Architecture Groups London

British Museum: Europe 1800-1900 Gallery + pub social

**Unlike our regular events, this event has no attendee limit and we visit just ONE gallery in the British Museum.** **How does it work?: We meet and greet in the British Museum Court cafe first. Then we explore one room in the museum for 45 minutes - this is NOT a guided tour of the room, and you're free to wander around at your own pace. Then we head to the pub!** **THIS MONTH WE'RE VISITING THE EUROPE 1800-1900 GALLERY (ROOM 47)** The 19th century saw unprecedented economic growth in Europe, accompanied by immense social and political upheavals. For Britain, the 19th century was a period of stability and industrial supremacy. On the continent, France underwent three revolutions, while the second half of the century saw the unification of Germany and Italy. The nationalist sentiment that lay behind these events often paid homage to the great ages of the past. This is reflected in the objects shown in Room 47, many of which have borrowed motifs from earlier historical periods. During this period, international exhibitions fostered the growth of machine technology, yet traditional craftsmanship flourished alongside. **Read more** **[here](https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/galleries/europe-1800-1900).** **A Dracula Daily fan?:** Bram Stoker used the British Museum Reading Room to investigate maps, travel accounts, and folklore regarding Transylvania to write Dracula in 1897. In the opening chapter of Dracula, protagonist Jonathan Harker visits the British Museum library to research Transylvanian geography and Castle Dracula before his fateful journey. Read more **[here](https://ianfarrington.wordpress.com/2025/11/27/draculas-london-the-british-museum/).** Room 47 showcases the technological developments of the time Bram Stoker and the characters were living, as well stunning traditional craftsmanship. **THE PLAN:** **3:00-3.40pm: MEET AND GREET IN BRITISH MUSEUM COURT CAFE** Look for the hosts wearing LoMAZ badges/LoMAZ signs on the table. **3:40pm-4.30pm: EXPLORE THE EUROPE 1800–1900 GALLERY (ROOM 47)** Feel free to wander around at your own pace. **NB. This is NOT a guided tour of the gallery.** Find the museum map **[here.](https://www.britishmuseum.org/visit/museum-map)** **4.30pm: GATHER BY ROOM 47 ENTRANCE TO WALK TO THE PUB TOGETHER** **4:45pm-LATE: PUB SOCIAL** Address: The Penderel's Oak pub, 283-288 High Holborn, London WC1V 7HP. We may not be able to reserve tables so please be prepared to stand and mingle. [https://maps.app.goo.gl/1PF1LDymBw8Jcabn9](https://maps.app.goo.gl/1PF1LDymBw8Jcabn9) **TICKETS:** Entrance to the British Museum is free, but we recommend you get book a free ticket in advance, to ensure entry. **[https://ticketing.britishmuseum.org/21397/24350](https://ticketing.britishmuseum.org/21397/24350)** **GETTING THERE:** **Address:** British Museum, Great Russell St, London WC1B 3DG Find more information **[here.](https://www.britishmuseum.org/visit#getting-here)** **EVENT WHATSAPP GROUP:** We’ll have a WhatsApp group for this event to help you find the group on the day. The link will be shared in the Event Comments 48 hours before the event. **FINALLY:** Please please change your RSVP to 'no' if you can no longer attend, so the hosts know who to look out for. **Thank you for your interest in the group & being part of LoMAZ.** Image credit: [Lajos Kristóf Kántor](https://www.pexels.com/@lajos-kristof-kantor-2158796893/)

