Architectural Dynasties Series

We are pleased to announce our new Architectural Dynasties Series – a series of four online talks commencing 13th April.

If you take even the most cursory glance at the index of any Buildings of England volume it would be clear that dynasties enjoyed great prevalence in post-medieval architectural culture. A roll-call of famous British architects would necessarily include them: the Adams, Pugins and Wyatts, for instance, while others, like Sir Christopher Wren and Sir John Soane, had frustrated dynastic ambitions. Architectural dynasties, moreover, were pan-European phenomena, from the Italian Fontanas to the Russian Benois and the German Böhms.

A case can easily be made that dynasties had their heyday in the Victorian and Edwardian period including leaders of the profession like the Scotts and the Caroes, the more aloof and unsung Bucklers, and, in France, the Vaudoyers, a dynasty which spanned the period between the Revolution and the 1920s.

Yet architectural dynasties as a phenomenon have not had much scholarly attention. This four-part series will bring them into focus by examining what can be learnt by thinking about them as groups spanning larger time-spans than individuals. Key questions across the series might include: What was at stake for dynasties and those who supported them? Did architects ‘do’ architecture any differently by virtue of belonging to a dynasty, for instance in inheriting a bias for a particular style? What would the built environment look like had there not been architectural dynasties?

The series includes talks by two practitioners who descend from Victorian dynasties, Oliver Caroe and Nick Gilbert Scott, and two architectural historians, Barry Bergdoll and Joshua Mardell. All talks are to be held at 7pm.

For £15 you can gain access to all 4 of our Dynasty series talks by purchasing our package ticket here. You can buy individual tickets below:

The Caroe Dynasty: a family and its home over four generations - 13 April

Oliver Caroe, surveyor of St Paul’s Cathedral, discusses his descent from the Victorian and Edwardian architect W. D. Caroe.

The Vaudoyers: a French architectural dynasty 1756-1975 - 4 May

Historian and curator Barry Bergdoll examines transformations in French architectural culture through the lens of the Vaudoyer dynasty of architects.

Scale, inhabitation and detail: architectural reflections from a fifth generation Scott architect - 8 June

Architect Nick Gilbert Scott talks about his famous ancestors, including his grandfather Sir Giles and his great-great grandfather, Sir George.

Gables and Fables: the Buckler Dynasty - 6 July

Architectural historian Joshua Mardell introduces the unsung Buckler dynasty of Gothic Revival architects and topographical draughtsmen.

18/03/2021


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