The Twentieth Century Society

The Twentieth Century Society is a British charity which campaigns for the preservation of architectural heritage from 1914 onwards.^[1] The society's interests extend to buildings and artefacts, that characterise 20th-century Britain.^[1] It is 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, and must be notified of any proposed work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition.^[2]

The society was formed as the Thirties Society in 1979, the year in which the Thirties exhibition was shown at the Hayward Gallery. The idea came from the Victorian Society which aims to protect pre-1914 Victorian and Edwardian buildings.^[3] Though several modern buildings had been listed on the recommendation of Nikolaus Pevsner in 1970, it was felt by John Harris and Sir Simon Jenkins that much more needed to be done. Bevis Hillier was the first president, Clive Aslet the first honorary secretary. In 1992, it changed its name to the Twentieth Century Society as it was felt that Thirties Society was a poor description as the society aimed to protect buildings from other periods as well.

References

1. The Twentieth Century Society - History
2. Department for Communities and Local Government (24 March 2015), Arrangements for handling heritage applications Direction 2015, www.gov.uk, retrieved 5 August 2015
3. http://www.victoriansociety.org.uk/about/

External links

• The Twentieth Century Society
• The Twentieth Century Society comes of age
• The Twentieth Century Society, Registered Charity no. 1110244 at the Charity Commission