The Twentieth Century Society (abbreviated to C20), founded in 1979 as The Thirties Society, is a British charity that campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards. It is formally recognised as one of the National Amenity Societies, and as such is a statutory consultee on alterations to listed buildings within its period of interest.

History

The catalyst to form the society was the proposal to replace Lloyd's of London's Classical-style 1920s headquarters with a new modernist Richard Rogers building. Marcus Binney (founder of Save Britain's Heritage), John Harris (director of the RIBA drawings collection) and Simon Jenkins (editor of London's Evening Standard) felt that the existing building "represented a whole body of important architecture of the period that deserved more sympathetic assessment". Ultimately the façade of the 1920s building was retained and received a Grade II listing in 1977. It was incorporated into Rogers' 1986 design. Established in December 1979, the Thirties Society, as it was initially called, had offices at 21 Cambridge Street, London. Its organisation was modelled on the Georgian Group and the Victorian Society, and its initial intention was to preserve architecture from the 1930s, by calling for "statutory protection from the Department of the Environment for the protection of important buildings and interiors". Speaking of the need for the society, Jenkins, the vice-chairman, said "It's easier to find examples of architecture from the 1890s than the 1930s, and although there are buildings which I find absolutely hideous, there are architectural reasons why they should be preserved." In 1992, a spokesperson for English Heritage said, "We have found the Thirties Society proposals are usually well supported. It has been very influential in saving some of the best twentieth-century buildings."

Founding members

Founding members included: The society of "young fogeys" as they were called invited Maxwell Fry, Jane Drew, Sir Sacheverell Sitwell, Lady Diana Cooper, Sir John Betjeman and Peter Fleetwood-Hesketh to be patrons. They also considered Douglas Fairbanks and David Niven but "there was some concern that the stars of the Twenties and Thirties might not be around long enough to warrant putting their names on the letterhead." Norman St John Stevas, Minister for the Arts, attended the launch party. Catherine Croft, the current director, took over the position from Kenneth Powell in 2002.

Name

There was a debate over the society's name. The Inter-War Society was considered too martial and it was joked that The Twenties and Thirties Society sounded too much like a dating service. The name The Thirties Society was eventually settled on. The name was changed to The Twentieth Century Society (abbreviated to C20) in 1992, about which Stamp said, "Much as I like the very English anomaly of a body called The Thirties Society defending buildings of the 1950s, the fact is that our name obscures our aims. We defend buildings put up as late as the 1970s."

Manchester branch

In 1982, a Manchester branch of the society was formed, with a focus on the Grosvenor Picture Palace on All Saints Street, which was under threat of demolition.

Other activities

The society held its first conference, on the seventies, in 1999. The society published a journal between 1981 and 2018; initially entitled The Thirties Society Journal it became Twentieth Century Architecture from 1994. In 2019, to mark the society's 40th anniversary, they curated a list of 40 Buildings Saved, a collection of 40 "buildings which would not have survived without our intervention" including Jubilee Pool in Penzance, Plymouth's Civic Centre and St. Augustine in Manchester.

The Risk List

In 1998, the society released a Buildings at Risk report, which included Pimlico School, Romney House and Simpson's Building. Of the report, Bronwen Edwards, a C20 caseworker, said, "What is indisputable is these buildings are a unique record of social, economic and architectural history – a vivid reminder of the way people lived, worked and played through the century." Starting in 2015, the society has published The Risk List (a play on the Rich List) every two years, which highlights ten buildings that the society believes are "in danger of either substantial alteration or demolition". The bi-annual lists are as follows:

Cases and campaigns

1970s

1979

1980s

1980

1982

1983

1984

1985

1986

1987

1988

1989

1990s

1991

1994

1995

1996

1997

21st century

2002

2005

2013

2015

2022

2023

Successes

The following are some of the buildings and objects that the society has successfully campaigned to save:

Publications

Journal

The society published a journal between 1981 and 2018; initially entitled The Thirties Society Journal it became Twentieth Century Architecture from 1994.

Books

The following books were published by C20, unless otherwise stated: