13/2/23. James Stirling: Buildings and Projects 1950-1974. James Stirling's untimely death in 1992 cut short an immensely fruitful creative career which began in the 1950s. One of the most inventive - and controversial - British architects of the post-war period, Stirling came to international attention in the early 1960s with the completion of Leicester University Engineering Building - now recognized as a landmark in 20th-century architecture