Kathleen James-Chakraborty presents the keynote lecture Beyond Britain: Writing Architectural History Elsewhere Today at the SAHGB’s symposium Architectural Historiography in the British Isles: National and International Perspectives.

Nearly half a century after Mark Girouard published Life in the English Country House: A Social and Architectural History, the idea that historians of architecture should analyse society as well as form, and write about space as well as style, is no longer novel. Today, the scholar of the English country house is as likely to address the source of the money that funded its creation and running, or the materials and the labour used to construct it, as the layout of its rooms and the changes in hospitality that generated them. This is readily apparent in the way in which both Dana Arnold and Stephen Brindle have recently addressed the buildings that formed the meat of Sir John Summerson’s survey of architecture in Britain from 1530 to 1830. 
Surveying monographs published in the last decade by scholars writing in English, but not based in Britain, demonstrates the increasingly wide variety of social issues currently capturing attention. From documenting the ways in which the creation and use of the built environment have enforced social inequality, to determining the environmental impact of their construction and energy use, we are now addressing issues of concern to the larger society. We have also broadened the parameters of what we investigate. Aesthetically ambitious structures commissioned by powerful men no longer largely dominate the subjects we choose to investigate. Girouard’s continuing impact can be seen, however, in the increasing popularity of building biographies. These are more apt to chart how a building was used than detail design and construction processes, or even reception. While all disciplinary shifts can result in losses as well as gains, this responsiveness to new concerns indicates the robust intellectual health of our field, even as it faces enormous challenges.

Saturday 15 November 2025, 09:30-19:00

Courtauld Institute, Vernon Square, Penton Rise, LondonWC1X 9EW

https://www.sahgb.org.uk/whatson/architectural-historiography-in-the-british-isles