Hugh Pearman
@hughpearman.bsky.social
Writer and editor on architecture. Chair of Twentieth Century Society. Book "About Architecture: An Essential Guide in 55 Buildings" published by Yale.
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
With essays by your fave architectural historians, incl. @hughpearman.bsky.social and
@osaumarezsmith.bsky.social
@osaumarezsmith.bsky.social
November 11, 2025 at 8:39 AM
With essays by your fave architectural historians, incl. @hughpearman.bsky.social and
@osaumarezsmith.bsky.social
@osaumarezsmith.bsky.social
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
Just 45 cooling towers left in Britain, all but one in the process of decommission and demolition. If, like me, you are fond of these silent sculptural giants scattered across the landscape, you will love @c20society.bsky.social supersized new book.
November 11, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Just 45 cooling towers left in Britain, all but one in the process of decommission and demolition. If, like me, you are fond of these silent sculptural giants scattered across the landscape, you will love @c20society.bsky.social supersized new book.
Had to write a cheque to pay for a government legal service. No other option. Cheque book took some finding. Last time I used it was to pay a locksmith in 2017. Felt so retro I used a fountain pen.
November 3, 2025 at 6:00 PM
Had to write a cheque to pay for a government legal service. No other option. Cheque book took some finding. Last time I used it was to pay a locksmith in 2017. Felt so retro I used a fountain pen.
He's building a mausoleum/shrine to himself isn't he? Someone will have designed the giant gilded effigy to go in it like an evil reclining Buddha.
October 25, 2025 at 9:18 AM
He's building a mausoleum/shrine to himself isn't he? Someone will have designed the giant gilded effigy to go in it like an evil reclining Buddha.
Us setting off to see our tiny new grand-daughter for the first time
October 19, 2025 at 8:11 AM
Us setting off to see our tiny new grand-daughter for the first time
So Sir Terry Farrell has died, aged 87, a fortnight after his one-time architectural partner Sir Nicholas Grimshaw. Farrell was a particularly talented large-scale urbanist. An era ends.
September 29, 2025 at 9:55 AM
So Sir Terry Farrell has died, aged 87, a fortnight after his one-time architectural partner Sir Nicholas Grimshaw. Farrell was a particularly talented large-scale urbanist. An era ends.
A Brit running Gaza? What could possibly go wrong? We could call it a "Mandate"
www.thetimes.com/article/4277...
www.thetimes.com/article/4277...
Sir Tony Blair ‘offers to lead interim governing body of postwar Gaza’
The Gaza International Transitional Authority could govern for up to five years. Blair is said to be supported by senior figures close to Trump
www.thetimes.com
September 26, 2025 at 8:52 AM
A Brit running Gaza? What could possibly go wrong? We could call it a "Mandate"
www.thetimes.com/article/4277...
www.thetimes.com/article/4277...
To think I got into this place a lifetime ago on the strength of two A levels and glandular fever www.thetimes.com/article/b3a3...
Durham wins University of the Year and dismisses ‘Oxbridge reject’ stereotype
Durham University has won University of the Year in The Times and The Sunday Times Good University Guide 2026 and LSE has taken the No 1 spot
www.thetimes.com
September 19, 2025 at 8:01 AM
To think I got into this place a lifetime ago on the strength of two A levels and glandular fever www.thetimes.com/article/b3a3...
How about a masterpiece OF kitsch?
The Sagrada Família is an immense, unfinished church in Barcelona, begun in 1882—“a famously slow project, even in a country where, to American eyes, many things move without haste,” D. T. Max writes.
Is the Sagrada Família a Masterpiece or Kitsch?
In the century since Antoni Gaudí died, his wild design has been obsessively realized, creating the world’s tallest church—and an endlessly debated icon.
www.newyorker.com
September 16, 2025 at 7:19 AM
How about a masterpiece OF kitsch?
So long, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, 1939-2025. One of the most original and inventive architects of his generation, an inspiring and effective President of the Royal Academy, and a gentleman.
September 15, 2025 at 2:26 PM
So long, Sir Nicholas Grimshaw, 1939-2025. One of the most original and inventive architects of his generation, an inspiring and effective President of the Royal Academy, and a gentleman.
Welsh flags outnumbering St
George flags by about 100:1 at the Last Night of the Proms
George flags by about 100:1 at the Last Night of the Proms
September 13, 2025 at 9:20 PM
Welsh flags outnumbering St
George flags by about 100:1 at the Last Night of the Proms
George flags by about 100:1 at the Last Night of the Proms
But who will play them in the inevitable film? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Defiant nuns flee Austrian care home for their abandoned convent in the Alps
Sisters Bernadette, Regina and Rita needed a locksmith to get back into their convent, defying Church leaders.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 13, 2025 at 8:33 AM
But who will play them in the inevitable film? www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Good to find a painstaking restoration project (the Big Ben or Elizabeth Tower) on the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist. Bit odd to find a house and a house extension also on the list - such projects don't win the Stirling because there are other awards for those. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Riba Stirling Prize: Big Ben tower restoration up for architecture award
The restoration of London's famous Elizabeth Tower is nominated for the prestigious Stirling Prize.
www.bbc.co.uk
September 4, 2025 at 10:55 AM
Good to find a painstaking restoration project (the Big Ben or Elizabeth Tower) on the RIBA Stirling Prize shortlist. Bit odd to find a house and a house extension also on the list - such projects don't win the Stirling because there are other awards for those. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
EVENT: C20 Open Mic Night
📆 Thu 25 Sep 2025, 6.30pm
📍Cowcross Street + Online
🎫 c20society.org.uk/events
Returning after a hugely popular debut, another evening of short talks by young & early-career specialists in 20th century heritage - from Sainsbury's public art to a Crittall Windows new town.
📆 Thu 25 Sep 2025, 6.30pm
📍Cowcross Street + Online
🎫 c20society.org.uk/events
Returning after a hugely popular debut, another evening of short talks by young & early-career specialists in 20th century heritage - from Sainsbury's public art to a Crittall Windows new town.
September 2, 2025 at 10:22 AM
EVENT: C20 Open Mic Night
📆 Thu 25 Sep 2025, 6.30pm
📍Cowcross Street + Online
🎫 c20society.org.uk/events
Returning after a hugely popular debut, another evening of short talks by young & early-career specialists in 20th century heritage - from Sainsbury's public art to a Crittall Windows new town.
📆 Thu 25 Sep 2025, 6.30pm
📍Cowcross Street + Online
🎫 c20society.org.uk/events
Returning after a hugely popular debut, another evening of short talks by young & early-career specialists in 20th century heritage - from Sainsbury's public art to a Crittall Windows new town.
So tired of the performative flag waving going on. It's so un-British. We don't have a cult of the national flag as the USA does. We don't regard it as a sacred object. Until recently our prime ministers managed without it as a backdrop. Our monarch still does. We know what country we are in. Bah.
August 21, 2025 at 6:54 PM
So tired of the performative flag waving going on. It's so un-British. We don't have a cult of the national flag as the USA does. We don't regard it as a sacred object. Until recently our prime ministers managed without it as a backdrop. Our monarch still does. We know what country we are in. Bah.
Please do not use the words 'iconic' 'dystopian' and 'vibrant' anywhere near me, lest I turn violent.
August 18, 2025 at 8:21 AM
Please do not use the words 'iconic' 'dystopian' and 'vibrant' anywhere near me, lest I turn violent.
I'm going to run away and join the 'geopolitical circus'.
August 15, 2025 at 11:19 AM
I'm going to run away and join the 'geopolitical circus'.
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
The broadcaster Samira Ahmed was recently appointed president of the Twentieth Century Society. She talks to Apollo about conserving the built environment and making people feel that it matters
Samira Ahmed, Twentieth Century woman
The broadcaster and new president of the Twentieth Century Society talks to Arjun Sajip about conserving the built environment and making people feel it matters
buff.ly
August 12, 2025 at 1:00 PM
The broadcaster Samira Ahmed was recently appointed president of the Twentieth Century Society. She talks to Apollo about conserving the built environment and making people feel that it matters
Couldn't at first work out what they'd done to my local Lidl. They made it quite hard to get to the checkouts, via a narrow corridor. Then I found you couldn't exit at all after that unless you had kept your paper receipt to scan. Drastic action to reduce now endemic level of theft.
August 5, 2025 at 4:02 PM
Couldn't at first work out what they'd done to my local Lidl. They made it quite hard to get to the checkouts, via a narrow corridor. Then I found you couldn't exit at all after that unless you had kept your paper receipt to scan. Drastic action to reduce now endemic level of theft.
I have eaten the first Victoria plum of the season from the slowly dying plum tree in our garden. It was delicious as only a ripe, thin-skinned, yellow-fleshed Victoria plum can be.
August 3, 2025 at 4:33 PM
I have eaten the first Victoria plum of the season from the slowly dying plum tree in our garden. It was delicious as only a ripe, thin-skinned, yellow-fleshed Victoria plum can be.
This is more like it. @tommckinney.bsky.social on the R3 breakfast prog gathering examples of loved modernist buildings from listeners. Seifert's Tolworth Tower, Spence's Coventry Cathedral, ACP's Dunelm House in Durham among them. Lovely @c20society.bsky.social
July 24, 2025 at 7:35 AM
This is more like it. @tommckinney.bsky.social on the R3 breakfast prog gathering examples of loved modernist buildings from listeners. Seifert's Tolworth Tower, Spence's Coventry Cathedral, ACP's Dunelm House in Durham among them. Lovely @c20society.bsky.social
Great news! Welcome @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social!
NEWS: C20 is delighted to announce that distinguished journalist and broadcaster @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social has been elected as our new President. She becomes the fifth female president in the Society's 46 year history, and succeeds Catherine Slessor in the role.
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/samira-...
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/samira-...
July 8, 2025 at 11:57 AM
Great news! Welcome @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social!
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
I am thrilled to be President of the Twentieth Century Society. Honoured to support the work of celebrating and protecting our architectural heritage.
July 8, 2025 at 9:58 AM
I am thrilled to be President of the Twentieth Century Society. Honoured to support the work of celebrating and protecting our architectural heritage.
BBC Radio 3 doesn't appear to be on Bluesky, which forced me back to X to admonish it. A slowed-down music quiz on the breakfast show? Excruciating.
July 8, 2025 at 7:01 AM
BBC Radio 3 doesn't appear to be on Bluesky, which forced me back to X to admonish it. A slowed-down music quiz on the breakfast show? Excruciating.
This always puzzled me. Why DID meat - all home-produced - have to be rationed for 9 years after the end of WW2? Was it all diverted to export, in which case which countries bought it?
On this day 4th July 1954
Fourteen years of food rationing in Britain ended with the lifting of restrictions on the sale and purchase
of meat and bacon
Artist: Harry Wingfield
Fourteen years of food rationing in Britain ended with the lifting of restrictions on the sale and purchase
of meat and bacon
Artist: Harry Wingfield
July 4, 2025 at 8:09 AM
This always puzzled me. Why DID meat - all home-produced - have to be rationed for 9 years after the end of WW2? Was it all diverted to export, in which case which countries bought it?