Share Your Knowledge to Enrich the List
Share your photos and memories on any of the 400,000 buildings, monuments, battlefields and more on the National Heritage List for England.
20th Century Architects on Enrich the List
Listen to audio recordings of in-depth interviews with influential British architects and discover how they shaped the places we live our lives in and around.
Use the map below to:
- Listen to the architects interviewed in the British Library's recordings
- Explore their creations, considered so important they're protected by listing
- Enrich the List: add your thoughts and photos of these buildings to the National Heritage List for England
Sir Colin St John Wilson
This collection also features an interview with Sir Colin St John Wilson who was the architect behind the British Library. Born in Cheltenham, he went to Corpus Christi, Cambridge in 1940 to read architecture. After the war he continued his studies at the Bartlett School.
He began his career at London County Council where he collaborated with (Sir) Leslie Martin. He became a lecturer in Architecture at Cambridge in 1956 where Martin was Professor. Wilson and Martin worked together on several projects, but Wilson, in collaboration with his wife Mary Jane Long, is undoubtedly best known for his design of the British Library, a project of some 30 years duration. A highly influential architect of the post-war period, his renown is attested by 10 of his buildings being listed.
British Library Oral Histories collection
Oral Histories help us to understand why the public value their historic places. It helps us to capture memories of the people that love, use and breathe our built heritage environment. Capturing the community memory of places is key to our understanding of the value accorded to their historic buildings.
Get involved
Many places on the List are well-known and even world-famous. But in some cases there is much that remains unknown.
99% of people in England live within a mile of a listed building or place. Why not Enrich the List and tell us what makes your favourite listed building special, so we can record important facts, and even unlock the secrets of some places.
