Catherine Slessor appointed president of C20 Society
The architecture critic Catherine Slessor has been named the next president of the C20 Society, praising the organisation for “courageously calling out short-sighted decisions and championing constructive strategies of preservation and re-use” (image: The Architects’ Journal).
Catherine Slessor has been named as the next president of the UK’s Twentieth Century Society.
A journalist and former editor of for The Architectural Review, Slessor will take over from Gillian Darley at the helm of the organisation, which was founded in 1979 to protect “the buildings and design that characterise C20th Britain”.
Slessor is currently a Contributing Editor to The Architectural Review, a publication she edited between 2010 and 2015. In 2016 she was awarded an MBE for services to architectural journalism. She was elected to the Twentieth Century Society’s presidency at the group’s AGM on 12 June.
Slessor said: “As a former editor of The Architectural Review, I’m acutely aware of the significance of modern architecture in Britain, and how its proponents catalysed new and often radical ways of thinking about buildings and their relationship to society.
“In passionately and skilfully advocating the case for modern and contemporary architecture, The Twentieth Century Society alerts the public and officialdom, whether at local or government level, to the richness and amenity of the nation’s modern heritage, courageously calling out short-sighted decisions and championing constructive strategies of preservation and re-use.”
Catherine Croft, the Twentieth Century Society’s director, said: “Catherine joins us at a time when increasing numbers of fine C20 buildings are coming under severe threat due to development pressures, a relaxation in planning laws and the demise of the high street and we welcome her contribution to helping us continue our important work to protect these buildings.”
The society has become known for its campaigning on behalf of buildings under threat, and has previously secured listings for buildings such as the Preston Bus Station and the Western Morning News headquarters in Plymouth.
Story source: The Architects’ Journal.