After the Second World War, London looked to the future. Recovering from the destruction of the Blitz and seeking to banish the decrepit Victorian city, in the 1950s and 60s it embraced modernism and embarked on a great project of architectural reinvention. Taking the best ideas from Europe and trying to keep pace with America while maintaining its own traditions, the Square Mile remade itself through new landscapes for a confident new age. From modernist icons and brutalist skyscrapers to aerial walkways, bogus roadways and curious underpasses, urban historian Mike Althorpe (aka walking tour guide The London Ambler) pulls together the key projects and landmarks of the City’s once bold future to chart the architecture, buildings and remnants of what was and what might have been.
Mike Althorpe is an urban historian, architectural researcher, educator and story teller with a passion for the history, streets and buildings of the greatest city on earth.
Graduating from Kingston University with a BA in Fine Art, he went on to complete a research MA at the University of Westminster focussing on London’s Architecture, history and spatial development. He has spent the past eighteen years producing a variety of built environment events, publications, exhibitions and outreach projects.
Most recently he co-authored Social Housing (RIBA Publishing) and curated the exhibition of the same name in London in 2017 and at New York’s Center for Architecture in 2018. In 2018 he was a recipient of the RIBA Research Fund and, with Abigail Batchelor, published Revolutionary Low Rise which explored international low rise, high density housing.
Please book by 1pm on the day of the lecture.
Free to members / non-members £5 or book the season (see the separate listing).