Saving a Century: Pevsner, Conservation and the Victorians
Susie Harries to give lecture for The Arts Society Ealing
Pevsner consider St Mary's Church in South Ealing as a significant example of Victorian ecclesiastical architecture
April 23, 2025
A biographer of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner is to give a talk on his complicated relationship with Victorian architecture and his battle to save it.
Susie Harris is given a lecture on ‘Saving a Century: Pevsner, Conservation and the Victorians’ at the next meeting of The Arts Society Ealing on Monday 28 April.
‘Unbeautiful but of value’: Victorian buildings embodied many of the characteristics that Pevsner most deplored – rampant individualism, unnecessary ornament, historical fancy dress. He reserves some of his best adjectives for Victorian architecture – ‘hamfisted’, ‘distressing’, ‘flabby’, ‘noisy’, ‘rum’. But he also considered it indispensable as the most vivid record of a period when Britain led the civilised world. Under his leadership the Victorian Society fought to conserve it, so hard that it would be credited with having saved a whole century. This lecture looks at Pevsner’s views on the Victorians, the battles he won – and those he lost. A
The lecturer is a writer, editor and lecturer specialising in 20th century culture and the arts. She has published eight books on subjects including official war art, opera and the composer Elisabeth Lutyens, as well as the biography of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, published in August 2011.
She lectures to a range of audiences, from the Imperial War Museum and British Museum to the Twentieth Century Society, the RSA, the Cheltenham and Bridport Literary Festivals, and the Victorian Society.
This talk is at 7:30pm at St Barnabas Church Hall, Pitshanger Lane, Ealing (W5 1QG).
Visitors are welcome to attend at £8 per lecture (£3 for students); payment can be made in cash or by card on the evening.
The Arts Society Ealing belongs to the large umbrella organisation, The Arts Society, previously known as the National Association of Decorative and Fine Arts Societies (NADFAS), which was founded in 1968. The local Society has a membership of around 140.
The Arts Society Ealing holds 10 lectures a year and more information can be found by visiting its web site.
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