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Jamieson, Claire (2026) Public architecture on trial: mediating battle lines between public and private practice in post-war Britain. The Journal of Architecture. ISSN 1360-2365
With the outbreak of the Second World War, the context for architecture changed radically. As the new patrons for architecture, the public sector rapidly grew their architecture offices, establishing a new mode of architectural practice which had implications for the role, status, and perception of the architect in society. For the fifty years following the end of the war, the borders of the architectural profession continued to shift and ideas about the function of architects, their relation to other professions and to different publics were repeatedly debated.This paper explores one key moment in the post-war reconfiguring of the architectural profession, exposing the dynamics between the public and private sectors of the profession during a moment of notable flux. The paper takes as its focus a small exhibition which opened in London’s Charing Cross underground station on 7 February1949, displaying the work of the London County Council’s (LCC)Housing and Valuation department in the years since the end of the war. It was visited by critic J. M. Richards, then an editor of ArchitecturalReview and The Architect’s Journal (AJ). This sparked a year-long campaign in AJ, spearheaded by Richards, during which the borders between the public sector and private practice were not only high-lighted but emerged as the site of an ideological battle.
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