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.
This little hillside chapel suddenly hoved into view as we descended a lane from the Alpine heights of Matlock Bath/Dale in Derbyshire. Architect Guy Dawber, built 1897, clinging to a forested cliff above a trickling spring. In the care of the excellent @friendlesschurches.bsky.social
January 3, 2026 at 10:22 PM
This little hillside chapel suddenly hoved into view as we descended a lane from the Alpine heights of Matlock Bath/Dale in Derbyshire. Architect Guy Dawber, built 1897, clinging to a forested cliff above a trickling spring. In the care of the excellent @friendlesschurches.bsky.social
'Jazz and blues infused' renditions of classical music: just stop it, please.
December 23, 2025 at 3:47 PM
'Jazz and blues infused' renditions of classical music: just stop it, please.
It's a splendidly varied collection
1️⃣ Our 2025 Coming of Age list of the best British buildings now eligible for national listing is topped by the extraordinary Neasden Temple in Brent - Europe’s first traditional Hindu temple.
(BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir - Chandrakant Sompura, 1992-95)
➡️ c20society.org.uk/coming-of-ag...
(BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir - Chandrakant Sompura, 1992-95)
➡️ c20society.org.uk/coming-of-ag...
December 16, 2025 at 9:43 AM
It's a splendidly varied collection
So John Carey has died at 91. The king of readable lit crit, Oxford all his life but no whiff of High Table about him, recruited by Harry Evans to the Sunday Times and still writing there in 2023. And he could rock a leather jacket in his 80s.
December 12, 2025 at 11:01 PM
So John Carey has died at 91. The king of readable lit crit, Oxford all his life but no whiff of High Table about him, recruited by Harry Evans to the Sunday Times and still writing there in 2023. And he could rock a leather jacket in his 80s.
Notable that half of the 6 architecture firms shortlisted to design the National Gallery's big extension are led by women - Moussavi, Selldorf, Seilern. Alongside them, Foster, Piano and Kuma.
December 3, 2025 at 9:01 AM
Notable that half of the 6 architecture firms shortlisted to design the National Gallery's big extension are led by women - Moussavi, Selldorf, Seilern. Alongside them, Foster, Piano and Kuma.
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
December 2, 2025 at 8:48 AM
This is a shame. When the university bought the listed former HMRC campus by Hopkins it seemed a great outcome. What now?
Struggling University of Nottingham already selling £80m 'vanity project' campus - Nottinghamshire Live share.google/HHxHIHj10nY1...
Struggling University of Nottingham already selling £80m 'vanity project' campus - Nottinghamshire Live share.google/HHxHIHj10nY1...
Struggling university selling £80m 'vanity project' campus
Unions criticised the 'vanity project' as being partly to blame for hundreds of job cuts
share.google
November 30, 2025 at 12:07 PM
This is a shame. When the university bought the listed former HMRC campus by Hopkins it seemed a great outcome. What now?
Struggling University of Nottingham already selling £80m 'vanity project' campus - Nottinghamshire Live share.google/HHxHIHj10nY1...
Struggling University of Nottingham already selling £80m 'vanity project' campus - Nottinghamshire Live share.google/HHxHIHj10nY1...
New laptop, and as always I feel cheated that they haven't installed a better Internet
November 30, 2025 at 11:40 AM
New laptop, and as always I feel cheated that they haven't installed a better Internet
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
And from Art nouveau to Ziggurats join fellow architectural style lovers for the @c20society.bsky.social
Christmas lecture..Last few in person tickets here. But there are also tickets to watch online...
One for all twentieth century-loving girls and boys
Christmas lecture..Last few in person tickets here. But there are also tickets to watch online...
One for all twentieth century-loving girls and boys
EVENT: Join C20 President @SamiraAhmedUK
for our annual Xmas Lecture: From Cathedrals to Cooling Towers–Global stories about the buildings that bond us.
🗓️ Tue 2 Dec 2025 6.30pm – 8pm
📍 The Gallery, Cowcross St+Online
🎟️ Book tickets: @c20society.bsky.social
secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
for our annual Xmas Lecture: From Cathedrals to Cooling Towers–Global stories about the buildings that bond us.
🗓️ Tue 2 Dec 2025 6.30pm – 8pm
📍 The Gallery, Cowcross St+Online
🎟️ Book tickets: @c20society.bsky.social
secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
November 27, 2025 at 4:50 PM
And from Art nouveau to Ziggurats join fellow architectural style lovers for the @c20society.bsky.social
Christmas lecture..Last few in person tickets here. But there are also tickets to watch online...
