Rebuilding Croydon
Waves or rebuilding have repeatedly changed the face of Croydon over the last century. From airport to the postwar office boom, and the strange half-finished works of today, take a tour of the ever-changing skyline of Croydon and what it tells us of the hopes and dreams of the town.
Postwar Architecture of Croydon
This free talk, to be given by local architecture expert John Grindrod and supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund, will explore Croydon’s urban history and the iconic buildings found within the community.
It is part of the Little Manhattan Project, which celebrates Croydon’s magnificent skyline and captures the memories of those who lived through the regeneration of the area between the 1950s and 1970s. For more information about the Little Manhattan Project go to: www.digitaldrama.org/project/little-manhattan . With thanks to National Lottery players for making the Little Manhattan project possible. The talk will be accompanied by British Sign Language (BSL) interpretation. Tickets here.
Secrets of Concretopia
Ten years ago Old Street published Concretopia, my journey around the rebuilding of postwar Britain, telling the tale of everything from prefabs to high-rise estates, new towns to brutalist shopping centres, the Festival of Britain to corruption cases. Now, to celebrate a decade of Concretopia I’m going to take the Manchester Modernist Society behind the scenes of writing and researching the book, and to look back on what has happened to our postwar landscape since then. Join me and the modernist for a fun evening of stories, scandals and streets in the sky. Tickets here.
Arvon online Masterclass: Bringing Landscape to Life
What kind of environments fire your imagination? Architectural grandeur or crumbling dereliction? Wild landscapes or carefully curated gardens? A building you feel intimately connected to, or somewhere quite alien? In this Masterclass place and social history writer John Grindrod will help you think of new ways to help write yourself into buildings and landscapes, working out what makes a great setting to write about, and how to find a new angle to explore in the most familiar of locations. We’ll think about how we can synthesize research with on-the-ground responses and will try some exercises to help us think differently about place: how to evoke its mood, character and strangeness, to make it exciting afresh for the reader. Perhaps most importantly, we’ll free ourselves from the expectations of how certain places ‘should’ be written about and responded to. Instead, we’ll find new ways of expressing our own voices and personalities through our experience of different landscapes – and to help turn those disparate responses and places into a strong idea for a book.
The Masterclass will be delivered via Zoom webinar, so you can take the session at your own pace, without the pressure of having your video or camera on. Sessions are also recorded so if you are unable to attend live, you will have access to the recording for a month afterwards.
Find out more here.
Concretopia: A Brutal Decade
Ten years ago we launched Concretopia at Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace. Maybe you were there that night, or subsequently read the book or have come along to a later event. Well, to celebrate a decade of Concretopia this is a special night back in Bookseller Crow, where it all began, looking back at the writing of the book, with tales of the places I visited and what happened to some of them next, and also some things that didn’t make it in. Thanks so much to everyone who has read and supported this book, it means so much to me, and this event is a chance to celebrate all things brutalist, modernist, prefabricated and space-aged. Tickets here.
Concrete Communities
Concrete Communities examines the South Bank Centre in London. Regarded as a landmark piece of post-war public architecture, this integrated complex of buildings includes the Hayward Gallery, the Purcell Room and the Queen Elizabeth Hall.
Masterminded as a neofuturistic accompaniment to the (now Grade I listed) Royal Festival Hall, it was a brutalist celebration of the future – a concrete commitment to people, art and culture. Commissioned by London City Council, it was completed in 1968, with architects Warren Chalk, Dennis Crompton and Ron Herron credited as having the greatest influence on its radical design.
Concrete Communities 002 invites experts from the design industry, in addition to Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios (the award-winning architects’ responsible for the 2018 retrofit of the South Bank Centre) to talk about how the democratisation of good design could help promote happiness and improve our lives.
The evening will be split into two panel debates, with a 15 min interval in-between. This is a seated event and drinks will be served. Tickets are free: EVENTBRITE
Panel 01: Leanne Cloudsdale • Host + Moderator, David McKendrick • Art Director + Paperboy , Leonie Branston • Designer + Founder of Ferian, Chris Allen • Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios, John Grindrod • Author + Journalist
Panel 02: Leanne Cloudsdale • Host + Moderator, John Booth • Artist + Ceramicist, Kathryn Pashley • Product Designer + Academic, Matt Kelly • Plæy Workshop, Daniel Schofield • Industrial Designer
Polaroids of Croydon
Join John Grindrod, author of Iconicon and Concretopia, on a walk around the endless rebuilding of Croydon town centre. On the eve of the millennium John Grindrod took polaroids to capture the postwar buildings of the town where he’d been born, and felt sure were soon to disappear. That walk forms the basis of one of the chapters from his new book, Iconicon: A Journey Around the Landmark Buildings of Contemporary Britain. This walking tour retraces his steps on a fun and informative architectural exploration of an overlooked suburban centre, and tells the story of the last few decades of Britain through the urban design, pop culture and social history of a town caught on the cusp of sitcom punchline and hipster cool.
