All Glasgow walks are from 19:00 – 21:00 and led by Roger Guthrie. All walks cost £5, payable in cash to Roger at the beginning of the walk.

Please note, booking is only required for the Cove & Kilcreggan walk.

If you have any questions, please email us on info@alexanderthomsonsociety.org.uk

In the bicentenary of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson’s birth, join Glasgow City Heritage Trust & The Alexander Thomson Society to ‘talk Thomson’ and decide: what is Thomson’s best building?

One of the Glasgow’s greatest architects, Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson is praised for his originality, use of modern technologies and his personal Graeco-Egyptian style. Following on from the heated debates of our Battle of the Architects series and in the bicentenary of his birth, join Glasgow City Heritage Trust & The Alexander Thomson Society to ‘talk Thomson’ and decide once and for all: which of Thomson’s iconic works is really top of the pile? Can our speakers make a convincing argument for their favourite Thomson masterpiece in this architectural face-off?

ATS members receive free entry to this event, contact info@alexanderthomsonsociety.co.uk to receive your unique password.

Things as they are/as they ought to be is an exhibition of works spanning sculpture, film and textiles by artists Olivia Jones and Alberta Whittle. Taking place inside the ruin of Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson’s first church, the building’s context and style have acted as catalysts for conversations surrounding memory, history and appropriation between the curator and contributing artists. Experimenting with the tensions around dominant/collateral narratives and attributions, Jones and Whittle’s work seeks to explore such pressures and focus on historical interpretations or connotations that are often neglected.

ALBERTA POSTER OLIVIA POSTER

We are delighted that Eric Parry joins the Society this year to deliver our annual Alexander Thomson lecture.

This event is open to all. Members can book tickets by clicking “enter promotional code” and entering the password they received in the post along with their journal. Members requiring a reminder of their password or other assistance can contact the Society at info@alexanderthomsonsociety.org.uk

Eric established Eric Parry Architects in 1983. Under his leadership, the practice has developed a reputation for delivering beautifully crafted and well considered buildings that respond to their context. London has been the focus and the setting for most of his work.

Eric Parry Architects is renowned for cultural projects involving sensitive historic buildings such as the restoration of St Martin-in-the-Fields Church in Trafalgar Square and the highly acclaimed new extension for the Holburne Museum of Art in Bath. He has also worked on several highly prestigious commercial projects in London’s City and West End, including Stirling Prize shortlisted schemes at 30 Finsbury Square and 5 Aldermanbury Square, and the recently completed One Eagle Place in Piccadilly. Clients include The Crown Estate, Generali, Aviva, Henderson Global Investors and Argent.

In addition to his work in architectural practice, Eric serves on the Royal Academy Architecture Committee, the RIBA Library Committee, the Kettle’s Yard Committee, the Canterbury Cathedral Fabric Advisory Committee, the Mayor’s Design Advisory Panel and the Council of the British School at Rome. He has in the past served on the Arts Council of England’s Visual Arts and Architecture panel, chaired the RIBA Awards Group and was President of the Architectural Association.

He was elected Royal Academician in 2006 and awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Arts from the University of Bath in 2012.

His contribution to academia includes 14 years as Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Cambridge and lectureships at the Graduate Design School, Harvard University and the Tokyo Institute of Technology.

Architect and deputy director of Glasgow City Heritage Trust, Niall Murphy, will deliver a talk focussing on the life and work of Sir John James Burnet. His works include Charing Cross Mansions and the Clyde Navigation Trust building in Glasgow, and works to British Museum and Selfridges in London.

Art historian and actor Paul O’Keeffe joins the Society to perform John Ruskin’s ‘Architecture’ lecture, from the Ruskin’s 1853 series of lectures originally delivered to the Philosophical Institution in Edinburgh.

Nominated for the Scottish Heritage Angel Awards in 2017 for his research into James Sellars and his Kelvinside Academy building, Dominic Ferrie will present his ongoing research into the life and work of Sellars, and his link to Alexander Thomson.

Iain McGillivray will discuss the ongoing and planned restoration work at Holmwood, one of Thomson’s finest interiors. Followed by Helen Kendrick who will deliver a talk drawing from her fantastic book, Glasgow Interiors, prepared in collaboration with Neale Smith.

Writer, journalist and architecture critic, Owen Hatherley, joins the Society to deliver the inaugural Gavin Stamp lecture. Owen is the author of Militant Modernism, Landscapes of Communism and A Guide to the New Ruins of Great Britain.