The Victorian Society

16/06/2026

One of our Top Ten Endangered buildings now has residents again after its restoration. Plas Alltran on Holyhead now has four affordable rent flats. Our best wishes to those calling this Victorian building home.

The historic building has been saved by being transformed into four modern one-bedroom flats for affordable rent

15/06/2026

The Red House in Godalming is an early and seminal House by Sir Edwin Lutyens. The recent offering for sale presents an important opportunity to recognise not only one of the earliest and most inventive domestic works by Lutyens, but also the exceptional stewardship that has preserved the Grade II* house over the past half-century.

Read more:
https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/national-news/the-red-house-in-godalming/

Photos:
Facade by Rebecca Lilley, Lutyens Trust
Rear facade by Paul Waite, Lutyens Trust

13/06/2026

Thanks to the member of the public who brought this planning application for the listed Denmark Arms in East Ham to our attention.

The Society have recommended the application be refused - we remain to be convinced an adult gaming centre is genuinely the only viable option for this Grade II listed Victorian public house. The Denmark Arms on Barking Road is a fine, remarkably intact example of a late-Victorian public house, exhibiting the features that make this building type both distinctive and historically significant.

The principal bar retains its original spatial arrangement, with a central servery, decorative plaster friezes, ornamental cornicing, original fireplaces with tiled surrounds, and stained and leaded glass. The decorative plasterwork, with its figurative and foliate motifs, represents quality craftsmanship.

Given how few Victorian public house interiors survive, especially of the level present here, these interiors are of exceptional interest.

An average of four pubs per day have announced their closure since the start of the year.

Photos: The London Pub Map on Facebook

13/06/2026

Thanks to the member of the public who brought this planning application for the listed Denmark Arms in East Ham to our attention.

The Society have recommended the application be refused - we remain to be convinced an adult gaming centre is genuinely the only viable option for this Grade II listed Victorian public house. The Denmark Arms on Barking Road is a fine, remarkably intact example of a late-Victorian public house, exhibiting the features that make this building type both distinctive and historically significant.

The principal bar retains its original spatial arrangement, with a central servery, decorative plaster friezes, ornamental cornicing, original fireplaces with tiled surrounds, and stained and leaded glass. The decorative plasterwork, with its figurative and foliate motifs, represents quality craftsmanship.

Given how few Victorian public house interiors survive, especially of the level present here, these interiors are of exceptional interest.

An average of four pubs per day have announced their closure since the start of the year.

Photos: The London Pub Map on Facebook

pubsuk

12/06/2026

‘This is truly demoniac, an Edgar Allan Poe of a building. It is the scream that you wake up on at the end of a nightmare.’ - Ian Nairn

Designed by R L Roumieu in 1868, 33-35 Eastcheap is a dramatic Gothic Revival building in the City of London. Victorian Society co-founder Nikolaus Pevsner called it ‘one of the maddest displays in London of gabled Gothic brick’.

It stands on the site of the Boar’s Head Inn, featured in historical plays by Shakespeare, particularly Henry IV, Part 1, where it is the favourite establishment of the young Henry V. Roumieu’s design references this with exterior decorations of a boar and faux-mediaeval portrait heads of Henry IV and Henry V in the gables.

33-35 Eastcheap was threatened with demolition in 1965 but saved by the Victorian Society. You can find out more about it in our book on R L Roumieu and the ‘Rogue Goths’, available now from the Victorian Society website.

“File:33-35 Eastcheap, London, United Kingdom - Oct 2007.jpg” by Diliff is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

12/06/2026

On Sunday 14th June locomotive engineering titans Beyer Peacock will be celebrated at Brookfield Church, Gorton in Manchester with a service, wreath laying and talks. This year marks the 150th anniversary of the death of firm co-founder Charles Frederick Beyer, and the 60th anniversary of the closure of Gorton Foundry he founded with Richard Peacock. Beyer is a notable LGBTQ+ innovator and engineer.

Richard Peacock paid for the construction of Brookfield church. The Grade II* Peacock Mausoleum was built by Peacock and commemorates his son, Joseph. It is designed by notable Manchester architect Thomas Worthington.

Photo top: A. Carty CC by SA 3.0

Photos bottom: Gerald England CC by SA 2.0

11/06/2026

Melbourne’s Royal Exhibition Building was the first building in Australia to be awarded UNESCO World Heritage status. Constructed to be the site of the Melbourne International Exhibition in 1880, it is the world’s most complete survivor of the International Exhibition Movement that flourished in the late 19th century.

The building was designed in a monumental Renaissance Revival style by architect Joseph Reed, with a dome inspired by Florence Cathedral. Its distinctive look is an amalgamation of elements from European palaces and churches, featuring arcaded façades, decorative pavilions, and richly detailed interiors intended to impress visitors from around the world. Following restoration in 2009, the Exhibition Building has found reuse as an exhibition space, events venue, exam hall and even as a vaccination centre during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Royal Exhibition building with tulips (cropped). Photograph taken by Diliff and straightened by Ian Fieggen i
Royal Exhibition Building inside by Andrew Hutton HuttyMcphoo
Royal Exhibition Building by yewenyi

10/06/2026

🍻 Which will you be visiting?
For more about the best Victorian and Edwardian buildings in Britain, visit our website - you’ll be able to sign up to our free newsletter, watch our recorded talks, or join us as a member.

Image credits:
The Old Shades, Whitehall, London by Paul the Archivist
Old Shades, 37 Whitehall 2025-08-26 by Ewan Munro
Black Friar by R~P~M
Southwest View of the Old Bank of England by Doyle of London
Viaduct Tavern, St Paul’s, EC1 by Ewan-M
Dog and Duck, Soho, 2025-08-10 by Ewan Munro
Princess Louise, Holborn, London by Kotomi_
Prince Alfred, Maida Vale, W9 by Ewan-M
The Lamb - Bloomsbury - WC1 by Ewan Munro
Jamaica Wine House, London EC3 by Kake
Fox and Anchor, Farringdon, EC1 by Ewan-M
Still and Star, Aldgate, E1 by Ewan-M

09/06/2026

Waddesdon Manor is one of the most extravagant Victorian country houses in England, built between 1874 and 1889 for Baron Ferdinand de Rothschild, and inspired by the French châteaux of the Loire Valley. Its architect, Hippolyte Destailleur, had worked on the restoration of several genuine chateaux before designing Waddesdon and also designed the Vienna townhouse of Albert de Rothschild.

Although its Neo-Renaissance style combines features from various historic buildings, it achieved them with the modern innovations of the late 19th century: a steel frame hidden beneath the richly sculpted limestone façade, hot and cold running water, central heating and a new electric bell system.

Find out more about Waddesdon and buildings like it in our book on French Architecture and the English 1830-1914, available now from the Victorian Society online shop.

Images by bestfor / richard, licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

07/06/2026

Today, on the birthday of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, we celebrate one of Britain’s most visionary architects and designers. Through landmark works including the Glasgow School of Art, Hill House and the Willow Tea Rooms, Mackintosh developed a distinctive architectural language that combined Scottish traditions, Art Nouveau influences and striking geometric forms. His innovative use of light, space and decorative design helped shape the emergence of modern architecture and the transition from the Victorian era to the twentieth century.

Discover more about Mackintosh and the work of his wife Margaret in our online lecture - visit Recorded Talks on the Victorian Society website and find it as part of our ‘Heroines and Heroes of the Arts and Crafts Movement’ series.

“Charles Rennie Mackintosh House” by milknosugar is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.