The Victorian Society and Yale University Press are pleased to introduce a series of online talks by authors of recent or imminent volumes from all four of the national series, plus the Isle of Man. Our fourth talk takes us over to the Black Country.
In the later Victorian and Edwardian period, the industrial towns and villages of the Black Country experienced rapid civic development. Town halls, schools, libraries, and police buildings were built, together with houses for industrialists and the beginning of social housing. Architects appeared in local communities to design these buildings. Some of them were significant local figures, serving as councillors and even mayors. This is an introduction to the Black Country's earliest local architects, from the Gothic Revival to the Arts and Crafts Free Style.
Andy Foster is a building historian who was born, and lives, in Birmngham. As a child he spent time with an aunt at Blackheath in the Black Country. He is the author of 'Birmingham and the Black Country' in the Pevsner Architectural Guides series, published in 2022.
All attendees will be sent a recording of the talk.
