Pugin celebration in Ramsgate

Pugin experts will be speaking at a celebration in Ramsgate this Wednesday 5th April 2017 from 18.30 – 20.00 in The Cartoon Room, The Grange, St Augustine’s Road, Ramsgate, CT11 9NY.

CREAte, the Centre for Research in European Architecture at the Kent School of Architecture, University of Kent, will be hosting a celebration to honour their successful collaboration with The Pugin Society and Thanet District Council. The occasion marks the publication of a new book, Gothic Revival Worldwide: AWN Pugin’s Global Influence, edited by Dr Timothy Brittain-Catlin of the Centre together with major international scholars.

The book is the next stage of a collaboration that began with a conference held at the University of Kent in 2012 to mark the bicentenary of Pugin’s birth. The conference was a collaboration between the Centre, the Pugin Society and the District Council which brought experts and enthusiasts to Ramsgate from all over the world including the leading Pugin scholar, the late Margaret Belcher, from Christchurch, New Zealand.

These activities have helped to increase interest and appreciation of the valuable architectural heritage of Ramsgate and Thanet, and are a further sign of the Centre’s commitment to local groups.

Dr David Haney, the Director of CREAte, said:

‘We are honoured that the eminent Pugin scholar Lady Alexandra Wedgwood will be in attendance. Dr Henrik Schoenefeldt from CASE will give a talk on his work on the Houses of Parliament, and Dr Timothy Brittain-Catlin on the Gothic Revival’.

Dr Henrik Schoenefeldt, who has contributed a chapter to the book, is an expert on the building of Pugin’s Palace of Westminster and is acting as a consultant for the proposed major restoration works.