About Buildings + Cities

Luke Jones & George Gingell Discuss Architecture, History and Culture
  • 4.7 (251)
  • VISUAL ARTS
  • UPDATED BIWEEKLY
About Buildings + Cities

A podcast about architecture, buildings and cities, from the distant past to the present day. Plus detours into technology, film, fiction, comics, drawings, and the dimly imagined future. With Luke Jones and George Gingell.

  1. 117 — John Soane 7 — The Museum

    OCT 2

    117 — John Soane 7 — The Museum

    In the final episode of our series on Sir John Soane we discussed his house and museum on Lincoln's Inn Fields in the centre of London, where the museum kindly allowed us to record this episode. We also talked about Pitzhanger, his country house in Ealing, and the development of his unique collecting practice. To follow along with the images we discussed and see clips from our visit, check out this episode on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/gOzIg5kB2Hg You can see the full length video tour of the house excerpted in this episode on our Patreon feed: https://www.patreon.com/about_buildings. Please consider subscribing to support the show! Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    1h 48m
  2. *Preview* — Soane's Reputation Bonus Episode

    AUG 27

    *Preview* — Soane's Reputation Bonus Episode

    This is a cilp from our latest Patreon bonus episode, a discussion of Soane's contemporary reputation, particularly satirical and critical writing in the periodical press, not least by his estranged son George! You can listen to this episode in full on our Patreon feed: https://www.patreon.com/about_buildings Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    9 min
  3. 116 — John Soane 6 — Monuments

    JUL 30

    116 — John Soane 6 — Monuments

    In the sixth part of our series on John Soane, we discussed some major monumental buildings in and around London. We began with Dulwich Picture Gallery, perhaps the first purpose-built public art gallery in the world. Then we discussed his church buildings in Marylebone, Southwark and Bethnal Green respectively. Watch on YouTube to see the images as we discuss them: https://youtu.be/8IFQjALMaW8 Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    39 min
  4. 115 — John Soane 5 — London Improved

    JUL 8

    115 — John Soane 5 — London Improved

    In the fifth part of our series on John Soane, we discussed his designs for speculative housing developments in central London, another building in the middle of the city for the Bank of England's National Debt Redemption Office, and his various hypothetical schemes for transforming the city with a thick encrustation of Corinthian columns. We also discussed his work for the Royal Hospital Chelsea, some of which survives to this day. We talked about John Gwynne's 'London & Westminster Improved (1766) and the ongoing problem of London and Westminster's disorderly urbanism, which Soane's unbuilt schemes cannot convincingly overcome — as always, he is at his best when constrained! To see the images as we discuss them, check out this episode on Youtube: https://youtu.be/_Rr-GRqsc4Y Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    51 min
  5. 114 — John Soane 4 — Westminster

    MAY 30

    114 — John Soane 4 — Westminster

    In this fourth episode of our miniseries on John Soane, we discussed his projects conducted over many years in and around Westminster. This is a tale of confusing canceled schemes, designs by committee, thwarted architectural vision and some of the most electrifying lost interiors of 19th-century London. As always, you get get a better sense of the images we discuss by having a look at this episode of the show on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/xxeGY4LsHdM Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    1h 21m
  6. 113 — John Soane 3 — The Bank of England

    APR 29

    113 — John Soane 3 — The Bank of England

    In the third episode of our ongoing series on John Soane, we discussed his magnum opus, and one of the most entrancing lost buildings ever: The Bank of England. This vast administrative complex signalled the transformation of London into the capital of a modern imperial state, but by the 1930s, after just a century of its existence, the bank had outgrown Soane's intricate and weighty toplit classicism and the whole thing was demolished. We attempt here to imagine and reconstruct what it was actually like, why it was like that, and how Soane achieved it. See the images we discussed on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/FmY1bFPv-oo Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    1h 44m
  7. 112 — John Soane 2 — Rustic / Classical

    MAR 25

    112 — John Soane 2 — Rustic / Classical

    In episode 2 of our series on John Soane, we discussed the projects he worked on after returning from his Grand Tour of Italy, but before he got his career-defining job as surveyor to the Bank of England. These include several built and unbuilt schemes for country houses, a proposal for a pair of enormous prisons in strict geometrical manner, and several rural outbuildings in a rustic classicism that draw upon the founding myths of architecture. Images for this episode can be found on our YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/0dAc_Dh1BTk Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    58 min
  8. 111 — John Soane 1 — 'Visions of Early Fancy'

    MAR 5

    111 — John Soane 1 — 'Visions of Early Fancy'

    We're back!! In this first episode of our new series on John Soane (1753–1837) we discuss his origins: the child prodigy draughtsman, son of a bricklayer, apprentice of George Dance, winner of a studentship at the Royal Academy, and later with his Design for a Triumphal Bridge, winner of the Royal Academy and a travelling scholarship to Italy, enabling him to join the aristocratic young men of Britain on their Grand Tour. Over the rest of this series we will discuss is iconic works: the Bank of England and his house (Sir John Soane's Museum) alongside some of the deeper cuts. Watch this episode on YouTube for accompanying images: https://youtu.be/qtB_nERFaBA?si=1q5EdJEkQbsLBRxH Edited by Matthew Lloyd Roberts. Support the show on Patreon to receive bonus content for every show. Please rate and review the show on your podcast store to help other people find us! Follow us on twitter // instagram // facebook We’re on the web at aboutbuildingsandcities.org

    1h 9m
See All (130)

4.7
out of 5
251 Ratings

About

A podcast about architecture, buildings and cities, from the distant past to the present day. Plus detours into technology, film, fiction, comics, drawings, and the dimly imagined future. With Luke Jones and George Gingell.

Information

  • Creator
    Luke Jones & George Gingell Discuss Architecture, History and Culture
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2024
  • Episodes
    130
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Luke Jones & George Gingell
  • Show Website
    About Buildings + Cities

You Might Also Like

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes, and get the latest updates.
Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada