The Victorian Society

The Victorian Society The national charity campaigning for Victorian and Edwardian built heritage. Join us today! Your membership is vital to achieving our mission.

We promote sensitive reuse of historic buildings to generate much lower carbon emissions than demolition and rebuild - helping tackle the climate emergency and the UK to reach net zero. For more information on joining the Victorian Society visit: http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/join/

The Society was founded in 1958. Since then it has helped to secure the future of buildings such as the Foreign Office, the Albert Dock and St Pancras Station. page information:

Views posted by users on our page should not be taken to be the views of the Victorian Society. Any posts on the Victorian Society’s page which are offensive, potentially libellous or threatening will be removed and any user posting such material may be blocked from posting on the page. If you believe that a post on our page should be removed, please email [email protected] and we will review the post as soon as possible.

Our volunteers across our regional groups are amazing. Lovely to see our South Yorkshire group at the Doncaster Heritage...
05/10/2026

Our volunteers across our regional groups are amazing. Lovely to see our South Yorkshire group at the Doncaster Heritage Fair. Thanks if you came along to speak to them about our work and getting involved. South Yorkshire Group have some wonderful events and you can find their news and book their talks and visits here: https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/regional-groups/south-yorkshire/

Join us on a walk in Chiswick in West London, to St Nicholas’ Church and Burial Ground. The churchyard of the old parish...
02/10/2026

Join us on a walk in Chiswick in West London, to St Nicholas’ Church and Burial Ground.

The churchyard of the old parish church at Chiswick and the adjacent burial ground are best known for the graves of Hogarth and Whistler. But they include monuments to figures of local and national importance representing architecture, property development (with the subsiding tomb of Jonathan Carr, the developer of Bedford Park), sculpture, brewing, shipbuilding, politics, mental health (from the period when Chiswick House nearby was an asylum) and much more.

The tour, led by Victorian Society trustee and local resident Henry Sainty, will also visit the church, substantially rebuilt by J L Pearson in the early 1880s.

Read more and book here: https://tinyurl.com/yerva6ep

The Victorian Society has welcomed four new trustees to its Board.Tom Ashley, Anna Dewsnap, Dr Sarah Flew and Andrew Wil...
28/09/2026

The Victorian Society has welcomed four new trustees to its Board.

Tom Ashley, Anna Dewsnap, Dr Sarah Flew and Andrew Willetts were appointed as trustees at the Society’s Annual General Meeting in Llandudno on 25th September.

Together, they bring extensive experience across architectural conservation, historic buildings and collections, fundraising and philanthropy, finance and charity governance.

You can read more here:
https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/national-news/the-victorian-society-welcomes-four-new-trustees/

Today across England and Wales our members and trustees are setting off to the . We are in Wales this year, in Llandudn...
25/09/2026

Today across England and Wales our members and trustees are setting off to the . We are in Wales this year, in Llandudno. It is one of the great Victorian towns. The Society are returning there twenty years after it last held its national AGM in the town. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Our AGM weekend will celebrate the remarkable Victorian and Edwardian heritage of North Wales with a three-day programme of talks, architectural walks and visits.

Image: Panoramic view of the pastel coloured seafront houses of St George’s Crescent with North Shore beach and Ormes Bay, Llandudno in the foreground. Photo: Bailey-Cooper Photography / Alamy

The latest news from Glasgow has us reaching for our smelling salts. A new v**e shop will be opening on Sauchiehall Stre...
23/09/2026

The latest news from Glasgow has us reaching for our smelling salts.

A new v**e shop will be opening on Sauchiehall Street next to the world-renowned Mackintosh Tearooms. This follows in the face of the ferocious fire at Union Street earlier this year, caused by a v**e shop that destroyed a prominent Victorian building and took Glasgow Central Station out of use for days. It follows the two terrible fires at Rennie Mackintosh's masterpiece, the Glasgow School of Art that needs to be restored faithfully.

We echo our friends at the Charles Rennie Mackintosh Society deep concern at this latest development that threatens yet another of the Scottish architect's works, which is one of his amazing collaborations with his wife, Margaret Macdonald.

The Mackintosh Tearooms are now run by the National Trust for Scotland, and are a hugely popular and important part of the city's heritage and tourism. No visit to Mackintosh's buildings is completed without tea at this city highlight. The National Trust for Scotland took on the ownership of the tearooms in 2024 with the aim of ensuring their long-term security. It was previously the Willow Tea Rooms and Mackintosh at the Willow.

The Mackintosh Tearooms were first opened by Miss Cranston in 1903 and were designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh working in collaboration with his wife, Margaret Macdonald. Mackintosh first worked for Miss Cranston, designing for her other tearooms in Glasgow. With Sauchiehall Street, Mackintosh was given responsibility not just for the interior design and furniture, but also for the whole internal layout and exterior architectural design.

An intervention needs to be made to stop the potential loss of another precious piece of Rennie Mackintosh's legacy to Glasgow.

Read the CRM Society's media release here: https://tinyurl.com/4npbfap6

Book to take tea here: https://tinyurl.com/kmsyxcuu

Photos:

The Room de Luxe in the then Willow Tearooms as it was in 1903 with furniture and interiors designed by Mackintosh and Macdonald. 📸Hunterian Museum and Art Gallery Collections - Public Domain

Mackintosh Tearooms balcony 📸National Trust for Scotland.