'Wren's City Churches' Guided Walk

Come along on Sunday 6th September at 1:30pm for a guided walk around the City on the churches that were built by Sir Christopher Wren. **About the walk** I will be guiding you around the City of London to see and go inside some of the churches that were built by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire of London in 1666. I will talk about Wren himself, his two assistants; Nicholas Hawksmoor and Robert Hooke, each church's architecture, it's history, the churches that were here before 1666, the Great Fire of London and the damage done during the Blitz of WW2. Hopefully we will be able to go inside a few to view them from inside. Christopher Michael Wren (1632 - 1723), was born in East Knoyle, Wiltshire and is one of the most highly acclaimed English architects in history. He was accorded responsibility for rebuilding 52 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire in 1666, including his masterpiece, St. Paul's Cathedral, on Ludgate Hill. Other notable buildings by Wren include the Royal Naval College in Greenwich, and the south front of Hampton Court Palace. The guided walk will be led by myself. The walk lasts about 2 hours and finishes near St. Paul's Cathedral. **Payment** Full Members of the group will be free, everyone else the cost is £7 per person (payable by cash or credit card on the day). **Become a Full Member** To become a Full Member (£14 a year), either: \- Pay cash at an event \- Pay via Bank Transfer \(TSB Bank plc\, Sort code: 77\-66\-65\, Account no: 00030809\, Account name: Cultureseekers\) \- Pay via credit card on the day or in advance \([https://pay.sumup.com/b2c/QLAX8AUI](https://pay.sumup.com/b2c/QLAX8AUI)) \- go to PayPal \- [https://www.paypal.com/uk/](https://www.paypal.com/uk/), then click on 'Pay & Get Paid‘, then click on 'Send Money’, put in the email address: [general@cultureseekers.org](mailto:general@cultureseekers.org) in the 'Send Money' box, then 'Next' and then enter the amount to pay. Click 'Next', then 'Goods & Services', then 'For Friends & Family', then 'Continue' Benefits of becoming a Full Member [here...](https://www.meetup.com/london_cultureseekers/photos/22974682/531979527/) **Afterwards** After, we will head to the 'Ye Olde London' Pub, 42 Ludgate Hill for a chat over a drink. If you can make it, please come to the pub afterwards, as its a great way to meet and get to know others after the visit. Please note, we only wait outside the station for 10 minutes after the advertised meeting time, so please be early or on time. If you can't see us outside the station, please text. Look out for the red and blue 'London Cultureseekers' group sign. Hope to see you there! Robert 07905 901 834 (prefer text) or email: [general@cultureseekers.org](general@cultureseekers.org) ***On the day, if you can’t make the visit, just change your RSVP to No or text me to say you can’t make it. Please don’t post any messages in the comments that you can’t make it, as this generates spam for everyone else.*** ***Please make sure you are aware of the group rules here before RSVPing - [https://www.meetup.com/london_cultureseekers/photos/22974682/523578875/Group_Rules/](https://www.meetup.com/london_cultureseekers/photos/22974682/523578875/Group_Rules/)***

London Built Environment August 2026 Mayfair Networking Breakfast

IMPORTANT: PLEASE BOOK YOUR TICKET USING THE EVENTBRITE LINK London Built Environment is the Capital's only business network dedicated to professionals working within London’s property based and related industries. Our networking events are extremely relaxed and casual affairs and attended by a wide range of business sectors with everyone from developers & solicitors to architects, investors to estate agents... Each ticket includes teas, coffees and juices and a full breakfast food buffet (including vegetarian options) and your own printed attendee sheet to take away. Join us for our August 2026 Business Networking Breakfast at the Fabulous Bonds of Mayfair - in their private lounge for a delicious breakfast, drinks and the opportunity to talk property, make new friends and seek out fresh business leads. • No Speeches • No Talks or Schedule • No Membership Fees • No Sales Presentations Just pure relaxed networking in a friendly environment. Running for over a Decade our events are a proven, cost effective and fun way to generate new business.

City Photowalk

For our first meet up i think the main city would be a convenient spot. I’m thinking we go around Monument, London Bridge etc. Usually on Saturdays there’s loads of people here so great for street photography with people and ofcourse good architectural spots too! Hope this is notice enough and most of you can make it! Meeting point: Bishopsgate Exit Route: potentially Liverpool Street -> Gherkin -> Leadenhall Market -> St Dunsten in the East -> The Monument -> Cross London Bridge -> Borough Market to end with drinks 🍻

