Otto Saumarez Smith
@osaumarezsmith.bsky.social
Historian of shopping precincts, derelict landscapes, leisure centres, power stations, inner cities, housing, the Potteries, Telford new town, & city centre redevelopment. @c20society casework & trustee.
Camping Fusina, 1958-9, a rather unlikely Carlo Scarpa project, but full of characteristic moments despite the low budget.
November 26, 2025 at 8:44 AM
Camping Fusina, 1958-9, a rather unlikely Carlo Scarpa project, but full of characteristic moments despite the low budget.
Launch event for the Modern British City at
@c20society.bsky.social on 26th of January: secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
Do come!
The book is out with @lhartbooks.bsky.social next week.
@c20society.bsky.social on 26th of January: secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
Do come!
The book is out with @lhartbooks.bsky.social next week.
November 21, 2025 at 11:02 AM
Launch event for the Modern British City at
@c20society.bsky.social on 26th of January: secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
Do come!
The book is out with @lhartbooks.bsky.social next week.
@c20society.bsky.social on 26th of January: secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...
Do come!
The book is out with @lhartbooks.bsky.social next week.
A war memorial for an unexploded missile that landed in the Frari.
November 18, 2025 at 11:35 AM
A war memorial for an unexploded missile that landed in the Frari.
Sandbag protection of artworks in Venice in 1916, in anticipation of bombing.
November 18, 2025 at 11:34 AM
Sandbag protection of artworks in Venice in 1916, in anticipation of bombing.
A day teaching in Carlo Scarpa’s Castelvecchio. Magic.
November 4, 2025 at 6:37 PM
A day teaching in Carlo Scarpa’s Castelvecchio. Magic.
Holly Smith launches Up in the Air at the LRB Bookshop. @holsmith.bsky.social
October 30, 2025 at 8:22 PM
Holly Smith launches Up in the Air at the LRB Bookshop. @holsmith.bsky.social
The deeply creepy island of Poveglia in the Venetian Lagoon, originally a nunnery, then a quarantine station, and an asylum from 1922 till 1968 - & now all eerily derelict - it’s reported that underfoot are plague pits for over 100,000 people.
October 20, 2025 at 9:45 AM
The deeply creepy island of Poveglia in the Venetian Lagoon, originally a nunnery, then a quarantine station, and an asylum from 1922 till 1968 - & now all eerily derelict - it’s reported that underfoot are plague pits for over 100,000 people.
A pair of ludicrously high-heeled Venetian clogs, or Calcagnetti, c. 1400.
October 9, 2025 at 6:18 PM
A pair of ludicrously high-heeled Venetian clogs, or Calcagnetti, c. 1400.
Letter in the Times:
October 2, 2025 at 3:49 PM
Letter in the Times:
It’s literally this
September 23, 2025 at 4:23 PM
It’s literally this
A short post about the Modern British City, out in November: www.lundhumphries.com/blogs/featur...
September 23, 2025 at 1:43 PM
A short post about the Modern British City, out in November: www.lundhumphries.com/blogs/featur...
Pleased with this small Gustavsberg dish, showing Eskil Sundahl's Kooperativa Förbundet headquarters in Södermalm (1935).
August 29, 2025 at 10:48 AM
Pleased with this small Gustavsberg dish, showing Eskil Sundahl's Kooperativa Förbundet headquarters in Södermalm (1935).
Managed to re-buy this Ironbridge B Power Station commemorative plate.
August 26, 2025 at 1:26 PM
Managed to re-buy this Ironbridge B Power Station commemorative plate.
Söderledskyrkan:
August 20, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Söderledskyrkan:
Also visited later suburbs Rinkeby & Tensta, built with large panel systems as part of the Million Programme, they have a bad reputation as ghettos, and the racial segregation is shockingly stark, but they are walkable, medium rise, well connected, & beautifully landscaped & maintained. A surprise.
August 20, 2025 at 10:53 AM
Also visited later suburbs Rinkeby & Tensta, built with large panel systems as part of the Million Programme, they have a bad reputation as ghettos, and the racial segregation is shockingly stark, but they are walkable, medium rise, well connected, & beautifully landscaped & maintained. A surprise.
Farsta point blocks.
August 20, 2025 at 10:46 AM
Farsta point blocks.
Farsta Centrum the southern equivalent of Vällingby, more like an American mall, but full of the type of detailing Ventris described as ‘“SKOJ” (fun, sharawaggi &c)’
August 20, 2025 at 10:43 AM
Farsta Centrum the southern equivalent of Vällingby, more like an American mall, but full of the type of detailing Ventris described as ‘“SKOJ” (fun, sharawaggi &c)’
Backström & Reinius’s Vällingby was the major influence behind Oliver Cox & Graeme Shankland’s aborted LCC New Town at Hook, with a raised central deck surrounded by point blocks, everything cheerfully detailed. Central Coventry could be as good if it were properly maintained.
August 20, 2025 at 10:35 AM
Backström & Reinius’s Vällingby was the major influence behind Oliver Cox & Graeme Shankland’s aborted LCC New Town at Hook, with a raised central deck surrounded by point blocks, everything cheerfully detailed. Central Coventry could be as good if it were properly maintained.
The centre of Hökarängen by David Helldén (completed 1950) Abercrombie’s London Plan had made it through the blockade during the war and had influenced Swedish planners, and this reminds me very much of one of Gibberd’s precincts, although painful to see how better preserved than UK equivalents.
August 20, 2025 at 10:29 AM
The centre of Hökarängen by David Helldén (completed 1950) Abercrombie’s London Plan had made it through the blockade during the war and had influenced Swedish planners, and this reminds me very much of one of Gibberd’s precincts, although painful to see how better preserved than UK equivalents.
More Årsta centrum.
August 20, 2025 at 10:23 AM
More Årsta centrum.