Shortlists revealed for the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize

The shortlists for two of the most important prizes in architectural history – the Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion and the Colvin Prize – have been revealed today.  

The Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion is awarded to a monograph that makes an outstanding contribution to the study of architectural history – previous winners include Howard Colvin, Dorothy Stroud, John Summerson, Nikolaus Pevsner, Hermione Hobhouse and Jill Lever. The Colvin Prize, established in 2017, is awarded to an outstanding work of reference of value to the discipline irrespective of format. 

The two shortlists for the awards, which can be found below, demonstrate a broad range of subjects and approaches to architectural history, ranging from gender and space in the Anglo-Norman world and early modern geoaesthetics, to a global history of state-sponsored ‘mass housing’,  an Open Source curriculum on race and space, and much more.

The winners will be selected in the autumn and announced at the Society’s Annual Lecture and Awards Ceremony – the date for this event will be confirmed shortly.

The awards are overseen by the SAHGB to reward work that is innovative, ambitious and rigorous in tackling histories of the built environment as broadly conceived. The SAHGB’s awards programme, which also includes the Hawksmoor Essay Medal, Heritage Research Award and Dissertation Prize, is open and inclusive wherever possible, celebrating diversity of approach and recognising work at all career levels.

Please contact the SAHGB at info@sahgb.org for further information. 

Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion shortlist 

Fabio Barry, Painting in Stone: Architecture and the Poetics of Marble from Antiquity to the Enlightenment (Yale University Press)

Richard J. Butler, Building the Irish Courthouse and Prison: A Political History, 1750- 1850 (Cork University Press)

Miles Glendinning, Mass Housing: Modern Architecture and State Power – a Global History (Bloomsbury)

Sugata Ray, Climate Change and the Art of Devotion: Geoaesthetics in the Land of Krishna, 1550-1850 (University of Washington Press)

Katherine Weikert, Authority, Gender and Space in the Anglo-Norman World, 900-1200 (Boydell & Brewer)

Sam Wetherell, Foundations: How the Built Environment Made Twentieth-Century Britain (Princeton University Press)

Colvin Prize shortlist 

Alec Hamilton, Arts & Crafts Churches (Lund Humphries) 

Niall Hobhouse, www.drawingmatter.org (Drawing Matter Trust)

Clare Hartwell, The Buildings of England: Nottinghamshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Yale University Press) 

Solomon Zewolde, Adam Walls, Dr. Tania Sengupta, Dr. Catalina Ortiz, Dr. Yasminah Beebeejaun, George Burridge and Dr. Kamna Patel. Supported by: The Bartlett, UCL Faculty of the Built Environment; ‘Race’ and Space: What is ‘race’ doing in a nice field like the built environment? https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/sites/bartlett/files/race_and_space_pdf_final.pdf

Elizabeth Darling and Nathaniel Robert Walker (eds), Suffragette City: Women, Politics, and the Built Environment (Routledge)

FURTHER INFORMATION 

The Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion 

The Alice Davis Hitchcock Medallion – awarded since 1959 – is given annually to the author of a literary work that provides an outstanding contribution to the study of architectural history. The work must be by a British author (or authors), or deal with an aspect of the architectural history of the British Isles or the Commonwealth. The award is named after the mother of the American architectural historian Henry Russell-Hitchcock, and the medallion consists of a Wedgwood portrait of James ‘Athenian’ Stuart. It was presented to the SAHGB general meeting in 1959. 

Judging panel: Dr Christine Casey (University College Dublin); Dr Elizabeth Darling (Oxford Brookes University) (Chair); Dr Michael Hall (Burlington Magazine); Professor Wendy Pullan (University of Cambridge); Dr Tania Sengupta (The Bartlett, University College London). 

For further information, including criteria, eligibility and nomination form, please see the Awards page. For a list of previous winners, please contact the SAHGB at info@sahgb.org.uk. 

The Colvin Prize 

The Colvin Prize is awarded annually to the author or authors of an outstanding work of reference that relates to the field of architectural history, broadly conceived. All modes of publication are eligible, including catalogues, gazetteers, digital databases and online resources. It is named in honour of Sir Howard Colvin, a former president of the Society, and one of the most eminent scholars in architectural history of the twentieth century. The prize was inaugurated in 2017, winners receive a commemorative medal designed by contemporary medallist Abigail Burt. 

Judging panel: Mr Edward Bottoms (Architectural Association); Mr Matthew Bristow (Historic England/Victoria County History Online); Ms Ashleigh Murray (Donald Insall Associates); Dr Frances Sands (Sir John Soane’s Museum) (Chair); Dr Colin Thom (Survey of London) 

For further information, including criteria, eligibility and nomination form, please see our Awards page. For a list of previous winners, please contact the SAHGB at info@sahgb.org.uk.