The route will take in the celebrated Threepenny Bit building, the ghosts of modern towers, traces of Medieval, Victorian and Art Deco Croydon, long-disappeared theatres and cinemas, the Fairfield Halls arts centre and all sorts of extraordinary new landmarks and pop-ups.
The duration of the walk will be two and a half hours. There will be two walks on the Sunday, one starting at 10:30am, and one at 2pm. Walk in conjunction with London Open House and Turf Projects. Book tickets here.
Docklands Walk with the London Ambler
Take an enthralling journey around the Britain we have created since 1980 – the horrors and delights, the triumphs and failures – on a special walk re-reading the buildings and spaces of Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs.
The Shining: Cosey Fanni Tutti, John Grindrod, Craig Oldham & Hettie Judah
A panel unfolding the ongoing enigmatic power of Stanley Kubrick’s The Shining, with contributors to Craig Oldham’s recent book of essays on the film, Cosey Fanni Tutti and John Grindrod, hosted by Hettie Judah.
The Shining: A Visual and Cultural Haunting, from Rough Trade Books, is an immersive examination of one of the most infamous films in cinematic history, exploring the film’s cultural legacy through exclusive essays, original recollections, and art and visual ephemera.
Our panel will include:
Craig Oldham has been named as one of the most influential designers working in the UK, and has written books on a range of topics, including education, culture, and politics. He is the concept and series editor of Epiphany Editions, the first of which, They Live: A Visual and Cultural Awakening was published in 2019. The Shining: A Visual and Cultural Haunting was published in 2022.
John Grindrod is the author of Concretopia: A Journey Around the Rebuilding of Postwar Britain (2013), Outskirts: Living Life on the Edge of the Green Belt (2017) and Iconicon: A Journey Around the Landmark Buildings of Contemporary Britain (March 2022).
Cosey Fanni Tutti, whose career began in 1969, is a respected artist and musician of worldwide renown. She is co-founder of Industrial music and Throbbing Gristle, and is known for her pioneering electronic music as ‘Chris & Cosey’ and ‘Carter Tutti’. She is the author of Art Sex Music and Re-Sisters.
Hettie Judah is chief art critic on the i, a regular contributor to The Guardian’s arts pages, and a columnist for Apollo magazine.
This panel discussion is part of a series of events celebrating five years of publishing from Rough Trade Books. TICKETS HERE.
Modern Village: New Ash Green and the New Towns
An event put on by New Ash Green Arts Community. John Grindrod has been described as the most vibrant, irresistible and knowledgeable voice writing about architecture and social history today. He says of himself that he is not an academic – just a big old geek. He does a lot of walking, describing what he sees and trying to understand how buildings and landscapes might have come about, trying to see places on their own terms, not with the baggage of received wisdom and hindsight.
. His book ‘Concretopia’ received favourable reviews in the Independent, the Times and the Sunday Telegraph and has a chapter on New Ash Green called ‘A Village with your Children in Mind’.
£2 members, £4 non-members. Tickets on the door.
Bath Festival event
Giving a talk about Iconicon at the Guildhall as part of the Bath Festival. Tickets and details here.
Milton Keynes Literary Festival
In conversation at Iconicon and the strange things built in Britain – and Milton Keynes – since 1980. Tickets available here.
Southbank Walk for Faber Members
Walking Tour: A Stroll Along the South Bank with John Grindrod
Pompey Bookfest
John Grindrod and Deborah Sugg Ryan in conversation in Portsmouth Central Library
London Modern 22
A new cultural festival. Join us on December 10 for a celebration of the arts, design and architectural movements of the mid-20th century.
Celebrate modernism in all its forms, from buildings to music to fashion to art and design, and find out what modernism can teach us about living well in the 21st century.
Join us from 10am to 6pm at one of London's greatest modernist buildings, the recently refurbished Waltham Forest Town Hall, for talks, debates, tours, masterclasses and exhibitions.
