Lunchtime talk - Georgian Arcadia: Architecture for the Park and Garden, Thursday 30 March, 1pm

The invention and evolution of the Georgian landscape garden liberated garden buildings from the corset of formality, allowing them to structure much more extensive areas of garden and park. One of the leading authorities on Georgian landscape architecture, Roger White explores a genre in which some of the era’s greatest architects – Vanbrugh, Hawksmoor, Gibbs, Kent, Adam, Chambers, Wyatt and Soane – experimented with different forms, styles and new technology, in the process producing some of their most interesting and original ideas. Covering not just the obvious adornments of parks and gardens such as temples, summerhouses, grottoes, towers and ‘follies’, he also describes structures with predominantly practical functions including mausolea, boathouses, dovecotes, stables, kennels, deer pens, barns, and cowsheds, all of which could be dressed up to make an architectural impact in the designed landscape.

About the Speaker 

Roger White is an architectural historian and former Secretary of the Georgian Group and Garden History Society. He has written extensively on 17th and 18th century topics. Georgian Arcadia: Architecture for the Park and Garden, his ‘definitive’ book on Georgian landscape architecture which has been many years in the making, is published by Yale University Press.

About the event

Please note that this event takes place in the Museum's Seminar Room at Number 14 Lincoln's Inn Fields. No food or drink is permitted in the room.

Your confirmation email serves as your ticket.  

Tickets are refundable up to 7 days before the event, after which point they are non-refundable or exchangeable. 

We are in a Grade I listed, 19th-century building, so access is not always straightforward. If you require step-free access or extra assistance, please contact us in advance of your booking on admin@soane.org.uk or 020 7405 2107.

Image: View of the Lodge at Pelwall House,  9-10 September 1828, Joseph Michael Gandy, SM volume 61/17