Willow Tearooms 📸 Open Glasgow is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Recreated interior of Miss K. Cranston’s tea room 📸 dalbera CC BY 2.0

Join us for this illustrated, in-person talk based on original research. Emily Gee will tell the story of the campaigns ...
22/09/2026

Join us for this illustrated, in-person talk based on original research. Emily Gee will tell the story of the campaigns to house a new generation of urban working women, the specialised design of the buildings and the women whose lives were transformed by this architectural movement.

Emily Gee IHBC FSA has worked in historic building conservation at English Heritage, Historic England and the Church of England.

Read more and book: https://tinyurl.com/2ffvkcyy

Good news in Folkestone, and bad news in Scarborough, respectively with their funicular lifts.Folkestone's Leas Lift on ...
21/09/2026

Good news in Folkestone, and bad news in Scarborough, respectively with their funicular lifts.

Folkestone's Leas Lift on 9th September celebrated the return of its two historic carriages. Since February 2025 the lifts have been undergoing a rebuild by specialist engineers. Original features are still in situ, including the ironmongery and seats which have been reused where possible. The Grade II* listed funicular first opened in 1885, has been closed since 2017, and, once returned to working order, will be one of only three remaining water-balanced lifts in the country. The Folkestone Leas Lift Company Charity are hoping to open in 2027 following the £6.6 million restoration project.

Meanwhile, on 21st August Scarborough’s 1875, Grade II-listed Spa Cliff Lift ground to a halt owing to safety concerns. It is England’s oldest furnicular. There are fears that the last surviving North Yorkshire Council-owned cliff lift will come to the end of its operating life without major investment. The Spa Cliff Lift only celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2025. The cliff lift that is in Scarborough town beside the Grand Hotel is still working.

The Society hope that Scarborough Town Council and North Yorkshire Council can follow Folkestone's lead.

Photos:

Folkestone Leas Lift carriages being craned back into place 📷 George Cory/Leas Lift

Archive image of the Kent funicular working 📷Leas Lift

Spa Cliff Lift Scarborough 📷 Robert Walton

Archive image of one of the Scarborough Cliff Lifts working 📷 North Yorkshire Council

The working town lift with the Grand Hotel in the background. South Cliff Furnicular 📷 Kim Fyson CC by SA 2.0

A sign everyone wants to see working again! Cliff Lift by the Spa 📷 Hayley Green CC by SA 2.0

The sad saga of 275 Addiscombe Road is an example of why planning law surrounding permitted development rights urgently ...
18/09/2026

The sad saga of 275 Addiscombe Road is an example of why planning law surrounding permitted development rights urgently needs to change.

Permitted Development Rights enable the demolition of buildings, which are neither listed or within a Conservation Area, without the need for planning permission. Many local landmark buildings that make up the character and charm of villages, towns and cities have been lost. The Victorian Society and the heritage sector have long campaigned for a change in this law.

Two-storey Ecclefechan, empty for eight years, at 275 Addiscombe Road, had been subject to close to 30 planning applications since 2020. One application to turn it into flats had been turned down. The very next application was for demolition. There have been changes in ownership along the line. This year developers received planning permission to allow the Victorian family house to be demolished. However the developer came back later with another planning application and that would see a bigger development on the site. On 17th September the house caught fire. Eight fire engines and around 60 firefighters from London Fire Brigade attended on 17th September.

Local people who have researched the history of the area believe that it was one of two similar houses - the other was demolished 40 years ago.

Our hearts go out to the many people who campaigned so long and so hard to save this local landmark.

Inside Croydon have been following the story:
https://tinyurl.com/bdzf6kjp

Photos:

- Addiscombe & Shirley Park Residents' Association

- London Fire Brigade

Feel Good Friday! Great news for the campaigners in Carlisle who worked to save the park keeper's lodge in Bitts Park. W...
18/09/2026

Feel Good Friday!

Great news for the campaigners in Carlisle who worked to save the park keeper's lodge in Bitts Park.

Work is to be undertaken to repair this lovely Edwardian building which has stood empty since it was damaged when the River Eden flooded in 2015.

The public, private and education sectors are working together to restore this unlisted building with no cost to Cumberland Council. The goal is to make the building dry and secure. Carlisle College students will complete work experience on the site.

The Society hopes to hear that it will eventually find reuse - perhaps offering a permanent facility for park users, a cafe/bistro would be great.

Read more:
https://cumbriacrack.com/2026/09/14/preparation-work-starts-for-restoration-of-carlisles-bitts-park-lodge/

📷

Bitts Park Lodge Carlisle by Kevin Waterhouse CC by SA 2.0

The Victorian Society is deeply saddened to announce the death of Joe Holyoak.Joe was a powerhouse for Birmingham’s heri...
16/09/2026

The Victorian Society is deeply saddened to announce the death of Joe Holyoak.

Joe was a powerhouse for Birmingham’s heritage, and for The Victorian Society: Birmingham and West Midlands Group.

The Society's work has been massively enriched by Joe's contribution, and his association with the Victorian Society spanned more than half a century. He contributed as an architect, urban designer, teacher and writer.

He twice chaired the Society's Birmingham & West Midlands Group, and brought his knowledge, wisdom and judgement to its casework committee. His notable contributions included his alternative plan for Victoria Square, demonstrating that redevelopment could proceed while retaining Sir Henry Tanner’s Central Post Office, and he also played a role during the restoration of Birmingham’s Grand Hotel.

Joe understood Birmingham, its buildings, planning history and communities, and his death is a profound loss both to the city and to the Victorian Society.

A full tribute can be read here:
https://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/regional-groups/west-midlands/joe-holyoak-1944-2026/

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1 Priory Gardens
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W41TT

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Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm

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020 8994 1019

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