David John Watkin (born in 1941) MA PhD LittD Hon FRIBA FSA, is a British architectural historian. The term architecture (from Greek αρχιτεκτονικήarchitektoniki) can be used to mean a process a profession or documentation See also History An historian is an individual who studies and writes about History, and is regarded as an Authority on it He is a fellow of Peterhouse at Cambridge University, UK, Professor of the History of Architecture and, since 2006, Head of Department at the Department of Art History at Cambridge University. Peterhouse is the oldest college in the University of Cambridge. The University of Cambridge (often Cambridge University) located in Cambridge, England, is the second-oldest university in the He has also taught at the Prince of Wales's Institute of Architecture. Prince of Wales (Tywysog Cymru is a title traditionally granted to the Heir Apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom (and formerly the Kingdom [1]

David Watkin is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects. The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA is a Professional body for Architects in the United Kingdom. He is Vice-Chairman of the Georgian Group, and was a member of the Historic Buildings Council and its successor bodies in English Heritage from 1980-1995. The Georgian Group is an English and Welsh conservation organisation created to campaign for the preservation of historic buildings and planned landscapes of the 18th Three separate Historic Buildings Councils were created by the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953, one for each of England, Scotland and English Heritage is a Non-departmental public body of the United Kingdom government ( Department for Culture Media and Sport) with a broad remit of

Professor Watkin shall be retiring from Peterhouse at the end of this academic year.

Classicism vs Modernism

Watkin's main research interest has been classical architecture, particularly from the 18th century to the present day, and has published widely on that topic. The term Classical architecture has a specific Archaeological meaning relating to the architecture of Classical Greece The 18th century lasted from 1701 to 1800 in the Gregorian calendar, in accordance with the Anno Domini / Common Era numbering system He has also published on general topics including A History of Western Architecture (4th ed. 2005) and English Architecture: A Concise History (2nd ed. 2001), as well as more specialised monographs on architects Thomas Hope, Sir John Soane, James Stuart, and C. R. Cockerell. An architect is a licensed individual who leads a design team in the Planning and Design of buildings and participates in oversight of Building Construction Henry Thomas Hope ( 30 August 1769 &ndash 3 February 1830 /1831 was a British author philosopher and art collector best known for his novel "Anastasius" Sir John Soane ( 10 September 1753 &ndash 20 January 1837) was an English Architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical James "Athenian" Stuart (1713 - 2 February 1788) was an English Archaeologist, Architect and artist best Charles Robert Cockerell (1788–1863 was an English Architect, Archaeologist, and Writer.

Watkin first came to wide international attention, however, with his book Morality and Architecture: The Development of a Theme in Architectural History and Theory from the Gothic Revival to the Modern Movement (1977), re-published in expanded form as Morality and Architecture Revisited (2001). The basic premise of his argument is that the language with which modernist architecture is described and defended is rooted in the false notion of the Zeitgeist or “the spirit of the age”, as put forward by German Idealist philosopher Friedrich Hegel, so that any opposition to modernist architecture – and here he has in mind the revival of classical and traditional architecture, which he has championed in his writings - are condemned as “old-fashioned”, irrelevant, anti-social, and even immoral. Zeitgeist ( pronounced) is a German language expression literally translated Zeit time; Geist spirit, meaning "the This article is concerned with architectural aspects of Modernism; for the most recent developments in architecture see Contemporary architecture. Vernacular Architecture is a term used to categorize methods of Construction which use locally available resources to address local needs

In terms of zeitgeist architecture, he traces its moralistic attitude back to architects Pugin, Viollet-le-Duc and Le Corbusier, among others – including their supporters within history such as Nikolaus Pevsner, who claimed that their chosen style had to be truthful and rational, reflecting society's needs. Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( 1 March 1812 – 14 September 1852) was an English Architect, designer and theorist of design now Eugène Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc ( January 27 1814 &ndash September 17, 1879) was a French Architect and theorist famous for his "restorations" Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris, who chose to be known as Le Corbusier ( October 6, 1887 – August 27, 1965) was a Swiss Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, ( January 30, 1902 &ndash August 18, 1983) was a German-born British scholar of Watkin also sees the pedigree of a distorting modernist architectural history emerging from Hegel, and that modern art and architectural history began in the nineteenth century as a by-product of history and the philosophy of culture in Germany and the rapid growth of Marxist sociology. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Among the ‘contemporary’ architects Watkin has championed are John Simpson and Quinlan Terry, as well as theorist Leon Krier. John Simpson CVO BSC (HONS DIP ARCH RIBA (Born 9 November 1954) is a British architect Quinlan Terry (born 24 July 1937 in Hampstead) is an English Architect. Léon Krier (born 7 April 1946 in Luxembourg City) is an Architect, architectural theorist and Urban planner. In his book on Terry, Radical Classicism: The Architecture of Quinlan Terry (2006) Watkin is forthright: “The modernism with which Quinlan Terry has had to battle is, like the Taliban, a puritanical religion. The Taliban ( طالبان, also anglicised as Taleban; translation "students" is a Sunni Islamist, predominately A Puritan of 16th and 17th century England was an associate of any number of religious groups advocating for more "purity" of Worship and Doctrine, ”

Quote

"…it is man, creative, mysterious, and unpredictable, who is the proper subject of the historian, not the subterranean collective urges of the spirit of the age or of the 'needs' of an as yet non-existent society. " (David Watkin, Morality and Architecture)

References

• David Watkin, Carl Laubin: The Poetry of Art And Architecture, Philip Wilson Publishers, London (forthcoming, 2007)
• David Watkin, Radical Classicism: The Architecture of Quinlan Terry. Rizzoli, New York, 2006.
• Christopher Hartop, Diana Scarisbrick, Charles Truman, David Watkin, and Matthew Winterbottom, Royal Goldsmiths: The Art of Rundell & Bridge. Rundell & Bridge were a British Jewellery firm based in London, also trading under the more familiar title Rundell Bridge and Rundell. John Adamson, London, 2006.
• David Watkin, A History of Western Architecture. Watson-Guptill Publications, New York, 2005.
• David Watkin, The Architect King: George III and the Culture of the Enlightenment. Royal Collection, London. 2004.
• David Watkin and Robin Middleton, Architecture of the Nineteenth Century. Phaidon Inc Ltd, London, 2003.
• David Watkin, Morality and Architecture Revisited, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001.
• David Watkin, English Architecture: A Concise History, WW Norton and Co Inc, New York, 2001.
• David Watkin (Ed). Sir John Soane: The Royal Academy Lectures, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.
• David Watkin (Ed), Sir John Soane: Enlightenment Thought and the Royal Academy Lectures (Cambridge Studies in the History of Architecture) Cambridge University Press, 1996.
• David Watkin, The Royal Interiors of Regency England. Rizzoli, New York, 1985.
• David Watkin, Morality and Architecture: The Development of a Theme in Architectural History and Theory from the Gothic Revival to the Modern Movement. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, (1984/original 1977).
• David Watkin, The English Vision. John Murray, London, 1982.
• David Watkin, Athenian Stuart: Pioneer of the Greek Revival. Harper Collins, New York, 1982.
• David Watkin, The Rise of Architectural History, Eastview Editions, London, Reprint edition, 1980.