James Stevens Curl


James Stevens Curl, was a British architectural historian, architect and author with an extensive range of publications to his name.

Early life and education

The son of George Stevens Curl, who worked as an inspector of agents for the Eagle Star Insurance Company, and Sarah, Curl was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on 26 March 1937. He was educated at Campbell College, Belfast, at Queen's University Belfast, and at Belfast College of Art before studying at the Oxford School of Architecture where he qualified in Architecture and – having studied under Arthur Korn – in Town Planning. He read for his doctorate at University College London, which he received in 1981.

Career

Curl was Professor at the School of Architecture and Design, Ulster University, Professor Emeritus at De Montfort University, Leicester, and has been a Visiting Fellow at Peterhouse, Cambridge. An honorary Doctor of Arts degree was conferred on him by De Montfort University in 2014 in recognition of his "distinctive contribution to the study of Architectural History" and of his "outstanding contributions to the intellectual and cultural life of the nation and the region".

Personal life and death

In 1960, Curl married psychiatrist Eileen Elizabeth Blackstock; they had two daughters. His second marriage, in 1993, was to Professor Dorota Iwaniec. Curl died on 5 November 2025, at the age of 88.

Honours

Curl was a Member of the Royal Irish Academy, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London, a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, a Fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, a member of the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, a member of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Chartered Architects of the City of London.
In September 2017, he was awarded the President's Medal of the British Academy "for his contribution to the study of the History of Architecture in Britain and Ireland".

Memberships

Curl was the first Chairman of Oxford Civic Society, which was founded in 1969. He was Joint Patron of the Mausolea and Monuments Trust, President of the Friends of Southampton Old Cemetery, a Vice-President of the Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery, a member of the Art Workers' Guild, and a member of the Oxford & Cambridge Club.

Selected works

  • English Architecture: An Illustrated Glossary. New revised edition of the book originally published in 1977.
  • The Londonderry Plantation 1609–1914. The History, Architecture, and Planning of the Estates of the City of London in Ulster.
  • English Architecture: An Illustrated Glossary.
  • Victorian Architecture.
  • Simon Stringer, Sculptor: Catalogue of Exhibition at the Goldmark Gallery, Uppingham.
  • The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry. An Introductory Study. Winner of the RIBA Sir Banister Fletcher Award for Best Book of the Year on Architecture, 1992.
  • The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry: An Introductory Study.
  • Classical Architecture: An Introduction to Its Vocabulary and Essentials, with a Select Glossary of Terms.
  • Victorian Architecture Paperback edition of the 1990 hardback.
  • Classical Architecture: An Introduction to its Vocabulary and Essentials, with a Select Glossary of Terms.
  • Encyclopaedia of Architectural Terms.
  • Georgian Architecture.
  • A Celebration of Death: An Introduction to Some of the Buildings, Monuments, and Settings of Funerary Architecture in the Western European Tradition.
  • Egyptomania: The Egyptian Revival as a Recurring Theme in the History of Taste. and 0‑7190-4127-9
  • The English Heritage Book of Victorian Churches. and 0-17134-7490-4
  • Georgian Architecture.. Paperback edition
  • Encyclopaedia of Architectural Terms.
  • Oxford Dictionary of Architecture.
  • Oxford Dictionary of Architecture in the Oxford Paperback Reference Series
  • The Honourable The Irish Society and the Plantation of Ulster, 1608–2000: The City of London and the Colonisation of County Londonderry in the Province of Ulster in Ireland: A History and Critique.
  • The Victorian Celebration of Death.
  • Classical Architecture: An Introduction to its Vocabulary and Essentials, with a Select Glossary of Terms.
  • Classical Architecture: An Introduction to its Vocabulary and Essentials, with a Select Glossary of Terms.
  • The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry: An Introductory Study.
  • The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry: An Introductory Study.
  • Piety Proclaimed: An Introduction to Places of Worship in Victorian England.
  • Death and Architecture: An Introduction to Funerary and Commemorative Buildings in the Western European Tradition, with Some Consideration of their Settings.
  • Georgian Architecture.
  • The Victorian Celebration of Death.
  • The Egyptian Revival: Ancient Egypt as the Inspiration for Design Motifs in the West. and 9-78-0-415-36118-7
  • A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. and 0-19-2806300
  • Victorian Architecture: Diversity & Invention.
  • John Claudius Loudon and the Cemetery Movement
  • Two Outstanding Monuments in the General Cemetery of All Souls, Kensal Green: The French Connection and Other Matters. Special Issue 53 of the Magazine of the Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery, ISSN 1753-4402
  • Spas, Wells, and Pleasure-Gardens of London.
  • The Protestant Cemetery in Rome. Special Issue 55 of the Magazine of the Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery ISSN 1753-4402
  • Freemasonry and the Enlightenment: Architecture, Symbols, & Influences
  • Georgian Architecture in the British Isles 1715–1830.
  • Funerary Monuments and Memorials in St Patrick’s Cathedral, Armagh and 978-1-905286-48-5
  • Making Dystopia: The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism
  • Classical Architecture: Language, Variety, & Adaptability
  • ''The Life and Work of Thomas Downes Wilmot Dearn ''