Peter J. Blake

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

Peter J. Blake
Personal details
Born	1920 Berlin 1920, But Was Sent
Died	2006
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 J. Blake (1920–2006) was a Ritchie Boy (from Germany; Jewish) who trained at Camp Ritchie in class 23.

Biography

Peter Jost Blach was born in Berlin 1920, but was sent to England in 1933 by his parents (who followed later) after the Nazi regime came to power in Germany. In 1944, Blach became a naturalized United States citizen and changed his name to Blake, subsequently enlisting in the U.S. Blake was sent to Europe and was among the first U.S. troops to enter Berlin following the death of Adolf Hitler. In 1950, Blake would become an associate editor with The Architectural Forum, eventually rising to the level of editor-in-chief before leaving in 1972 for a similar position at Architecture Plus. During these years, Blake would also continue to practice in the field, designing houses and other buildings while also authoring a number of books on architecture and became known as both a practitioner and a critic of Modernism in architecture. In addition to his professional career, Blake also taught architecture at several colleges and universities, including courses at schools in Europe, Canada, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. In 1975, Blake accepted the position of chairman of the Boston Architectural Center, holding the position until he was offered a professorship in the Department of Architecture and Planning at The Catholic University of America in 1979. Blake would remain at CUA until his retirement in 1991, serving as chairman of the department from 1979 until 1986. During his term as chair and that of his predecessor, Blake oversaw the development of the Summer Institute for Architecture and the Master of Architecture for students with non-architectural degrees, as well as a pre-professional degree program. Blake would move to Connecticut after his retirement and would continue to write articles and books, in addition to authoring a regular column for both New York magazine and Interior Design, prior to his death in on December 5, 2006. In 1938, Blach began studying at the University of London, and one year later he became a student at the Regent Street Polytechnic School of Architecture in London.

Research notes

• OSS
• Noted architect
• 440-g

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

Sources

• Camp Ritchie class roster (classes 1–31), merged research file
• 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)