Architect Jacob Blacker had a rare talent for marrying modernist style to heritage buildings.
He had a fine voice and his Orthodox Lithuanian-born father wanted him to be a chazan but he was set on architecture. After qualifying at Cape Town University, he sailed to the UK in 1957. Settling in Hampstead, North West London, he joined renowned modernist architect Erno Goldfinger, and set up his own practice in 1966.
He became an expert in the sensitive modernising of Victorian and Georgian houses, and worked on over 100 listed buildings. From 1978-86 he was restoration architect for the Queen Anne period Burgh House in Hampstead, now a cultural and community centre. In 1989 he became chairman of the Camden Society of Architects.
He also designed the display areas of the Museum of Islamic Art in Jerusalem, which opened in 1974, and was involved with reconstruction work on David's Citadel, in the Old City.
He is survived by his wife, Del, whom he married in 1962, three sons and a granddaughter.