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McKellar, Elizabeth
(2024).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9781003224662-15
Abstract
This essay traces my journey as an architectural historian from the 1980s onwards. It reflects not just on my writings but also on my institutional and professional history. My research has focused on early modern London and the essay traces links between the massive changes in the city over the past forty years and historical enquiry. I have also researched early twentieth-century British architecture culminating in my present project, writing a cultural biography of Sir John Summerson, which unites my periods of expertise. In both these eras, I have largely focused on ‘history from below’ investigating topics such as housing, building practice, the middle classes, forgotten figures in architectural history and the city’s undiscovered aspects and outliers. My work has thus been produced from the margins of the discipline. I have tried to use my peripheral position as a strength drawing on a wide range of subject areas and sources to take architectural history beyond its usual methodological bases and preoccupations, particularly in creating a landscape approach to urban history. This essay will attempt to show how the intersectionality and inherently interdisciplinary nature of architectural history can be used creatively to form new narratives and areas of investigation.
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
CORE (COnnecting REpositories)