Our programme:
John Grindrod, historian and author of Concretopia and Iconicon: A Journey Around the Landmark Buildings of Contemporary Britain, is your host
Neal Shasore, head of the London School of Architecture, on architectural culture in interwar London
Jude Rogers, journalist, broadcaster and author of The Sound of Being Human, brings her personal guide to The Waste Land and TS Eliot's London
Charles Holland, teacher, writer and principal of Charles Holland Architects, on London's many modernisms
Voices from the Trellick Tower and Cheltenham Estate: real-life stories of London modernism
Masterclass with the Twentieth Century Society: meet and learn from the grassroots campaigners saving modernist gems from the wrecking ball
Travis Elborough, writer, historian and cultural commentator, on modernist London in pop culture
Hawkins Brown, the architects behind the restoration, take you behind the scenes of the Grade II-listed Waltham Forest Town Hall
More speakers and events will be announced shortly – follow us on Twitter and Instagram or sign up for email updates here. Tickets here.
Brutal Outer London with Simon Phipps
In conversation with photographer and writer Simon Phipps about his new book Brutal Outer London. Tickets here.
Writeidea
Discover the icons of modern London in this illustrated talk. A captivating exploration of Britain’s most iconic contemporary buildings, from the Barratt home to the Millennium Dome, Iconicon is an enthralling journey around the Britain we have created since 1980 — the horrors and delights, the triumphs and failures. From space-age tower blocks to suburban business parks, and from postmodernist exuberance to Passivhaus eco-efficiency, this is at once a revelatory architectural grand tour and an endlessly witty and engaging piece of social history.
Bethnal Green Library, tickets and festival details here
Iconicon and London Icons
John Grindrod, Dr Ruth Lang and Sanaa Shaikh present an evening dedicated to London icons since the 1980s. Sat within the shadow of the Millennium Dome, John will take us on a revelatory tour of the buildings that encapsulate the dreams and aspirations of our culture, drawing on the research he undertook for his new book: Iconicon: A Journey Around the Landmark Buildings of Contemporary Britain. Whether modest or monumental, these projects offer a living history of Britain, symbols of the forces that have shaped our modern landscape and icons in their own right.
John will be joined by a series of experts from the London built environment and we will be kindly hosted in the NOW Gallery, part of the revitalised Greenwich Peninsula.
Ruth is an architect, writer, and curator, whose research explores alternative strategies and positions which can be adopted in pursuit of the practice of architecture.
Sanaa Shaikh, founder of Native Studio, she is an Architect, educator and activist with a passion for inclusion in the built environment.
Tickets are available here.
Iconicon talk, Baltic, Gateshead
Baltic Shop are excited to announce an evening with author John Grindrod (Concretopia, Outskirts) in celebration of his latest book, Iconicon: A Journey Around The Landmark Buildings Of Contemporary Britain.
The event will be free, and will take place on Saturday 18th June, from 6:00pm – 8:00pm.
Grindrod’s first book, Concretopia, traced the utopian post-war ideals of the UK’s built environment – examining the wide-eyed idealism in brutalist office blocks, car parks and council housing. His latest book picks up where that book left off. Iconicon explores how the ascent of Thatcher and the free markets altered our built environment and our lives, from Right To Buy to Barratt Homes. It follows this thread through the New Labour years and grand Millennium projects, and ends in the present day amongst Brexit and the pandemic. Throughout, Grindrod’s writing is accessible, eminently readable and peppered with anecdotes both hilarious and heartbreaking.
For the event, John Grindrod will present a talk detailing the topics covered in his book, followed by a Q&A hosted by Euan Lynn from the Newcastle-Upon-Tyne Modernist Society. There will be a selection of books for sale, including those by John and other relevant titles, and free refreshments in Baltic’s Front Room. On the event, Andrew Smith of Baltic Shop said: “We are very pleased to be hosting this event with John – Baltic is one of the buildings he writes about in Iconicon, and so it felt appropriate that we celebrate its release together in our spectacular building, especially as we approach Baltic’s 20th anniversary.”
The evening will be free to attend, and there is no booking required. Details here.
Iconicon talk, Design West, Bristol
A talk taking us on a journey around four decades of modern architectural history in Britain. The buildings designed in our lifetimes encapsulate the dreams and aspirations of our culture, while also revealing the sobering realities. Whether modest or monumental, they offer a living history of Britain, symbols of the forces that have shaped our modern landscape and icons in their own right.
Iconicon is an enthralling journey around the Britain we have created since 1980: the horrors and delights, the triumphs and failures. From space-age tower blocks to suburban business parks, and from postmodernist exuberance to Passivhaus eco-efficiency, this is at once a revelatory architectural grand tour and an endlessly witty and engaging piece of social history. Tickets here.
