Introduction to Heritage Assets: 19th- and 20th-Century Convents and Monasteries

A short description of the history and architecture of English nineteenth and twentieth-century convents and monasteries, with an emphasis on their most significant attribute

Good Fairies

An account of Edwin Lutyens' design for Great Maytham Hall, and of Frances Hodgson Burnett's 'secret garden' ther

The Success of Failure

This is the text of an invited address given to The Annual Colloquium of Doctoral Students of the Institute of Technology (ITA) and the History and Theory of Architecture (GTA) at ETH Zurich on 17 November 201

Ugliness and Judgment: On Architecture in the Public Eye (review)

A review of Ugliness and Judgment: On Architecture in the Public Eye, by Timothy Hyde (Princeton University Press, 2019

A.W.N. Pugin's English residential architecture in its context

The file comprises both volumes of the original thesis. For copyright reasons a number of images were removed.This Dissertation investigates all of A.W.N. Pugin’s known English residential architecture for the first time, placing it in the context of the domestic and institutional architecture of comparable small buildings, particularly Anglican parsonages, of the period in which he lived and worked. The Dissertation is preceded by a summary of the theoretical issues that architects were addressing from the beginning of the nineteenth century, in particular those which Pugin was later to make a central part of his own theoretical writings. Following an examination of the conventions of the domestic architecture of the period, the Dissertation analyses Pugin’s own buildings, primarily categorising them by plan type. Pugin’s attitude to the orientation, location and landscape of his work is then considered, followed by an analysis of his preferred building forms, their materials, their detailing, and their decoration. In addition, the Dissertation investigates the extent to which Pugin’s architecture was actually historicist, reviving English or Continental Gothic forms and details. The Dissertation further investigates Pugin’s professional practice as a domestic architect, defining the nature of his partnership with his favoured building contractor, George Myers, in the context of contemporary contracting practice. The practical problems of Pugin’s constructions, and the character of his professional relationship with his clients are also assessed. The thesis proposes that elements of Pugin’s architectural theory existed previous to his career amongst English architectural writers and critics, but that medium and small houses designed between 1800 and the mid-1840s were overwhelmingly based on a limited number of conventionalised plans. It will show that Pugin’s residential planning was inherently different from that of these conventional buildings, and that it is classifiable into a number of distinct categories. This thesis furthermore argues that Pugin’s residential architecture was often far from functional and was not essentially historicist. This thesis will show that the planning of medium and small houses changed radically from the 1840s, incorporating aspects of planning which Pugin had pioneered; a conclusion suggests to what extent Pugin’s architectural creativity was expressive of cultural change and preoccupation beyond the realm of architecture. An Appendix is attached which summarises the chronology of all of Pugin’s known residential works

Peter Blundell Jones

An obituary of Peter Blundell Jone

Picturesque, Modern, Tudor-Style : Edgar Ranger in Thanet

An article on the mainly neo-Tudor houses designed by Edgar Ranger in Broadstairs, Dumpton Park and Cliftonville, Thanet, East Kent, between the mid 1920s and 1930s. There is reference also to Thanet Place, designed for Lord Vestey by Ranmger with Sir Charles Allom

Architecture and the Edwardian Era

This lecture, given at Gresham College on 13 March 2018, presents a new theory of Edwardian domestic architecture based on the contemporary interest in remodelling old houses, and of designing new houses to look as if they have been remodelled. The lecture proposes adding three major houses to the canon of Edwardian domestic architecture: Kingsgate Castle, near Broadstairs; Daws Hill, High Wycombe; and Vann, Hambledon, Surrey. Video and audio recordings can be found on the website given here

James Stirling: Victorian Architect

The text of a short talk delivered to launch the RIBA Late 'Less is More. Less is a bore' programme of events, on 28 March 201

Year Zero: 1906

A talk by Timothy Brittain-Catlin at Sir John Soane's Museum, 13 February 2019, to mark the publication by Machine Books in association with the Museum of Year Zero: 1906, one in a series of talks to mark watershed years in architectural histor