The Victorian Society
Encyclopedia
The Victorian Society is the national charity
Charitable organization
A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization . It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A charitable organization is a type of non-profit organization (NPO). It differs from other types of NPOs in that it centers on philanthropic goals A...

 responsible for the study and protection of Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...

 and Edwardian
Edwardian Baroque architecture
The term Edwardian Baroque refers to the Neo-Baroque architectural style of many public buildings built in the British Empire during the Edwardian era ....

 architecture and other arts in Britain
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

.

It was founded in 1958 to fight the then widespread ignorance of nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture. The first meeting was held at Linley Sambourne House
Linley Sambourne House
Linley Sambourne House is the former London home of the Victorian Punch cartoonist Edward Linley Sambourne. It is now open to the public as a museum known as 18 Stafford Terrace....

 on 28 February. Among its thirty founder members were John Betjeman
John Betjeman
Sir John Betjeman, CBE was an English poet, writer and broadcaster who described himself in Who's Who as a "poet and hack".He was a founding member of the Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture...

, Henry-Russell Hitchcock
Henry-Russell Hitchcock
Henry-Russell Hitchcock was the leading American architectural historian of his generation. A long-time professor at Smith College and New York University, he is best known for writings that helped to define Modern architecture.-Biography:...

 and Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...

.

Today, the Society continues to fight to preserve important Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes. The Twentieth Century Society
The Twentieth Century Society
The Twentieth Century Society is a British charity which campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. The society's interests extend to buildings or artefacts, whether important or humble, rare or commonplace, that characterise Twentieth Century Britain.The Sociey was...

 serves a similar role for post-1914 buildings.

Work

Based in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

, with regional groups across England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 and Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, the Society:
  • Provides expert advice to churches and local planning authorities
    Local Planning Authority
    A local planning authority is the local authority or council that is empowered by law to exercise planning functions for a particular area of the United Kingdom. Although, in Scotland, where all of the local authorities are unitary, the term 'planning authority' is used without the 'local'...

     on how Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes can be adapted to the way we live now, while keeping what is distinctive about them.
  • Advises members of the public on how they can help shape the future of their local Victorian and Edwardian buildings and landscapes.
  • Provides information to owners of Victorian and Edwardian houses about how they can better look after their buildings.
  • Helps people understand, appreciate, and enjoy the architectural heritage of the Victorian and Edwardian period through its publications and educational programmes.
  • 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.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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