The C F A Voysey Society
In his speech of thanks for the dinner that was given to mark his 70th birthday in 1927, the architect and designer C F A (Charles) Voysey (1857-1941) declared: ‘my work was never popular, therefore you must all see how…
design
Ian Nairn’s Morris Minor
This year marks the 70th anniversary of the publication of a special edition of the prestigious Architectural Review. The June 1955 supplement was devoted to a now-famous single essay called ‘Outrage’, Ian Nairn’s critique of the ways in which Britain’s towns and cities were being rebuilt from the rubble and ruins of the Second World War.
This week: Co-op architecture
Today, the Co-op group has 65,000 employees, £11bn in revenues, and thousands of shops around the country. Yes, there have been some high-profile hiccups in recent decades – but the movement which spawned it has come a long way since 21 December 1844, when a group of Rochdale textile workers pooled their savings to open a store selling basic commodities at fair prices.
This week: Lakes
Lancelot 'Capability' Brown is the towering genius of English garden architecture. Born in Northumberland in c.1715-16, this low-born son of a land agent and a chambermaid would go on to design groundbreaking naturalistic schemes of enduring beauty and enormous sophistication for many of the country's grandest country houses – from Chatsworth to Compton Verney and from Alnwick Castle to Blenheim Palace.
Eugène Viollet-le-Duc
Viollet-le-Duc needed connections: he had elected not to study architecture, preferring to learn on the job.
The fabulous Mariano Fortuny
Fortuny’s designs were hugely successful among the fashionable elite of the early 20th century, and admired by intellectuals and femmes du monde alike.