Online Lecture: Octavia Hill, John Ruskin, and Victorian Society, by William Whyte

This talk is part of the Online Winter Lecture Series 2025 called Victorian and Edwardian Women in Architecture. Follow this link to book all of the lectures.

Organised by Lynne Walker

The spring lecture series provides the opportunity to engage with recent, path-breaking research by leading experts which gives a fresh perspective on women’s diverse roles in nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture as designers, patrons, clients, philanthropists, and businesswomen, as well as their emergence as professional architects by 1900. In the broad context of Victorian society, this series considers themes and issues which both facilitated and limited women’s agency and contribution in a male-dominated world, most notably, family, social and political networks, widowhood and wealth.

‘Hang drawing!! I must go and help people’: Octavia Hill, John Ruskin, and Victorian society,

by William Whyte

Best remembered now as one of the founders of the National Trust, Octavia Hill (1838–1912) devoted her life to improving the housing and living conditions of the urban poor. As William Whyte explains, her approach to social work was not just generally but very particularly shaped by her understanding of art and architecture, which can be traced back to her early years as a protégé of Ruskin.

Professor of Social and Architectural History at the University of Oxford since 2014, William Whyte is a historian specialising in the architecture of British churches, schools and universities. He contributed two chapters on Hill’s involvement with art and architecture to Octavia Hill, Social Activism and the Remaking of British Society, edited by Elizabeth Baigent and Ben Cowell (2016).

All attendees will be sent a recording of the talk.

Image: Redcross Cottages, Southwark. Photo by Stephen Craven. CC

Ticket Price: £6
Date: March 5th, 2025
Time: 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm
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