Walter Bevan Charles Rutt (known as Bevan) was born on 24 January 1916 the son of architect, Charles Walter Rutt and Lilian May (nee Nienaber), the third daughter of Mr O.H. Nienaber, formerly of Hamburg. Growing up in the suburb of St Peters, Bevan had three older sisters, Ellen Elizabeth, Gwyneth May and Edith Winifred, and attended the nearby College Park Congregational Church. His father died on 17 February 1932 aged 56, when Bevan was aged only sixteen. He was educated at King’s College then at the University of Adelaide where he attained a Diploma in Architecture. He married and had two children, Philippa Prentice and Charles Collins Leighton and lived at Hazelwood Park. He passed away on 12 January 1988.
In 1933 Bevan Rutt was articled to Philip Claridge (Page 1986: 125) with whom he stayed until 1938. In 1939 Rutt graduated with an Associate Diploma in Architecture from the South Australian School of Mines and Industries. He gained employment with the Chief Engineer’s Department of the South Australian Railways between 1939 and 1945 (Page 1986: 196). He worked for Woodhead for a time before joining in partnership with James Hall between 1950 and 1955 (Page 1986: 189). Subsequent to this Bevan Rutt formed a partnership with R. Bain Roberts as Bevan Rutt and Roberts from 1955. They also formed a partnership with Kevin McPhee in 1964. Rutt retired from architectural practice in 1973.
Rutt became a Registered Architect with the Architects Board of South Australia in 1941 and was the thirteenth architect to do so. He was a Fellow of the South Australian Institute of Architects and an Associate member of the Royal Institute of British Architects. He was elected member for the Hindmarsh ward of the Adelaide City Council from 1960 to 1971, and served as the Chair of the Building and Town Planning Committee of the Adelaide City Council from 1969 to 1971. He was also a Justice of the Peace. Rutt received an OBE in 1969.
He served the visually handicapped through his community service to the Board of the Royal South Australian Institute for the Blind and the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association of Australia as well as membership of the Australian Foundation for the Prevention of Blindness. He was Executive Officer for the Guide Dogs for the Blind Association of South Australia and the Northern Territory. He was the World President of the World Council of Young Men’s Service Clubs from 1950 to 1952. He was a member and served as President in 1948 of the Apex Club of Adelaide and Charter President of the Lions Club of the City of Adelaide in 1961 as well as District Governor of Lions International from 1964 to 1965. He was a member of St Peter’s Masonic Lodge, the Commonwealth Club, and the Sporting Car Club of SA to name just a few of his club affiliations (South Australian Biographies 1980).
The shared headquarters of the Wheat Board, Barley Board and the Co-operative Bulk Handling Authority at Grain House, South Terrace, Adelaide was a major commission for Rutt. And, as Page explained, ‘[e]ach of these organisations had their own ideas as to the design of the building and looked for priority treatment. Rutt had to work tactfully with them on the building, and its subsequent extensions, to create a design which would satisfy each of the three clients without it looking as though it had “been designed by a committee”’ (Page 1986: 240).
Bevan Rutt and Roberts designed flats for the Totally & Permanently Incapacitated Soldiers Association at South Terrace, Adelaide in 1963. The Royal Society for the Blind complex at Gilles Plains included an administration area, recreational facilities, a sheltered workshop and residential facilities for blind country visitors to the complex. To research such facilities Rutt had travelled to New Zealand to visit a complex of a similar type and incorporated ideas gathered from this trip into his design. Rutt also designed a complex for the handicapped for the Phoenix Society at Torrensville and carried out extensions to the Spastic Centre at Woodville.
Rutt designed many private residences and viewed these ‘as a significant aspect of his career because “each one was usually the ultimate investment for a client.” Each home was an individual challenge, to create a residence which would be practical and aesthetically pleasing within strict budget limitations’ (Page 1986: 240). One of the residences designed by Rutt was for Dr D.S. Forbes at Springfield (1958-9).
In 1955-6 Rutt planned alterations to Gay's Arcade for its owner J. R. Skipper. The arcade ran perpendicular to Adelaide Arcade opening onto Twin St in Adelaide. The 1961 Australian Barley Board Pavilion at the Wayville Showgrounds was another of the practice’s works. In 1963 Bevan Rutt and Roberts suggested means of reconstructing Brighton Memorial Arch at Brighton, working with structural engineers Hurren, Langman and James. Glen Osmond Institute Hall was altered by Bevan Rutt, Bain Roberts, and Mc Phee in 1964 with a new hall and library being added to the complex.
Industrial and manufacturing premises also formed part of Rutt and Roberts work, with factory at Quebec Street, Port Adelaide for W. & T. Rhodes Ltd. designed in 1959 and a factory and office at West Beach Road, Marleston for Harrison Shoes in 1960.
Bevan Rutt’s career demonstrates the wider influence an architect can have on their community, with professional, community and volunteer work all combining to make a difference.
Julie Collins
Citation details
Collins, Julie, ‘Rutt, Walter Bevan Charles', Architecture Museum, University of South Australia, 2008, Architects of South Australia: [http://www.architectsdatabase.unisa.edu.au/arch_full.asp?Arch_ID=94] | 
Architects of South Australia, Copyright 2008, Updated regularly