Alec Clifton-Taylor (2 August 1907 – 1 April 1985) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

architectural historian An architectural historian is a person who studies and writes about the history of architecture, and is regarded as an authority on it. Professional requirements As many architectural historians are employed at universities and other facilities ...

, writer and TV broadcaster.

Biography and works

Born Alec Clifton Taylor (no hyphen), the son of Stanley Edgar Taylor, corn-merchant, and Ethel Elizabeth Taylor (née Hills), in 1907 at Whitepost House, Overton Road in

Sutton, Surrey Sutton is a town in the London Borough of Sutton in South London, England. It is the administrative headquarters of the Outer London borough, on the lower slopes of the North Downs. It is south-southwest of Charing Cross, one of the fourteen ...

, Clifton Taylor was educated at

Bishop's Stortford College Bishop's Stortford College is a private boarding and day school in the English public school tradition for more than 1,200 pupils aged 4–18, situated in a campus on the edge of the market town of Bishop's Stortford, Hertfordshire, England ...

and at

the Queen's College, Oxford The Queen's College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford, England. The college was founded in 1341 by Robert de Eglesfield in honour of Philippa of Hainault, queen of England. It is distinguished by its predominantly neoclassi ...

. He went on to the

Courtauld Institute of Art The Courtauld Institute of Art (), commonly referred to as The Courtauld, is a self-governing college of the University of London specialising in the study of the history of art and conservation. The art collection is known particularly for ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

he served in the Admiralty.Obituary, Daily Telegraph (London), 8 April 1985. His best-known and most influential book is ''The Pattern of English Building'' (1962) (), an examination of the architectural

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

. It orders its subject according to the building materials and methods used in England. Two of his other books are studies of ecclesiastical architecture: ''The Cathedrals of England'' and ''English Parish Churches as Works of Art''. Along with

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (195 ...

(to whose ''

Buildings of England The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pub ...

'' series he was a contributor) and

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman, (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architect ...

, Clifton-Taylor is considered one of the three most significant figures in the study of English churches.Jenkins, S. and Barker, P. ''England's Thousand Best Churches'', Penguin, 2000,

Television work

Clifton Taylor gained his greatest public recognition late in life through his work for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. After being introduced through Pevsner to BBC arts producer John Drummond, Clifton Taylor presented the first episode, The Medieval World, of a

television Television (TV) is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. Additionally, the term can refer to a physical television set rather than the medium of transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertising, ...

programme on British architecture through the ages called '' The Spirit of the Age'', broadcast in Autumn 1975. Clifton Taylor went on to present three extremely popular series of 30- or 40-minute BBC programmes: '' Six English Towns'' (1978), '' Six More English Towns'' (1981), and '' Another Six English Towns'' (1984), in which he visited eighteen English towns, discussing their history and architectural character in an accessible and courteous (if uncompromising) style.

Personal life

He lived in

Kensington Kensington is an area of London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, around west of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up by Kensingt ...

, west

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, for much of his life (15 Clareville Grove) and was president of the Kensington Society, an organisation devoted to preserving the borough's architecture and open spaces. The Alec Clifton Taylor Memorial Garden is located behind St Mary Abbots Church in Kensington.St.Mary Abbotts and Alec Clifton Taylor Memorial Gardens
Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, accessed 29-09-2008 Clifton Taylor was awarded the title of

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(OBE) in 1982 for "services to the study of architecture."Supplement to The London Gazette, Issue 49008, 11 June 1982
page 12
Retrieved 2011-11-03.

References

External links

''Another Six English Towns: Devizes''
- A 30-minute BBC TV programme made in 1984 looking at Devizes architecture
English Towns: Bradford-on-Avon''
- A 35-minute BBC TV programme made in 1981 looking at Bradford-on-Avon's Georgian buildings and architecture {{DEFAULTSORT:Clifton-Taylor, Alec 1907 births 1985 deaths 20th-century English historians Alumni of the Courtauld Institute of Art Alumni of the Queen's College, Oxford English architectural historians English television presenters Historians from London Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Bishop's Stortford College People from Sutton, London Television personalities from the London Borough of Sutton Writers from the London Borough of Sutton