One for all twentieth century-loving girls and boys
Christmas lecture..Last few in person tickets here. But there are also tickets to watch online...
One for all twentieth century-loving girls and boys
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
NEWS: A bold new vision for the upgrading of Liverpool Street Station by John McAslan + Partners has been unveiled today. Backed by heritage campaigners, it promises to deliver crucial accessibility upgrades without large scale demolition of the listed station.
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/a-new-v...
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/a-new-v...
November 26, 2025 at 11:03 AM
NEWS: A bold new vision for the upgrading of Liverpool Street Station by John McAslan + Partners has been unveiled today. Backed by heritage campaigners, it promises to deliver crucial accessibility upgrades without large scale demolition of the listed station.
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/a-new-v...
➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/a-new-v...
The fellow seeking donations for a food bank said he'd been there for 2 hours and I was the first person to give him anything, so he gave me some mistletoe in return. 'I hope I bring you luck,' I said. 'May you be showered with kisses,' he replied. And so we parted in great good humour.
November 26, 2025 at 3:40 PM
The fellow seeking donations for a food bank said he'd been there for 2 hours and I was the first person to give him anything, so he gave me some mistletoe in return. 'I hope I bring you luck,' I said. 'May you be showered with kisses,' he replied. And so we parted in great good humour.
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
EVENT: Join C20 President @SamiraAhmedUK
for our annual Xmas Lecture: From Cathedrals to Cooling Towers–Global stories about the buildings that bond us.
🗓️ Tue 2 Dec 2025 6.30pm – 8pm
📍 The Gallery, Cowcross St+Online
🎟️ Book tickets: @c20society.bsky.social
secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
for our annual Xmas Lecture: From Cathedrals to Cooling Towers–Global stories about the buildings that bond us.
🗓️ Tue 2 Dec 2025 6.30pm – 8pm
📍 The Gallery, Cowcross St+Online
🎟️ Book tickets: @c20society.bsky.social
secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
November 23, 2025 at 10:35 AM
EVENT: Join C20 President @SamiraAhmedUK
for our annual Xmas Lecture: From Cathedrals to Cooling Towers–Global stories about the buildings that bond us.
🗓️ Tue 2 Dec 2025 6.30pm – 8pm
📍 The Gallery, Cowcross St+Online
🎟️ Book tickets: @c20society.bsky.social
secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
for our annual Xmas Lecture: From Cathedrals to Cooling Towers–Global stories about the buildings that bond us.
🗓️ Tue 2 Dec 2025 6.30pm – 8pm
📍 The Gallery, Cowcross St+Online
🎟️ Book tickets: @c20society.bsky.social
secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
Reposted by Hugh Pearman
➡️ Please consider giving generously, click the link below for information on how to donate online, via text, Payroll Giving, or to leave a legacy.
c20society.org.uk/sup.../elain...
c20society.org.uk/sup.../elain...
November 18, 2025 at 10:43 AM
➡️ Please consider giving generously, click the link below for information on how to donate online, via text, Payroll Giving, or to leave a legacy.
c20society.org.uk/sup.../elain...
c20society.org.uk/sup.../elain...
A tremendous scholar, campaigner and bundle of fizzing energy who saved many fine buildings. If you can donate, please do.
It is exactly two years since C20 Society established the Elain Harwood Fund to secure her legacy, and hosted an incredibly moving event in her honour at the Southbank Centre.
We’re pleased to announce the Fund has now reached £81,000 in donations – over half way to our initial target of £150,000. 🧵
We’re pleased to announce the Fund has now reached £81,000 in donations – over half way to our initial target of £150,000. 🧵
November 18, 2025 at 11:34 AM
A tremendous scholar, campaigner and bundle of fizzing energy who saved many fine buildings. If you can donate, please do.
Tremendous November half-price offer from Yale on all books in their catalogue priced at less than £100. Which means - for instance for the architecture student in your life for Christmas - my book ABOUT ARCHITECTURE can be yours for a mere £15! Unbeatable!
yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
About Architecture - Yale University Press London
Hugh Pearman deftly guides us through the compelling stories of fifty-five buildings that explain our world, from antiquity to the present day About Ar...
yalebooks.co.uk
November 17, 2025 at 12:14 PM
Tremendous November half-price offer from Yale on all books in their catalogue priced at less than £100. Which means - for instance for the architecture student in your life for Christmas - my book ABOUT ARCHITECTURE can be yours for a mere £15! Unbeatable!
yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300...
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.