Winter Online Talks Series
29 January – 11 March 2025
This winter lecture series organised by Lynne Walker provides the opportunity to engage with recent, path-breaking research by leading experts, and offers 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.
Each talk is £6 and includes a recording that you can access at any time.
Special Offer: Buy one ticket and get 7 talks for the price of 6! Book here
Victorian and Edwardian Women in Architecture: An Introduction by Lynne Walker
Wed 29 January, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Forty years after the first historical exhibition about the work of British women architects, the role and the richness of their participation and achievement remain largely unknown. Lynne Walker introduces a series of lectures that will extend our knowledge not only of women in architecture, but the Victorian period and its architectural and social history. Lynne Walker, a member of the Victorian Society since 1970, is a Fellow at the Institute of Historical Research in London and an Honorary Fellow of the RIBA. She has published widely on women in architecture and design and curated the foundational exhibitions Women Architects: Their Work (1984) at the RIBA and Drawing on Diversity: Women, Architecture and Practice (1997) in the RIBA Heinz Gallery.
Rhoda and Agnes Garrett, “House Decorators, Cabinet Makers, and Designers of all the Details of Household Furniture and Upholstery”: the History of a Business, 1874–1905 by Elizabeth Crawford
Tue 4 February, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Agnes (1845–1935) and Rhoda (1841–82) Garrett were the first women to run a professional interior design business. Thinking it essential to have a training, they served a three-year apprenticeship with the architect J M Brydon before embarking on an enterprise that, despite Rhoda’s early death, continued into the twentieth century. Elizabeth Crawford is the author of numerous articles and books, including Enterprising Women: the Garretts and their Circle (2002), which describes in detail the work of R. and A. Garrett – and that of their female friends and relations who did so much to transform the lives of women.
‘Girls are much easier managed than boys’: A.W. N. Pugin and Women by Rosemary Hill
Wed 12 February, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Pugin’s biographer explores the role women played in both Pugin’s personal and professional life and in particular his relationships with his mother and three wives. Rosemary Hill’s prize-winning biography, God’s Architect, A Life of the Gothic Revival Architect A W N Pugin was published in 2007. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature and the Society of Antiquaries, a former trustee of the Victorian Society, a trustee of the Pugin Society and a Quondam Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.
Victorian Chatelaine: Emily Meynell Ingram of Temple Newsam and Hoar Cross by James Lomax
Tue 18 February, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Emily Meynell Ingram (1840–1904) was one of the wealthiest independent women of her age. A childless widow for three decades, she ruled over and beautified two great country houses; built several churches, including Bodley and Garner’s masterpiece at Hoar Cross, Staffordshire; sailed her yacht; and became a cult figure to her heirs and dependants. The lecture will explore the life and legacy of a major female architectural patron. James Lomax is a retired decorative art curator who worked under Emily’s long shadow at Temple Newsam, Yorkshire, for thirty years. His biography of her was published in 2016.
‘A Plea for Women Practising Architecture’. Ethel and Bessie Charles, First Women Members of the RIBA by Henrietta McBurney
Tue 25 February, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
The Charles sisters, Ethel (1871–1962) and Bessie (1869–1932), achieved their training and qualified as professional architects despite persistent obstacles due to their gender. The talk will look at a selection of their sketchbooks and finished architectural drawings and consider their work against the background of late Victorian and Edwardian architecture and social history. Henrietta McBurney is an art historian and curator. She is currently working towards a biography of the artist, collector and patron Christiana Herringham (1852–1927).
‘Hang drawing!! I must go and help people’: Octavia Hill, John Ruskin, and Victorian Society by Professor William Whyte
Wed 5 March, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
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, 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 (2016).
Clotilde Brewster: A Life in Perspective: the Journey of the First Female international Architect by Laura Fitzmaurice
Tue 11 March, 7:00 pm – 8:30 pm
Described by the composer Ethel Smyth as brilliant, sociable, amusing and utterly original, Clotilde Brewster defied all the odds by becoming the first woman to work internationally as an architect. Her story offers a glimpse into elite professional life in Victorian Britain and Europe during the Victorian and Edwardian eras, highlighting the largely unknown role of women in architecture. Laura Fitzmaurice earned her Bachelor of Architecture from Cornell University. In addition to her design work, Laura researches and writes about early women architects. Her book Clotilde Brewster: Pioneering Woman Architect was published by Lund Humphries in November 2024.
