Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1946-1969 (Creation)
Level of description
Subfonds
Extent and medium
1 notebook.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Thomas Sharp was a key figure in town planning in the mid-twentieth century. The concepts he developed in his writings and plans have been of enduring significance and influence on thinking about planning and design for both practitioners and academics in the UK and beyond. He was a major influence on the development of ideas of townscape and the significance of his thinking on historic cities stands comparison with, for example, Camillo Sitte.
The mid-twentieth century was a period when public and professional interest in planning was at an all-time high. Sharp was a key figure in defining thinking about the forms that town and countryside should take; in reconciling existing and valued character with modernity, and; in making these arguments accessible. His book Town Planning (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1940) is the most widely-read ever on the subject and followed earlier influential polemical works. The plans he produced in the 1940s, primarily for historic cities such as Oxford, Exeter and Durham, were also hugely influential and are significant aesthetic artefacts in the history of plan-making, all the more remarkable for being produced in a period of austerity.
Interest in Sharp and his ideas has grown markedly in recent years with, for example, the rise of 'New Urbanism' in the USA and of the significance of design issues in UK planning. Furthermore, there is a new-wave of scholarly interest in the post-war reconstruction planning and architecture of the mid-twentieth century as a distinctive period in planning and design, particularly focused around reconstruction plans and their partial implementation.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Notebook with Press cutting of publications: The Anatomy of the Village, (Jun 1946-Mar 1947), Oxford observed, (Nov 1952-Nov 1967), Dreaming spires and teeming towers, (Jan-May 1963) and Town and townscape, (Oct 1968-Aug 1969).
The Anatomy of the Village, (Jun 1946-Mar 1947):
Punch, 12.06.46.
The Scotsman, 13.06.46.
Estates Gazette, 29.06.46.
The Times Literary Supplement, 29.06.46.
Cooperative News, 06.07.46.
Oxford Mail, 11.07.46.
Truth 12.07.46.
The Times Literary Supplement, 19.07.46.
Builder, 19.07.46.
Books of the Month, July 1946.
Lady, 25.07.46.
Illustrated Carpenter and Builder 02.08.46.
Books of Today, August 1946.
Architects Journal, 29.08.46.
Irish Times, 07.09.46.
New Statesman and Nation, 14.09.46.
Evening Herald, 14.09.46.
Countryman, Autum 1946.
Blackfriars, October, 1946.
Journal of the Town Planning Institute, Sept-Oct. 1946.
Life and Letters today, October 1946.
Official Architect, October 1946.
The Listener, 26.12.46.
Town Planning Review, Autum 1946.
Architectural Review, Feb. 1947.
Housing Centre Bulletin, March 1947.
Town and Country Planning, 1947.
Oxford observed, (Nov 1952-Nov 1967):
Three letters about "Oxford Observed" between the Lord Mayor of Oxford City Council and Thomas Sharp.
Daily Telegraph, 01.10.62.
Cambridge Review, 15.11.52.
Oxford Mail, 20.11.52.
Oxford Times, 21.11.52.
Country Life, 28.11.52.
Birmingham Post, 02.12.52.
Irish Independent, 08.12.52.
The Times, 12.12.52.
Builder, 05.12.52.
Daily Dispatch, 29.12.52.
Architect and Building News, 08.01.53.
Scotsman, 15.01.53.
Architectural Review, January, 1953.
Architectural Review, January, 1953.
Journal of Education, March, 1953.
Oxford Magazine, 28.01.53.
Britannia and Eve, March, 1953.
Architects Journal, 12.02.53.
Irish Times, 07.02.53.
Time and Tide, 21.03.53.
Journal of Institute of Landscape Architects, March, 1953.
The Listener, 30.04.53.
Journal of the Town Planning Institute, June, 1953.
The Town Planning Review, July, 1953.
RIBA Journal, December, 1953.
Architectural Review, November, 1953.
Dreaming Spires and Teeming Towers, (Jan-May 1963):
The Times, 25.01.63.
Town Planning Institute Journal, 1963.
The Oxford Magazine, 25.05.63.
Town and Townscape, (Oct 1968-Aug 1969):
Daily Telegraph, 17.10.68.
Oxford Mail, 1968.
Radio Times, BBC.
Kenlish Gazette, 27.12.68.
Municipal Journal, 10.01.69.
RIBA Journal, Dec. 1968.
Sussex Life, February, 1969.
Country Life, 02.01.69.
Eastern Daily Press, 31.01.69.
Birmingham Post, 04.01.69.
Cambridge News, 19.11.68.
Press and Journal, 16.11.68.
Eastern Daily Press, 31.01.69.
Church Times, 28.02.69.
The Times Literary Supplement, 20.02.69.
Durham Advertiser, 11.04.69.
Architects and Surveyor, Feb.1969.
RIBA Journal, April, 1969.
Journal of the Austrian Institute of Planning, April 1969.
External Broadcasting: Current affairs talks, 10. 03.69.
British Books News, March 1969.
BBC The World of Books, 14.11.68.
Northern Architect, July, 1969.
Journal of the Town planning Institute, July-August 1969.