Enfilade

Sir John Vanbrugh, Seaton Delaval Hall, Northumberland, near Newcastle, 1718–28. Ravaged by fire in 1822, it is now owned by the National Trust.

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Next spring at the University of Cambridge:

Vanbrugh from Stage to Stone

Howard Theatre, Downing College, Cambridge, 27 March 2026

This international academic conference will explore the impact and legacy of Sir John Vanbrugh. The event marks the tercentenary of Vanbrugh’s death in March 1726 and forms part of the Vanbrugh300 festival for 2026, organised by The Georgian Group, the conservation organisation founded in 1937 to protect and promote Georgian buildings.

For those requiring hotel accommodations, there are two options nearby: the Regency Guesthouse, an independent boutique hotel, and the University Arms, a luxury hotel located directly across Regent Street from Downing College.

This conference is organised by the Ax:son Johnson Centre for the Study of Classical Architecture (CSCA) at the University of Cambridge in partnership with The Georgian Group.

Registration is now open via The Georgian Group website.

p r o g r a m m e

Detail of Blenheim Palace (Photo by Tony Hisgett CC BY-SA 2.0).

9.00  Registration breakfast with tea and coffee

9.45  Introductory Remarks — Frank Salmon (CSCA) and Anya Lucas (The Georgian Group)

10.00  Session 1 | Vanbrugh: The Writer and Herald
Chair: Charles Saumarez Smith
• Christopher Ridgway — Sir John Vanbrugh: The Letters of a ‘Great and Versatile Character’
• Annette Rubery — ‘I confess I have not at all stuck to the original’: John Vanbrugh as Translator and Adaptor
• David Roberts — The Playwright in Print
• James Peill — Vanbrugh as Herald

11.15  Coffee and tea

11.45  Session 2 | Vanbrugh: The Architect and Politician
Chair: Charlotte Davis
• Matthew Wood — Weighing Scales of Power? The State Apartments at Castle Howard
• Susie West — Vanbrugh and the Country House Plan
• Rory Fraser — John Vanbrugh: The Politician behind the Polymath

13.00  Lunch

14.00  Session 3 | Vanbrugh’s Network
Chair: Elizabeth Deans
• Melanie Hayes and Andrew Tierney — Building Relations: Collaboration, Achievement, and Artisanal Agency in Vanbrugh’s Architectural Practice
• Helen Lawrence-Beaton — Parallel Careers and Building Neighbours: The Relationship between Vanbrugh and Thomas Archer
• James Legard — Vanbrugh/Hawksmoor: The Graphic Anatomy of an Architectural Partnership

15.00  Tea and cake

15.30  Session 4 | Vanbrugh at Stowe
Chair: Frank Salmon
• Tom Nancollas — Vanbrugh’s Sleeping Parlour: Anatomy of a Lost Folly
• Michael Bevington — Vanbrugh’s Innovative Architectural Reconstructions at Stowe
• Francis Terry — Vanbrugh’s Design for Stowe

16.30  Break

16.45  Panel Discussion | Vanbrugh’s Influence
Chair: Matthew Walker
• Jeremy Musson, Frances Sands, and Owen Hopkins

17.30  Champagne reception