Design Systems London #17

DSL is a non-profit community aimed at creating a platform for every enthusiast to share experiences, ideas and approaches on Design Systems. We are excited to invite you to our autumn edition of DSL! 🍂 DSL #17 will happen on 16 September, organised by YLD and sponsored by Revolut. Tickets go live on Monday, 17 August, at noon, so make sure you set your reminder and reserve your seat to join us: [https://dsl17.eventbrite.co.uk/?aff=mt](https://dsl17.eventbrite.co.uk/?aff=mt) The evening's agenda and talks line-up to be announced soon. **Who are [Revolut](https://www.revolut.com/ "https://www.revolut.com/")** People deserve more from their money. More visibility, more control, and more freedom. Since 2015, Revolut has been on a mission to deliver just that. Our powerhouse of products — including spending, saving, investing, exchanging, travelling, and more — help our 75+ million customers get more from their money every day. As they continue the lightning-fast growth,‌ 2 things are essential to their success: their people and their culture. So far, they have 13,000+ people working around the world, from their offices and remotely, to help them achieve their mission. And they're looking for more brilliant people. People who love building great products, redefining success, and turning the complexity of a chaotic world into the simplicity of a beautiful solution. **Who are [YLD](https://www.yld.com/ "https://www.yld.com/")** Founded in 2013, YLD is a technology consultancy headquartered in London, with offices in Lisbon and Porto. The business supports clients across the UK, Europe, and the US, working with technology leaders across a diverse range of sectors. These include heavily regulated industries such as fintech, health, energy, and media, where compliance, data governance, and audit requirements shape every technical decision. YLD brings together AI-augmented software engineering, product design, and data engineering under a single offering, built around a fluid, embedded team model where composition is shaped by the client brief, not a fixed org chart. YLD is hiring - check out the [job page](https://www.yld.com/join-us "https://www.yld.com/join-us") Join the conversation on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/yld/ "https://www.linkedin.com/company/yld/")

London Built Environment September 2026 City Of London Networking Lunch

IMPORTANT: PLEASE BOOK YOUR TICKET USING THE EVENTBRITE LINK London Built Environment is the Capital's only business network dedicated to professionals working within London’s property based and related industries. Our networking events are extremely relaxed and casual affairs and attended by a wide range of business sectors with everyone from developers & solicitors to architects, investors to estate agents... Each ticket includes a delicious full lunch buffet (including v. options), a drink (alcholic or soft) and your own printed attendee sheet to take away. Join us for our September 2026 Business Networking Lunch at the Fabulous Anthologist Next To Bank Station In The Heart Of The City Of London - in their private lounge for lunch, drinks and the opportunity to talk property, make new friends and seek out fresh business leads. • No Speeches • No Talks or Schedule • No Membership Fees • No Sales Presentations Just pure relaxed networking in a friendly environment. Running for almost Two Decade our events are a proven, cost effective and fun way to generate new business.

London Built Environment September Property Sector Networking At The Gherkin

IMPORTANT: PLEASE BOOK YOUR TICKET USING THE EVENTBRITE LINK London Built Environment is the Capital's only business network dedicated to professionals working within London’s property based and related industries. Our networking events are extremely relaxed and casual affairs and attended by a wide range of business sectors with everyone from developers & solicitors to architects, IFA's to estate agents... Each ticket includes two drinks (alcoholic or soft) a food buffet (including vegetarian options) and your own printed attendee sheet to take away. Join us for our September 2026 City Business Networking Reception at the World Famous Sterling Bar At The Gherkin In the Heart of The City of London in their private lounge for music, drinks, some of their fantastic food and the opportunity to talk property, make new friends and seek out fresh business leads. • No Speeches • No Membership Fees • No Sales Presentations The Gherkin is one of the most iconic architectural spots in London and the stylish Sterling Restaurant sits at its base. Food is all freshly prepared and there’s a great range of wine and drinks to accompany a meal or just to complement good conversation. The glass walled, main bar offers plenty of space and great views out onto the concourse and the impressive architecture and unique design make The Sterling a trendy spot in the centre of the City. We’ll be sampling some of their delicious menu at the event. A relaxing and productive way to end the working day and line-up meetings for the rest of the year – just don’t forget to bring your business cards... Running for over a Decade our events are a proven, cost effective and fun way to generate new business.

