News

In honour of April Fools’ Day earlier this month, we’ve looked through the SPAB archive to see which architectural follies the Society has been involved with.

We concluded our spring lecture series on John Ruskin with a discussion about his enduring influence on Venice and were inspired to further explore the SPAB's early campaigning work in the city.

The SPAB held its first meeting on 22 March 1877. We looked in our archive to find how we've celebrated some of our significant anniversaries.  

We explore an unusual example of when John Ruskin became actively involved in a fundraising campaign to save a medieval church.

Inspired by the first talk of our spring lecture series on John Ruskin and his support of craftmanship, here we explore Ruskin's skill as a draughtsman and teacher of drawing. 

SPAB Fenland & Wash regional group volunteer Clive Baker champions an imaginative example of re-use. Once a redundant Georgian church, St. Paul’s, Portland Square in Bristol is now a circus school.

As our new Scholars prepare for their year of conservation discoveries, we look to a valued past Scholar. In June 2018 local Scholar Peter Carey (1977) showed us behind the scenes of the redevelopment of the Bristol Old Vic Theatre, a building that he had been passionate about for decades.

We explored our archive for records of the SPAB's activity on Valentine's day. In 1895 founding committee members were discussing repairs to Eckington bridge in Worcestershire.

SPAB member Janice Gooch is fascinated by a former hunting lodge, and makes a case for the identity of its unknown architect.

Before the mass production of cameras, artists provide the only contemporary record of what are now lost or overly-restored historic buildings.