Eric Parry’s Westminster audio tour
Tale of Two Cities - Part 1
This is the first audio tour of a two-part series led by architect and Royal Academician Eric Parry visiting London’s two historic cities: Westminster and the City of London
Eric Parry Architects (EPA) is responsible for the designing of some of the most significant projects in London today with many of its most important architectural works clustered in the City of London and Westminster. Open City has worked with EPA to create a two-part series of print and audio tours celebrating this contribution.
This tour focusses on Westminster where the company is renowned for a number of cultural projects involving sensitive historic buildings such as the restoration of St. John's Church in Waterloo, and the Church of St Martin-in-the-Fields in Trafalgar Square.
EPA has not only developed a reputation for delivering beautifully crafted and well-considered buildings, but also for championing generous amounts of public realm in its projects. The Farringdon-based studio is involved in every scale of making, – from a door handle to an urban masterplan.
From buildings adorned with public art by Turner Prize winning artists, to sculptural faience facades, warped windows, and specialist ecclesiastical furniture, to once-in-a-century reorganisations of historic churches and renovations of elegant corner buildings. How have Eric Parry’s projects transformed the City of Westminster?
This tour tells its story…
Route Notes
There are nine listening points on this guide, the first of which is at 50 New Bond Street
Find out more about the route and listening point below:
Listening Point 1 - 50 New Bond Street & 14 St George Street
Architect: Eric Parry Architects
Listening Point 2 - Maddox Street
Architect: Eric Parry Architects
Listening Point 3 - 23 Savile Row
Architect: Eric Parry Architects
Listening Point 4 - The Albany
Architect: Sir William Chambers
Listening Point 5 - One Eagle Place
Architect: Eric Parry Architects
Listening Point 6 - 8 St James's Square
Architect: Eric Parry Architects
Listening Point 7 - Pall Mall
Listening Point 8 - St Martin in the Fields
Architect: James Gibbs
Listening Point 9 - St Johns Church Waterloo
Architect: Francis Bedford (original building), Eric Parry Architects (2022 restoration)
Meet your tour guide
Eric Parry founded his architectural and design practice in 1983 after studying architecture at the University of Newcastle upon Tyne, The Royal College of Art, London and the Architectural Association, London. As an architect he is known for the intellectual rigour with which every project is approached and particularly the dialogue between techtonics and materiality. Now leading a practice of 100 with offices in London and Singapore he is fully involved in every aspect of the practice’s work from inception to the direction of project teams, design development and delivery.
In addition to his work in architectural practice, Eric has held a number of eminent posts. In 2006 he was elected Royal Academician (RA), one of the highest accolades for a practicing architect or artist in the UK. His contribution to academia includes 14 years as Lecturer in Architecture at the University of Cambridge (between 1983 and 1997) and lectureships at the Graduate School of Design, Harvard University, and the Tokyo Institute of Technology. In 1975 he spent a year studying nomadic settlement in the middle east.
The practice is responsible for the design of some of the most significant projects in London today.