London Built Environment October 2026 Mayfair Networking Lunch

IMPORTANT: PLEASE BOOK YOUR TICKET USING THE EVENTBRITE LINK London Built Environment is the Capital's only business network dedicated to professionals working within London’s property based and related industries. Our networking events are extremely relaxed and casual affairs and attended by a wide range of business sectors with everyone from developers & solicitors to architects, investors to estate agents... Each ticket includes a delicious full lunch buffet (including v. options), a drink (alcholic or soft) and your own printed attendee sheet to take away. Join us for our October 2026 Business Networking Lunch at the Fabulous Jaks of Mayfair - in their private lounge for lunch, drinks and the opportunity to talk property, make new friends and seek out fresh business leads. • No Speeches • No Talks or Schedule • No Membership Fees • No Sales Presentations Just pure relaxed networking in a friendly environment. Running for almost Two Decade our events are a proven, cost effective and fun way to generate new business.

FUNCTIONALISM, AND THE BUS

200 years ago the first ‘omnibus’, carrying, without booking, up to 20 passengers, ‘inside’ and ‘on top’, to an advertised timetable, along a fixed route, cheaply, set off from Paddington, for the Bank of England, along the ‘New Road’\*. So we’re going to meet at Stockwell Station, once the terminus of the world’s 1st deep-level, electric railway, and then walk, or ride the No 2 bus\*\*, from the 1952 Stockwell Bus Garage (pictured) to Victoria Bus Station, busiest in London, by way of the dramatic 2004 Vauxhall Cross Bus Station, 2nd busiest, noting along the route the features added to the system since that time, which we now take for granted, like: route numbers, fixed stops, 2 covered decks, a distinctive logo, red buses, own typeface, quiet, clean vehicles, a co-ordinated network, and interchange to other routes and to other transport modes. Stockwell Garage, designed by Adie Button, is a vast monolithic ‘art object’, a single sculptural shell of reinforced concrete, filling an entire city block, and capable of stabling 200 buses as part of the tram replacement project, in a column-free space the size of 4 Olympic swimming pools. Arup Associates’ design of the Vauxhall Interchange won a competition in 2002: a 200m long, 12m wide, ribbon of stainless steel, covering the bus stops, then launching skyward at 20˚, like a pair of skis poised at the top of a jump, to catch sunlight on PV cells. Since 2013 it has been repeatedly earmarked for removal to facilitate the luxury housing developments: we may be among the last groups to see it alive! Both follow the tradition of ‘functionalism’ led by Frank Pick, CEO of the LPTB\*\*\*, and his architect, Charles Holden, from 1934: the design of the transport system was to be simple and fit for purpose. Buildings would be light-filled, modernist beacons, the architecture an exact expression of the passengers’ patterns of use, and superfluous ornament would be excluded, leaving geometric clarity. But just as it reaches maturity the bus network is facing challenges: average speeds falling, the gap between off- and peak demand widening, and becoming unpredictable: costs rise while income falls, funds are short and design standards are slipping. The canopy at Victoria Bus Station has been removed. Vauxhall is scheduled for demolition. New bus designs, such as the ‘New Bus for London’, and the BYD BD11, have exhibited reproduction styling, gaudy LED lights, and extreme overheating. So, for inspiration, we’re going to look for functionalism, with an open mind, on the buses, and in the serious, weird, wonderful and even downright wacky buildings along the route. Including: · London Borough of Lambeth’s George Finch-designed Edrich House, the Wates LPS pre-fabricated storey-height slab system subordinated to the architect’s design with stunning results. One of 4 similar towers around Lambeth. Brutalism rendered inspiring by giving it jagged profiles and top, with each flat visually expressed. If only all pre-fab local authority tower blocks could have been designed so carefully. Now partly painted, which softens its brutality. · Vauxhall Cross, aka the MI6 HQ, by Terry Farrell & Co, 1989-92. Charles Jencks described it as a ‘hanging garden’: it’s certainly a Thames ‘Palace’: But is it Hollywood, Mayan Ziggurat, Art Deco or Beaux Arts? Designed as a speculative project, so intuiting intrigue is just imagination! · Berkeley Homes’ 1400-apartment St George Wharf, 2001-10, memorable for its broken-curve gable roofs. Despite only ever being *shortlisted* for the ‘UK’s Ugliest New Building’ award, in 2006, the internet now firmly asserts that it has *twice* been voted ‘Worst Building in the World’. · The 1976-85 Drummond Gate buildings, Phase 1, 1976-83, by William Whitfield, above Pimlico Station, a ‘medieval castle’, with ‘battlements’, ‘arrow-slit’ windows, thick defensive walls, and a ‘moat’…and Phase 2, 1983-5 by Chapman Taylor, a functional office block now let as the Head Office of the John Lewis Partnership. · Passing the site of the now re-developed Victoria Bus Garage, the only one in Central London, demolished in 1999, at the time of closure serving only 6 routes and 65 buses, we arrive at Victoria Bus Station. It served the 18 m long articulated buses operating route 38, between 2005-9. It had an overall roof, now removed. Now consists only of bus stop posts and narrow raised footways. · The much pinnacled, red-panelled Nova Building, 2016, in Victoria Street, by PLP Architecture, really did win the Carbuncle Cup, in 2017, and was described by the judges, as, among other things, ‘a hideous mess’ and ‘a crass assault on the senses’. No functionalism? We will console ourselves on the ‘Market Halls’ Rooftop Terrace and food court, above the Victoria Station District Line station, and overlooking the Bus Station, with Gourmet Kebabs, Malaysian Street Food, Thai Cuisine, and Artisanal Italian Gelato! Hope you can come! Andy \*now Marylebone, Euston and Pentonville Roads \*\*if it’s too hot to walk. You will need a valid Oystercard or ticket, or a contactless debit card. The route 2 is one of the oldest continuously operated routes in London, first operated in 1905, by the very earliest motor buses. \*\*\*the London Passenger Transport Board bought out all London’s privately owned transport companies, paying them in cash and stock, and was responsible for transport from Luton to Horsham, and from Windsor to Tilbury.

