The Victorian Society Explained

The Victorian Society
Nickname:The Vic Soc
Formation:1958
Headquarters:1 Priory Gardens, London, England
Leader Title:Director
Leader Name:James Hughes
Leader Title2:Chair of Trustees
Leader Name2:Professor Hilary Grainger
Leader Title3:Patron
Leader Name3:The Duke of Gloucester KG, GCVO
Leader Title4:President
Leader Name4:Griff Rhys Jones

The Victorian Society is a UK charity and amenity society that campaigns to preserve and promote interest in Victorian and Edwardian architecture and heritage built between 1837 and 1914 in England and Wales. As a statutory consultee, by law it must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition or structural alteration.

Goals

The society, a registered charity, fights to protect Victorian and Edwardian heritage from demolition or careless alteration. As a membership organisation, the majority of its funding comes from subscription fees and events. As one of the National Amenity Societies, The Victorian Society is a statutory consultee on alterations to listed buildings, and by law must be notified of any work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition.

The society:

History

Foundation

The society's foundation was proposed in November 1957 by Anne Parsons, Countess of Rosse at her preserved Victorian home at 18 Stafford Terrace, Kensington (Linley Sambourne House), with the intention of countering the widely prevalent antipathy to 19th- and early 20th-century architecture.[1] [2] From the 1890s into the 20th century, Victorian art had been under attack, critics writing of "the nineteenth century architectural tragedy", ridiculing "the uncompromising ugliness" of the era's buildings and attacking the "sadistic hatred of beauty" of its architects. The commonly-held view had been expressed by P.G. Wodehouse in his 1933 novel, Summer Moonshine: "Whatever may be said in favour of the Victorians, it is pretty generally admitted that few of them were to be trusted within reach of a trowel and a pile of bricks."

The first meeting was held at Linley Sambourne House on 28 February 1958. Among its 30 founder members were the first secretary John Betjeman, Henry-Russell Hitchcock and Nikolaus Pevsner, who became chairman in 1964.[2]

Directors

Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh was secretary from 1961 to 1963. Former Bletchley Park codebreaker, Jane Fawcett, managed the society's affairs as secretary from 1964 to 1976.[3] Christopher Costelloe took over as director from Ian Dungavell in 2012.[4] Joe O'Donnell succeeded Costelloe as director in September 2020.[5]

Work

The society has worked to save numerous landmark buildings such as St Pancras Station,[6] Albert Dock in Liverpool, the Foreign Office and Oxford University Museum.[2] Its campaigns have not always been successful, notably its failed attempts to save the Euston Arch from demolition in 1961.

Examples of the society's work with churches include making complaints against proposals of church PCCs to use upholstered chairs during renovation,[7] [8] and appealing against proposals to raise money by selling original features.[9]

In 2015, the society launched a campaign to preserve Victorian gasometers, after utility companies announced plans to demolish nearly 200 of the now-outdated structures. Costelloe, the society's director at the time, commented: "Gasometers, by their very size and structure, cannot help but become landmarks. [They] are singularly dramatic structures for all their emptiness."[10]

The society publishes an annual list of the Top Ten Most Endangered Victorian or Edwardian Buildings in England and Wales.[11]

The Victorian magazine

Published three times a year since 1998[2] for the members of the society, The Victorian magazine contains book reviews, society news and events, casework reports, and interviews.[12]

Victorian Society in America

The Victorian Society has a sister organisation in the United States, the Victorian Society in America, founded in 1966 in New York City, by such champions of historic preservation as Brendan Gill, Henry-Russell Hitchcock, and Margot Gayle; it was borne from the outrage they felt at the 1964 destruction of New York's Pennsylvania Station. the Victorian Society in America is based in Philadelphia with 12 registered chapters,[13] mostly in the Eastern United States.

Counterpart bodies

The counterpart organisations to the society for the protection of the heritage of earlier and later periods are the Georgian Group (for buildings erected between 1700 and 1840) and The Twentieth Century Society (for post-1914 buildings).

See also

Sources

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Parsonstown: The genius of the Parsons family: London Links . Parsonstown website . 19 December 2017 . Heald . Henrietta.
  2. History of the Victorian Society . Filmer-Sankey . William . The Victorian Society . The Victorian . 1 . 1998 . 10 April 2019.
  3. News: The deb who sank the Bismarck . . 4 June 2016 . 3 June 2016.
  4. Web site: New chapter for Victorian Society as director announces his departure | Victorian Society.
  5. Web site: Joe O'Donnell appointed new Director of the Victorian Society Victorian Society . 10 September 2020 . victoriansociety.org.uk.
  6. News: Not just a building, but a joy to behold. Ken Livingstone must hate St Pancras . Simon . Jenkins . Simon Jenkins . The Guardian . London . 9 November 2007 . 19 December 2017.
  7. News: Not the comfy chair! Parishioners given Spanish Inquisition by church court over cushions . Bingham . John . . 22 August 2016 . 27 October 2016.
  8. Web site: Re Holy Trinity Long Itchington ECC Cov 7 . Ecclesiastical Law Association . 27 October 2016.
  9. Web site: Historic font saved after landmark ruling by church court . Victorian Society . 19 March 2009 . 27 October 2016.
  10. News: Sean . O'Hagan . Sean O'Hagan (journalist) . Gasworks wonders . . 14 June 2015 . 10 September 2020.
  11. Web site: 2018 Top ten endangered buildings . The Victorian Society . 8 October 2018 . 3 August 2019.
  12. Web site: The Victorian . The Victorian Society . 20 December 2017.
  13. Web site: About Us . The Victorian Society in America . 19 December 2017.