A legacy in paper and stone: a personal study into the architecture of the British Empire

Image: The Liver Building (left) and Pier Head, Liverpool, built at the height of the British Empire and when the city was one of its principal ports.

This is a personal research project I am sharing on this website as my research progresses.

About this research project

My original research title was: “A legacy in paper and stone: How the architecture, culture and urban planning of cities from Liverpool to Shanghai were shaped by the British Empire and its architects” [phew, long title!]

My research began in October 2018 when I was awarded a grant from the RIBA Gordon Ricketts Fund. I had an interest in the architecture created by and during the British Empire (1700s – 1950s) already. The empire was not just a commercial and military operation, but a transformative global network that enabled culture and architectural ideas to spread. Over the original timeframe of two years my intention was to uncover and understand the influence of the empire and its architects on the architecture, culture and urban planning of its colonies and cities, and assess if this exchange was multi-directional and what is its legacy. I’ve decided to continue the project indefinitely, and research is a mix of reading, attending talks and visits.

As expected, it was a large subject to tackle. I did a wide range of reading at the start and decided to move to write on specific buildings as case studies to explore my research title. I am sharing some of my research and findings via regular blog posts.

By Wilson Yau

Latest blog posts about the project:

  • A living legacy: the trees of the Imperial Institute

    March 17, 2024 by

    The Queen’s Tower is the often-cited survivor of the demolition of the Imperial Institute, but my previous blog looked at a few of the smaller surviving fragments. Amongst those I listed, I briefly mentioned living survivors, the overlooked London plane trees that line what is now called Imperial College Road. The road was originally called… Read more

  • What remains of the Imperial Institute?

    May 28, 2023 by

    This blog post is a brief survey of the physical remains of the demolished Imperial Institute, some are still on the original site in South Kensington and hidden away. My previous post looked at its image, mostly in postcards, as a means of seeing the whole building as it once was. Its demolition meant there… Read more

  • The Imperial Institute lives on in postcards

    July 25, 2022 by

    The Imperial Institute lives on in black and white or colorized images in many thousands of postcards printed and sent during the ‘craze’ for sending and collecting postcards in the early 20th century. As mentioned in my previous post, the Imperial Institute is a building that has physically disappeared and mostly been forgotten, but its… Read more

  • The Imperial Institute: a new focus for research

    February 7, 2022 by

    The Imperial Institute: a brief history As mentioned in my previous post from December 2021, I have decided to focus my attention on the Imperial Institute which used to be in South Kensington, London. First proposed in 1886 and receiving direct support from the then Prince of Wales (the future King Edward VII), it was… Read more

  • Reading a lot in 2021; a rewrite in 2022

    December 27, 2021 by

    What happened in 2021My reading continues but the writing has slowed down, as since the spring of 2021 the UK came out of lockdown and life became busier again – for a while. Also, by the autumn, I was moving house and working full time. As we head into a resurgence in Covid-19 rates due… Read more

View all posts