John Simpson’s talk will examine the design of public, commercial and institutional buildings in Britain starting at the beginning of the twentieth century. He will be looking at the remarkable resilience of the Classical tradition which continues in Britain, to the exclusion of modernism, well beyond the second world war. Whereas on the European continent the modern movement was having a significant influence on architecture, in Britain it was the Classical tradition that prevailed.

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He will be showing how contrary to general perception traditional architecture in Britain survived into the post war period well into the early 1960s until its demise, during the Conservative government of Harold Macmillan, at the hands of Lord Holford at Paternoster Square in 1963.

John Simspon will recount from his own personal experience the subsequent Classical Revival that begins in the early 1980s and will trace how it has grown to become the influential movement that it is today. His talk will take in the story of Paternoster Square, Poundbury, the influence of the Richmond Riverside scheme by Quinlan Terry and the significance of the speech made by the Prince of Wales on the 28th of May 1984 to the RIBA at their 150th anniversary dinner at Hampton Court Palace.

John SIMPSON is principal of John Simpson Architects. He is a leading proponent of New Classicism and Traditional Urbanism. He believes Architecture, as a public art, by necessity must draw on our collective experience and traditions as a society. His work first came to prominence in the 1990s with his masterplan for Paternoster Square by St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London. He pioneered mixed use urban planning designed around streets and squares, long before it became adopted as government policy in the UK. The work of the practice stands out from other contemporaries in New Classicism in that it is not confined to residential buildings but includes institutional and public buildings such as galleries, schools, museums, university buildings, music conservatoires and medical buildings.

He is also visiting Professor of Architecture at Cambridge University and was awarded the Driehaus Prize in March 2026.

For tickets please follow this link.
Free for members, £5 plus booking fee for non-members.