Iconicon, and the books that inspired it, at Rye Books
Reading from some of the novels that inspired Iconicon, as well as from the book itself. Tickets here.
Talk at Design West, Bristol
Talking about the real iconic buildings of contemporary Britain, at Design West. Tickets here.
Talk at the Holburne Museum in Bath
Wimpey homes. Millennium monuments. Wind farms. Spectacular skyscrapers. Self-confessed architecture geek John Grindrod takes us on an enthralling, witty and engaging journey round the Britain we have created since 1980: the horrors and delights, the triumphs and failures. Tickets here.
Docklands Iconicon walk with The London Ambler
The London Ambler with author John Grindrod lead a special walk re-reading the buildings and spaces of Canary Wharf and the Isle of Dogs. Tickets here.
Iconicon talk at the Mitchell Library, Glasgow
Talking about the real iconic buildings of contemporary Britain as part of the Aye Write festival, at the Mitchell Library. Tickets here.
The Portobello Bookshop in Edinburgh
The bookshop writes: We’re excited to be hosting an event with John Grindrod in celebration of his fascinating non-fiction work, Iconicon: A Journey Around the Landmark Buildings of Contemporary Britain. He’ll be telling us all about this exploration of Britain’s most iconic contemporary buildings, from the modest to the monumental. The book’s introduction focuses on a vision of the future city in the film Glasgow 1980 and later on there’s the story of Edinburgh’s own Scottish Parliament building. Tickets here.
Sheffield Modernist talk at La Biblioteka
Giving a talk in association with the Sheffield Modernists at la Biblioteka, on the real architectural icons of modern Britain. Tickets here.
Manchester Modernist Event
SOLD OUT. We are very happy to welcome our old friend John Grindrod back to the modernist to talk about his brilliant new book Iconicon - A Journey Around The Landmark Buildings of Contemporary Britain.
Talk with Inside Croydon
Join us to hear author John Grindrod discuss his latest book, Iconicon, and some pretty good buildings and a vast number of awful ones. In association with Inside Croydon. Tickets here.
Polaroids of Croydon walk
I’ll be doing a guided walk around Croydon for Faber Members , lasting approximately 2–2.5 hours, exploring the strange history and buildings of the centre of South London’s rebellious suburb, and my home town. Tickets here.
Ladybird modernism talk at the House of Illustration (c) House of Illustration
Polaroids of Croydon walk (c) Rob Telford
Iconicon talk in Leeds Civic Trust (c) DLA
With Samira Ahmed, Tim Dunn and Helen Day at Conway Hall (c) Eddy Bray
Waterstones Piccadilly with Catherine Croft of the 20th Century Society (c) Thaddeus Zupanćić
Bluecoat in Liverpool with Lynsey Hanley and Owen Hatherley (c) Andrew Jackson
Please keep checking back as I frequently have new events being added, or sign up to my Substack email newsletter.
I enjoy giving talks and have been lucky enough to meet people all over the UK at book festivals, bookshop events, university lectures, museum and gallery talks and local organisations.
Previous talks have included one on Ladybird books and modernism at Conway Hall with Samira Ahmed, Tim Dunn and Helen Day, the Edinburgh Book Festival, Green Man Festival, Port Eliot Festival, Croydon Literary Festival, Richmond Literary Festival, AyeWrite in Glasgow, the Arnolfini, the Boring conference, the Museum of London, the V&A, Tate Liverpool with Lynsey Hanley, Modernist Societies in Manchester, York, Sheffield and Birmingham, Docomomo Scotland in Edinburgh and Glasgow, Bristol Festival of Ideas, The Bluecoat in Liverpool, the Baltic in Gateshead, Universities in Liverpool, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield and Delft, The House of Illustration, the National Theatre, the Festival Hall, The Printworks Hastings, civic trusts in Leeds, Chester and Wakefield, Bookseller Crow in Crystal Palace, Five Leaves Bookshop in Nottingham, The Bound in Whitley Bay, Rye Books, Portobello Books in Edinburgh, Waterstones in Manchester and Piccadilly, Foyles, the Big Green Bookshop, Janette Ray bookshop in York, Rough Trade East, and Croydon Till I Die at the Fairfield Halls with Andy Miller and Bob Stanley.
Milton Keynes Literary Festival
Recording of my Iconicon event at Milton Keynes Literary Fesival at the central library in April 2023, in conversation with Fiona Robinson.