In this free online event, discover the history of two of the houses featured in our current exhibition, Architects’ Houses, Red House and 2 Willow Road.
Biographer and art historian Jan Marsh, a leading expert on William Morris, will discuss Red House, the home he designed in collaboration with architect Philip Webb and decorated with his close circle including Jane Morris, Edward Burne-Jones, Dante Gabriel Rosetti, Elizabeth Siddal and Charles Faulkner. She will describe how it was not only a home for his family but a crucible for the Arts and Crafts movement. Architectural historian Alan Powers will introduce 1-3 Willow Road, a modernist terrace of houses designed by Ernő Goldfinger, including his own at number 2. Like Red House, it was conceived in part as a didactic manifesto but underwent modifications due to the practicalities of living with two children and complying with London County Council regulations. The event will be moderated by Dr Elizabeth Darling, Reader in Architectural History at Oxford Brookes University.
About the Speakers
Jan Marsh is a past president of the William Morris Society and wrote the first Red House guidebook for the National Trust. A biographer and curator, her exhibitions include Black Victorians and Pre Raphaelite Sisters, which featured Janey Morris. Her most recent book is on Elizabeth Siddal.
Dr Alan Powers is a specialist in mid twentieth century art, architecture and design in Britain and author of many books including Modern, the Modern Movement in Britain, and Bauhaus Goes West. He is the co-author with the late Elain Harwood of a short monograph on Ernö Goldfinger, to be published in 2024 by Liverpool University Press. He currently teaches at the University of Kent, the London School of Architecture and New York University in London. A trustee of the Twentieth Century Society, he has filled various voluntary positions over the past 40 years and was founder-editor of its journal, Twentieth Century Architecture and of the monograph series, Twentieth Century Architects.
Dr Elizabeth Darling works on 20th century British architectural history with a particular interest in inter-war modernism, social housing, and gender. Her book on British architectural modernism, Re-forming Britain: Narratives of Modernity before Reconstruction, was published by Routledge in early 2007 while an edited volume (with Lesley Whitworth), Women and the Making of Built Space in England, 1870-1950 was published by Ashgate in autumn 2007. Her most recent publication is Wells Coates (RIBA Publishing, 2012). Forthcoming work includes a discussion of Modernism and the Neo-Georgian in 1930s England, and the introduction to a new edition of Elizabeth Denby's 1938 book Europe Rehoused.
