£15 members/£18 non-members

Please note that the date of this talk has changed to the 8th December

2026 marks the bicentenary of University College London – 200 years since it was founded as London’s first university, and the first in the country to open its doors to all, irrespective of religious belief. This lecture tells the story of its first architectural expression: the domed Greek Revival building of 1827–9 designed by William Wilkins which, then as now, stood as a symbol of the institution’s democratic principles. The talk considers (among other things) the progressive philosophy – social and educational, as well as architectural – that lay behind Wilkins’s design; the terrible damage sustained during bombing raids in 1940–1; and the building’s subsequent restoration by the arch-neoclassicist Sir Albert Richardson, one of the founders of the Georgian Group

The talk starts at 6.30pm, doors open from 6.15pm.

Georgian Group members are eligible for a discount on their ticket by entering GGMEMBER at the checkout.

Please read our Terms and Conditions before booking.

If tickets have sold out for this event, please email members@georgiangroup.org.uk to be added to the waiting list

Photo Credit: UCL Media Services – University College London