Write The Docs London Summer Social 2026

Catch up with a cool drink (or two!) with your fellow documentations at our annual summer social 🍹 Join us anytime at [Market Halls Paddington](https://maps.app.goo.gl/nX3n85rs7XXm5FVS7) from 6pm onwards! **Location notice** As this this will be a public venue, there may be background noise from music and other patrons.

City Oasis: Editorial Photography Workshop in a Hidden London Sanctuary ✨

Riverside & Georgian Gothic Walk

A gentle, flat 6-mile walk along the Thames from Kingston to Richmond. After coffee at the Argonaut Café will follow the Thames though Kingston and Ham admiring the mansions and views from the Thames Path. At Teddington Lock will cross the river via the footbridge and continue through Teddington. We then reach the Georgian Gothic revival masterpiece of Strawberry Hill House. Created by Horace Walpole in the 18th century it was the inspiration for the Gothic revival in England and the setting for "The castle of Otranto", the first Gothic novel in English language. Walpole intended a tour of Strawberry Hill to be a theatrical experience. You enter a gloomy hall and pass up a staircase of grey stony appearance before finally entering the sumptuous state apartment, a burst of crimson and gold. We can explore the house and gardens, syringas and honeysuckles along the winding paths. We will stop for lunch at the Cloister coffee house. Gardens and café free, charge for entry and guided tour of house. Afterwards easy walk back along other bank of Thames to Richmond. We will pass York House, Orleans House and Marble Hill House before crossing back. Final tiffin stop at the hidden Hollyhocks tea rooms on Richmond Hill. Short cut option after Strawberry Hill House as nearby station with services back to start or Richmond and London. Refreshments Café at start. Lots of pubs and cafes on route. Option to bring packed lunch as picnic benches at lunch stop. Travel Southwestern trains to Kingston from Waterloo. Services stop at Clapham Junction. At Richmond there are District and Mildmay Lines, and Southwestern trains. Southwestern train back to Kingston or 65 bus. Payable parking at start and end. Start 11:00am at tables at Argonaut Café, Riverside, Kingston, KT1 1TF. A good knowledge of English history is required for this walk.