Sources & influences of Bedford Park, an online talk by Nicholas Friend
7.30pm on Wednesday 26 January 2022

This talk has been organised by the Bedford Park Society and B&CLHS may be interested because it looks at an area on our “patch”. Bedford Park, founded in 1875, is often seen as the world’s first garden suburb but it had precedents in estate, mill and retirement villages of the 18th and earlier 19th centuries. Nicholas Friend will outline the distinctive differences between those villages and Bedford Park’s planning, ideas and ideals, and the influence Bedford Park’s new thinking had on similar developments in Britain, Germany and the United States.

We are told that Nicholas’ autumn lecture to the Bedford Park Society was described by audience members as “fascinating and entertaining” and “very well researched” so they are delighted that he’s agreed to pass on more of his exceptional knowledge of Bedford Park’s history and influence. Nicholas was Founder-Director of the Cambridge University Art History Summer School for 25 years. Since 1986 he has also been Founder-Director of Inscape, the art history study tour society, which has taken its members into the active study of buildings and art galleries all over the world.

The talk, including questions, will last approximately one hour. Tickets cost £10 + booking fee – book your place at Ticketsource