Lecture date: 2008-05-09
Collections in 1916. Founded in 1851 by a group of architectural professionals led by George Gilbert Scott, the Royal Architectural Museums collections were intended to form a museum of gothic casts for the education of art workmen the nucleus of a National Museum of Architecture. By the 1870s the museum was housed in purpose-built premises on Tufton Street, Westminster and contained over 4500 casts, including major runs contributed by John Ruskin and William Burges. It also housed well in excess of 2000 original pieces, boasting sculpture from Westminster Hall, a significant quantity of medieval woodwork and stained glass, architectural drawings and an important collection of 18th- and 19th-century architectural models.
This lecture traces the development and display of the collections and the AAs role in engineering the museums closure and subsequent dispersal of its holdings.
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