Andrew Saint, a pioneering architectural historian who fundamentally changed how scholars approach the study of buildings and their social contexts, died of lymphoma at age 78 on July 16, 2025. Saint transformed architectural history from a field focused primarily on aesthetics and design into a broader discipline that examined the social and economic factors behind building development, inspiring several generations of writers and researchers in the process.
Saint's groundbreaking approach was outlined in his 1983 book "The Idea of the Architect," where he wrote: "We are at present in the midst of a widespread transformation of architectural history, with its emphasis on aesthetics, design and authorship, into building history, which has broader social and economic preoccupations." This philosophy became his life's work and established him as one of the most influential voices in architectural scholarship.
His academic career began with his first book, "Richard Norman Shaw" (1976), a brilliant monograph on a late Victorian architect that effectively served as his doctoral thesis while he was a lecturer at Essex University. The period from 1850 to 1914 remained his primary focus throughout his career, and he maintained a lifelong involvement with the Victorian Society. His expertise in this era would prove invaluable in his subsequent work.
In 1974, Saint joined the Greater London Council (GLC) to work on the prestigious Survey of London project, a research initiative that began in 1894 and has published 55 volumes documenting London buildings by district. This experience proved formative for Saint, who credited Francis Sheppard, the survey's general editor, with pioneering a holistic approach that integrated urban development, architecture, and social and economic history.
During the final decade before the GLC's abolition in 1986, Saint and his colleagues formed crucial alliances with the council's historic buildings division. This collaboration led to significant conservation victories through high-quality research and advocacy, most notably the successful campaign to save Covent Garden from redevelopment threats.
Saint's research took a significant turn when admirers of Stirrat Johnson-Marshall, an architect dedicated to public service who died in 1981, asked him to document the work of that generation. The GLC granted Saint six months of leave to pursue this project, during which he connected with individuals like David and Mary Medd, who were famous for their role in the innovative Hertfordshire schools building program.
This work provided Saint with an exemplar of interdisciplinary collaboration, showing how projects could integrate everything from patronage and innovative construction to artistic details like murals and sculpture. In 1984, he organized public reminiscence sessions at the Architectural Association that reunited many people involved in landmark projects including Hertfordshire schools, the Festival Hall, the Alton estate in Roehampton, and the rebuilding of Coventry.
The research culminated in "Towards a Social Architecture," published in 1986, which demonstrated how technical and humanist aims were successfully integrated in these groundbreaking projects. The book's impact was immediate and lasting – a year later, the first post-1945 building received historic listing, and the 30-year rule was established, allowing buildings in England to qualify for listing upon reaching that age.
When the GLC was dissolved, its historic buildings division continued under English Heritage, and Saint moved with it. He joined longtime friends like Robert Thorne and new recruits including Elain Harwood, Roger Bowdler, and Steven Brindle, setting the pace for research on threatened buildings. The team became known for their Monday morning meetings that invariably ended at the local pub.
At the start of the 1990s, Environment Minister Baroness Blatch encouraged a more active approach to listing postwar buildings, leading to the establishment of an innovative study program with an expert committee. Martin Cherry of English Heritage, who directed the research, credited Saint's commitment as crucial in providing confidence to senior policymakers that the work was worthwhile and substantial. Saint's academic reputation and his ability to demonstrate that postwar buildings, particularly housing and schools, were forces for good proved invaluable to the program's success.
Saint helped launch this project publicly in 1992 with a pamphlet titled "A Change of Heart," borrowing the phrase from poet W.H. Auden. This publication marked a turning point in how postwar architecture was perceived and preserved in Britain.
In 1995, Saint was recruited for a newly created chair at the University of Cambridge School of Architecture, though he found the working culture less congenial than his previous positions. His belief that architects were not as important as they considered themselves was strengthened during this period, leading him to begin work on his longest book, "Architect and Engineer – a study in sibling rivalry," published in 2007, which sought to understand the different characteristics of these two professions.
At Cambridge, Saint struggled to persuade colleagues to publish for the new Research Assessment Exercise but became renowned as a supervisor of doctoral students. His mentees included James Campbell and Timothy Brittain-Catlin, who later altered the Cambridge course to become more grounded and practical in ways that aligned with Saint's educational philosophy.
Saint gladly accepted voluntary severance from Cambridge in 2006 and returned to the Survey of London as general editor. He reinvigorated the research and publishing program by completing existing work on Clerkenwell and collaborating with colleagues to add volumes on Woolwich, Battersea, and South Marylebone. He personally undertook most of the volume on Oxford Street before stepping down to part-time work and then retiring in 2015, by which time the survey was being administered by the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London.
Even in retirement, Saint remained active as an author and editor. He published a book on late Victorian London in 2021 and continued his editorial work with the Victorian Society's journals and monograph series. A book on Waterloo Bridge and its Surrey-side surroundings awaits posthumous publication.
Born in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, on November 30, 1946, Andrew was the younger son of Elisabeth (née Butterfield) and the Rev. Arthur Maxwell Saint, known as Max. The family moved to Cheltenham, where Andrew attended Dean Close junior school, before he went on to Christ's Hospital school in Horsham. Andrew excelled in Latin and Greek, enjoyed singing and playing the cello, but despised sports, forming strong friendships throughout his school years.
His interest in architecture developed through church visits with his parents, exposure to the Aston Webb buildings at his school, and later during his time at Oxford, where he studied classics. When his father became chaplain at Guy's Hospital, Andrew lived in London for the first time and fell in love with the atmospheric Southwark riverside area.
Taking Oxford entrance exams a year early, he earned an exhibition to Balliol College and spent time in Italy at the British School at Rome. A master's degree at the Warburg Institute in London focusing on John Ruskin led to his first part-time teaching position in the art department at Essex University.
From the early 1970s until the late 1980s, Saint was the partner of Ellen Leopold, an American architect and academic. They had two daughters together, Lily and Catherine. After their relationship ended, Ellen, Lily, and Catherine settled in the United States, while Saint remained in London, living in a Duchy of Cornwall terrace house in Kennington. He had another daughter, Leonora, from a relationship with Annachiara Cerri. In later life, his partner was Dutch art historian Ida Jager.
Saint is survived by his partner Ida and his three daughters. His death marks the end of an era in architectural history, but his revolutionary approach to understanding buildings within their broader social and economic contexts continues to influence scholars and preservationists worldwide.
