Paul Knox: London, heritage and capital.

<p>In this episode of the A is for Architecture Podcast, I spoke with Paul Knox, University Distinguished Professor at Virginia Tech, about his 2025 book, <a href="https://yalebooks.co.uk/book/9780300282085/lost-london/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"><strong>Lost London: From Crystal Palace to Heston Airport, a History in 25 Missing Buildings</strong></a>, published by Yale University Press in April this year.</p><p><em>Lost London’s</em> provocative move is to insist that ordinary buildings — a pub in Poplar, a roadhouse on a bypass, a block of council flats in Hackney — deserve the same analytical attention as a Wren church or a Robert Adam terrace. As one perhaps should expect from an urban geographer, this pushes back against the exquisite art-historical approach, which treats buildings as art objects and thereby frames architectural history around consecrated geniuses and great buildings. It is a seductive approach, for sure, but perhaps troubling in a different way. If everything means something to someone, how can we knock anything down at all? </p><p>Paul is not much online, the lucky fella. You can find him on <a href="https://grokipedia.com/page/paul_knox" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Grokipedia </a>though. The book is linked above.</p><p>If you want and can, please support the <em>A is for Architecture Podcast</em> by listening in and sharing it, or by either subscribing on <a href="https://patreon.com/aisforarchitecturepodcast?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer">Patreon </a>or making a gift via Buy Me a<a href="https://buymeacoffee.com/aisforarchitecture" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferer"> </a>Coffee. </p><p>+</p><p>Music credits: Bruno Gillick </p><p>Image credit: London Metropolitan Archives – Colombia Road Market. </p>