As professor and later dean of the School of Architecture at the University of Washington, Gordon Bennett Varey was a key component in helping educate a generation of architects in Washington state.

He was born in Everett on January 6, 1931 and moved with his family to Seattle during the war years where he graduated from Roosevelt High School in 1948. Varey completed his formal architectural training at the University of Washington, graduating in 1954. Like many of his fellow students, to gain further experience, during his senior year he worked as a draftsman at a local firm – Young, Richardson, Carleton & Detlie.

Upon graduation he spent two years in the United States Army Corps of Engineers, rising to the rank of 1st Lieutenant. After his service, Varey returned to Seattle and became a designer for his former employer, by then known as Young, Richardson & Carleton, Architects (1956-1957). Seeking additional experience, he took a job as a draftsman for Paul Hayden Kirk & Associates (1958-1961). Reportedly while there he was responsible for completing the drawings of the University of Washington Faculty Club.

Afterward he joined the architectural firm of Nelsen & Sabin, and soon he became a partner. The firm, renamed Nelsen, Sabin & Varey, created numerous notable projects including the LDS Church at Alderwood Manor Ward in Mountlake Terrace (1961 Seattle AIA Honor Award); the Benjamin Weeks House in Seattle (Seattle AIA Honor Award 1962); a collection of cabins at Camp Sheppard – a Boy Scout camp near Mt. Rainier (1964); a home for artist Morris Graves (1967); the YWCA/YMCA – University of Washington Chapter House (1967); and Miller and Bond Halls at Western Washington University in Bellingham (1968).

Varey remained at the firm until 1967 when he left to take a job as a permanent faculty member with the University of Washington’s School of Architecture program. He had been teaching classes there part-time since 1962 and quickly rose to the rank of Associate Professor in 1968. He then became the Department Chairman in 1972, and then Dean of the College in 1982, a position he held for almost ten years. Varey retired as dean in 1991.

Among his accomplishments while at the university was the establishment of the School of Architecture’s widely praised Rome program at the Palazzo Pio. Varney strongly believed that students who studied in a foreign culture gained more understanding and broader appreciation of American lifeways, which in-turn, would make them better architects and designers. At his urging, the University acquired a portion of the Palazzo in exchange for helping to restore the building. With the help of University of Washington Professor Astra Zarina, it soon became the envy of other architectural schools.

Varey and his wife, Mary, died in a tragic helicopter accident while on vacation in Mexico on November 1, 1994. Upon his death, a memorial garden was established at southeast corner of Gould Hall at the University of Washington as a tribute to Varey’s time on the faculty and his dedication to the school’s architectural program.

– Michael C Houser