Elain Harwood
A passionate champion of Britain's postwar concrete architecture, she fought to preserve buildings many others dismissed as eyesores.
1958–2023 (age 65)·British architectural historian·Birthday: June 10·Baby Boomers
Biography
Elain Harwood devoted her career to the misunderstood and often maligned world of 20th-century British architecture. As a historian for Historic England and its predecessor bodies, she wasn't content with just studying the past; she became an activist for its preservation. With a particular zeal for the Brutalist and Modernist structures of the post-war period, she meticulously documented and advocated for office blocks, housing estates, and civic centers that others saw as mere concrete blights. Her work was instrumental in getting dozens of these buildings listed, granting them protected status. Harwood wrote with clarity and conviction, authoring definitive guides and curating exhibitions that argued for the social ambition and artistic merit embedded in these concrete forms, changing public perception one building at a time.
Baby Boomers
1946–1964
The largest generation in history at the time. Shaped by postwar prosperity, the Vietnam War, the sexual revolution, and Watergate. They questioned every institution their parents built — then ran them.
Elain was born in 1958, placing them squarely in the Baby Boomers. The events that shaped this generation — postwar prosperity, civil rights, Vietnam, and the counterculture — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Elain Was Born
The biggest hits of 1958
#1 Movie
South Pacific
Best Picture
Gigi
#1 TV Show
Gunsmoke
Elain's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1958Born
NASA founded
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $11,050Min wage: $1.00/hrPresident: Dwight D. Eisenhower"Volare" — Domenico ModugnoBest Picture: Gigi
1963Started school
JFK assassinated in Dallas; Martin Luther King's 'I Have a Dream' speech
Gas: $0.31/galHome: $13,100Min wage: $1.25/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"Sugar Shack" — Jimmy Gilmer & The FireballsBest Picture: Tom Jones
1971Became a teenager
Voting age lowered to 18 in the US
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $18,100Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"Joy to the World" — Three Dog NightBest Picture: The French Connection
1974Could drive
Nixon resigns the presidency
Gas: $0.53/galHome: $22,600Min wage: $2.00/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"The Way We Were" — Barbra StreisandBest Picture: The Godfather Part II
1976Could vote
Apple Computer founded; US bicentennial
Gas: $0.59/galHome: $29,300Min wage: $2.30/hrPresident: Gerald Ford"Silly Love Songs" — WingsBest Picture: Rocky
1979Turned 21
Iran hostage crisis begins; Three Mile Island accident
Gas: $0.86/galHome: $37,900Min wage: $2.90/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"My Sharona" — The KnackBest Picture: Kramer vs. Kramer
1988Turned 30
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1998Turned 40
Google founded; Clinton impeachment
Gas: $1.06/galHome: $107,300Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Too Close" — NextBest Picture: Shakespeare in Love
2008Turned 50
Barack Obama elected first Black US president; financial crisis
Gas: $3.27/galHome: $153,100Min wage: $6.55/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Low" — Flo RidaBest Picture: Slumdog Millionaire
2018Turned 60
Royal wedding of Harry and Meghan; Parkland shooting
Gas: $2.72/galHome: $211,800Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"God's Plan" — DrakeBest Picture: Green Book
2023Died at 65
ChatGPT goes mainstream; Israel-Hamas war begins
Gas: $3.52/galHome: $361,600Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Joe Biden"Flowers" — Miley CyrusBest Picture: Oppenheimer
Key Achievements
- She was the lead author of the influential Pevsner Architectural Guide 'England's Post-War Listed Buildings.'
- Her advocacy was crucial in securing listed status for the Preston Bus Station, a iconic Brutalist structure.
- She curated the 2014 exhibition 'Brutal and Beautiful: Saving the 20th Century' at the Tate Britain.
- She served as a trustee of the Twentieth Century Society, a key organization in architectural preservation.
Did You Know?
She initially trained as a secretary before pursuing her passion for architectural history.
She was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) in 2016.
One of her favorite buildings was the Economist Plaza in London, a modernist complex completed in 1964.
She co-wrote a book specifically about the architecture of the British coffee bar.
“Post-war buildings tell the story of our collective aspirations.”
