listed on the same team roster. People moved between teams; overlapping service dates are not always documented.

Research notes on this page are compiled from the source file and later edits. They may be unverified, incomplete, or incorrect, and should not be treated as established fact. Please correct the article or add sources on the talk page. For class-roster terms, see About the data.

Sources & confidence: Treat Research notes as leads, not settled fact. Prefer NARA, the class roster, newspapers, Find a Grave, or published histories for contested claims. Mark unsourced claims with {{Needs source}}, or explain disagreements on talk. Baseline import notes: About the data.

Peter Jost Blake (1920–2006) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 23.

Biography

Peter Jost Blake (born Peter Jost Blach) was born in 1920 in Berlin, Germany, to a prosperous Jewish family. After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933 he was sent to England, studied mathematics at the University of London, and entered the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture in 1939. He immigrated to the United States in 1940, studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania under Louis Kahn, and later completed architecture degrees at Pennsylvania (1941) and Pratt Institute (1949).

In 1944 Blake became a naturalized citizen, changed his surname from Blach to Blake, and enlisted. He trained as an intelligence officer at Camp Ritchie (Class 23) and served in Europe with MII Team 440-G, among the first U.S. troops into Berlin after Hitler’s death. He remained in the Army until 1947.

Blake headed MoMA’s architecture and design department in 1948, edited Architectural Forum (1950–1972), practiced as an architect, and wrote widely on modernism, including The Master Builders and God’s Own Junkyard. He chaired architecture at Catholic University from 1979 until retiring in 1991, then continued writing from Connecticut. He died of complications from a respiratory infection on 5 December 2006 at Connecticut Hospice in Branford.

Research notes

• OSS
• Noted architect
• Fixed malformed live birth_place text. No full birth day is in the packet. No military decoration is asserted.

Gallery

• 
  Washington Post obituary page for architect and author Peter Blake (RB Archive)

Technical record

Field	Imported value
Approx Age at Death	86
Class_ASN	32996525
Class_Name	BLAKE, Peter J.
match_method	pass2_unique_name
row_source	both

Timeline

• 1920 — Born Peter Jost Blach in Berlin, Germany.
• 1933 — Sent to England after the Nazi rise to power.
• 1938–1939 — Studied at the University of London and the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture.
• 1940 — Immigrated to the United States; studied architecture at the University of Pennsylvania.
• 1944 — Naturalized, changed surname to Blake, enlisted, and trained at Camp Ritchie (Class 23).
• 1945–1947 — Served in Europe with MII Team 440-G; among early U.S. troops into Berlin; remained in the Army until 1947.
• 1948 — Named curator of architecture and design at the Museum of Modern Art.
• 1950–1972 — Writer and later editor of Architectural Forum.
• 1979–1991 — Chairman / faculty, Department of Architecture and Planning, Catholic University.
• 5 December 2006 — Died in Branford, Connecticut.

Sources

• Washington Post obituary page for architect and author Peter Blake (RB Archive)
• Catholic University archives finding aid — Peter Blake papers
• Washington Post, 7 December 2006 — Peter Blake obituary (RB Archive copy)
• Camp Ritchie Museum, Inc. (The Ritchie History Museum), Classes 1–31 roster data
• Dan Gross research spreadsheets, including original Excel timeline/roster work, combined with other research and records
• NARA World War II Army enlistment records (where a NARA ASN is present)
• 1940 U.S. Census (where a census match is present)
• Ritchie Boys of WWII Facebook page, post dated 2022-12-09 (1 post)