Every generation discovers its own heroes. I found mine in 2026. He died in 1726 and his name is John Vanbrugh (1664-1726). I’m not the first to discover him, of course, and I am in stellar company. This year has seen the Vanbrugh300 tercentenary celebrations of Vanbrugh’s life and legacy, looking at him in the round as soldier, playwright, architect and all round fun person to know.

In the 18th century, John Soane acknowledged Vanbrugh as “the Shakespeare of architecture”. Soane was professor of architecture at the Royal Academy of Arts, London from 1806. He declared:

It is impossible to contemplate the works of Sir John Vanbrugh without feeling those emotions which the happy efforts of genius alone can produce. In his bold flights of irregular fancy, his powerful mind rises superior to common conceptions, and entitles him to the high distinctive appellation of the Shakespeare of architects.

It is impossible to contemplate the works of Sir John Vanbrugh without feeling those emotions which the happy efforts of genius alone can produce. In his bold flights of irregular fancy, his powerful mind rises superior to common conceptions, and entitles him to the high distinctive appellation of the Shakespeare of architects.

Few large country houses still represent current political power and extreme wealth that they did in the 18th century. So why value them now? Post-second world war reconstruction threatened historic city centres, and country houses were being demolished at an alarming rate. This continued well into the 1960s. Arguments to protect nature, beauty........

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