Event Type: Branch

Takes Place: 14th November 2025

Time: 7.30pm

Venue: Lecture theatre, Reading School, Erleigh Road, Reading RG1 5LW (cars enter through Erleigh Rd entrance - contact Chris Sexton for the gate code)

Description: This talk will examine the influence of the Gothic Revival on the visual culture of British cities. By focusing on the work of two influential architects– A.W.N. Pugin, co-designer of the Houses of Parliament, and Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, architect of Liverpool Anglican Cathedral and Battersea Power Station – it will demonstrate how the ideas they articulated about urban architecture impacted the look of British cities in the first half of the 19th and 20th centuries respectively. A comparison of their design philosophies will show the way Gothic Revival ideas were adapted to changing times. This is also a story of the power of history, of the way an examination of the past helped to address modern challenges and shape modern art.

How to book: Branch suppers precede each lecture from 6pm (cost £20 per person) and are held in the school’s refectory.

Price: HA members, students and school pupils free. Non-members visitors £3. Associate branch membership £10 per annum.

Tel: 01344 779321 or 07957 184342

Email: sexton44@gmail.com

Organiser: Chris Sexton

Lecturer: Dr David Lewis (Fellow of Kellogg College, Oxford)

Region: South-East England

Branch: Reading