Reimagining Seven Dials

Come on a walk to share the imaginations and reimaginations of writers, artists and architects in Seven Dials. We explore an area of alleys and courtyards close to Covent Garden, formerly the site of London's most notorious slums and now an area of extravagant leisure, listening to descriptions by Dickens and others of its buildings and the Rookery of St Giles and relating them to Hogarth's famous print of Gin Alley. We look at how the area has been reimagined from the 19th to the 21st century with the earliest surviving social housing and one of its most charming community gardens. And we admire the way in which modern architects have reimagined these areas - in some cases perhaps more controversially than in others - for the life styles of 21st century Londoners.

The guide, Anthony Davis, is a graduate in Architectural History at UCL The Bartlett and also holds master's degrees from Oxford and London Universities. He is an experienced guide who also writes and lectures on architectural and bibliographical topics.

This walk is part of the London Festival of Architecture 2024. It was previously given in the LFA 2023.

Photo credit: Luke O'Donovan for the LFA 2019