Sir – Thank you for publishing Mr Ross-Smith’s generous tribute (Letters, May 9) to Rick Mather, architect, of whom you had published a handsome obituary the preceding week.

I had known that Mather was American-born but the story of his family background in Oregon and of the boyhood experiences that brought him into the architectural profession were new to me, enlightening, and welcome. Mather came to this country to study urban design.

Was it then the attraction of the smaller-scale, more varied, historical contexts of our environment, to which he seemed so naturally to adapt himself, that held him to establish his practice in London in 1973? The only surprise has been to learn that he died aged 75 — I had thought him a full ten years younger. One example of Mather’s ouvre, not in Oxford but worthy of visit, is his extension, completed in 2000, of Sir John Soane’s Dulwich Picture Gallery in south-east London.

Readily accessible, it’s well worth a visit on three counts: Sir John Soane’s small masterpiece itself, the first-ever public art gallery in England, austerely classical, of London stock brickwork, opened in 1817; Mather’s lauded extension and renovations (includes a cafe!); and the gallery’s collection. Even by public transport, given an early start, a day excursion to Dulwich is a fruitful and pleasurable venture — viewing inside and out best enhanced by summer daylight.

John Barrow, Headington