Greeves, Thomas Affleck

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Greeves, Thomas Affleck (1917–97). British architectural conservationist and draughts-man. A founder-member of the Victorian Society (1957) he was an active pioneer in resisting wholesale demolition of buildings of quality, and was particularly involved in the conservation of Bedford Park, Chiswick, West London, the C19 Arts-and-Crafts development by Norman Shaw and others. He appreciated Victorian urban fabric before it became fashionable, and at a time when the Great and the Good were involved in plans for its wholesale destruction. Influenced by visions of Piranesi and by his own experiences viewing the decaying buildings of the British Raj in India, he began to produce beautifully drawn architectural fantasies of great power and imagination, often showing Victorian buildings in a state of decay, composed in the form of the C18 capriccio. His publications include Bedford Park (1975) and Ruined Cities of the Imagination (1994).

Bibliography

Daily Telegraph (29 Sept. 1997), 23;
Greeves (1975);
The Times (27Sept. 1997), 25;