This is a recording of an online talk, The Architecture of "Greater Britain": Style and Empire1885-1915 which was recorded on 13th Mar 2024.
This talk is part of the Online Winter Talk Series 2024 called Victorian and Edwardian Architecture in the Wider British World. Follow this link to book all of the talks.
Although the sun has long-since set on the British Empire, its architecture still casts a long shadow. For the 2024 Spring Lecture series the Victorian Society will be visiting Australia, Canada, India, South Africa, Malaysia and New Zealand, with a number of the lectures coming from those countries themselves. A range of themes or positions will be discussed, for the architecture of the colonisers to the legacy they left behind to the manner in which the foreign architecture was adapted and adopted by the indigenous peoples who understood the nature of the climate and materials of their own countries. The lecture series ends with an overview and analysis of Edwardian Baroque architecture in ‘Greater Britain’.
The Architecture of "Greater Britain": Style and Empire, c.1885-1915 by Alex Bremmer
This lecture will consider the role architecture played in responding to perceived notions of British decline in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. It will focus in particular on the so-called Edwardian Baroque movement and its relationship to the idea of 'Greater Britain'. The Edwardian Baroque intersected in many different ways with contemporary societal concerns, including the economy, technology, politics, identity, language, nationhood, and empire. It was, in part at least, a projection of certain values and ideals, becoming a backdrop or 'theatre' against which events were seen to unfold. Here Alex Bremner will suggest that architects, their clients, and critics associated with the design of substantial public and commercial buildings during this period, both in Britain and in the wider British world, were acutely aware of the meaning that the Edwardian Baroque style carried.
Alex Bremner is Professor of Architectural History at the University of Edinburgh. His books include Imperial Gothic: Religious Architecture and High Anglican Culture in the British Empire, c.1840-70 (2013), Architecture and Urbanism in the British Empire (2016), and Building Greater Britain: Architecture, Imperialism, and the Edwardian Baroque Revival, c.1885-1920 (2022).
After booking a ticket, you will be given access to the recording of the event. Please ignore the event date in the listings.
This event helps raise funds for The Victorian Society - the only charity dedicated to fighting for our Victorian and Edwardian heritage. Join us today and safeguard our unique cultural heritage for future generations! For further information, click here.
The Victorian Society is an IHBC recognised CPD provider.
I mage: Executive Building, Brisbane
