John Harris was born on 13 August 1931 in
Hackney, London, to Maud, a housewife, and Frederick Harris, an upholsterer. In 1956, he joined the
Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) Library and Drawings Collection in London, becoming curator of its British Architectural Library's Drawings Collection from 1960 to 1986. This included the establishment in 1972 of a permanent home for the Drawings Collection in the James Adam-designed house at 21 Portman Square (moved to the
V&A Henry Cole Wing in 2002), next door to and sharing with the
Courtauld Institute at Home House, 20 Portman Square (moved to
Somerset House in 1989). Harris founded and organised 42 exhibitions at the Heinz Gallery, on the ground floor of 21 Portman Square, opened in 1972, designed by Stefan Buzas and Alan Irvine, given by Mr and Mrs Henry J Heinz II, being the first purpose-built gallery for the display of architectural drawings in the English speaking world. The Gallery was purchased in 2000 by the
Irish Architectural Archive and moved in 2003–4 to the ground floor of their relocated premises at 45 Merrion Square, Dublin, which opened to the public in 2005. and the founding in 1975 of
Save Britain's Heritage. He was editor of
Studies in Architecture 1976–99. In 1996 he was a visiting scholar at the Getty Research Center,
Getty Villa, Santa Monica. Harris also played a crucial role in the establishment of the
Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal and the Heinz Architecture Centre in the
Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh. He was a member of Mr. Paul Mellon's London Acquisitions Committee for ten years. Harris worked on the Victoria and Albert Primary Galleries Project (1996–2001). He was on the Board of Trustees of
The Architecture Foundation. He was a Fellow of the
Society of Antiquaries of London. He was an expert on
Palladian architecture, and wrote about, among many others,
Lord Burlington,
William Kent, and
Sir William Chambers. Harris was married to American historian and author Dr
Eileen Harris (from circa 1961), had a son, Lucian Guthrie, and a daughter, Georgina, and lived in London and Badminton, Gloucestershire. He died on 6 May 2022, aged 90. File:John Frederick Harris, UK.jpeg|John Frederick Harris, UK File:John Frederick Harris 2, UK.jpeg|John Frederick Harris 2, UK ==Bibliography==