{"meta":{"version":"2.1","_links":{"self":{"href":"https://api.vam.ac.uk/v2/object/O1752330"},"collection_page":{"href":"https://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1752330/"}},"images":{"_primary_thumbnail":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PF0232/full/!100,100/0/default.jpg","_iiif_image":"https://framemark.vam.ac.uk/collections/2025PF0232/","_alt_iiif_image":[],"imageResolution":"high","_images_meta":[{"assetRef":"2025PF0232","copyright":"© Victoria and Albert Museum, London","sensitiveImage":false}]},"see_also":{"_iiif_pres":"https://iiif.vam.ac.uk/collections/O1752330/manifest.json","_alt_iiif_pres":[]}},"record":{"systemNumber":"O1752330","accessionNumber":"E.38-2025","objectType":"drawing","titles":[{"title":"The Temple","type":"assigned by artist"}],"summaryDescription":"Thomas Affleck Greeves (1917–1997) was an architectural draughtsman known for his fantasy drawings of ruins. Born in London, he studied architecture at the Slade School of Art and Cambridge. His education was interrupted by World War II during which he served with the Royal Engineers in India and Pakistan. In Ruined Cities of the Imagination (1994), Greeves cited the Moghul mosques and palaces as well as the Buddhist rock-cut temples, sixteenth-century Portuguese colonial ruins and Sir George Gilbert Scott’s buildings for the University of Bombay as sources of inspiration. After the war he returned to Britain and trained at the Architectural Association in London.\r\n\r\nThough he never practised as an architect, Greeves’ architectural training grounds his work; his visionary ruins retain a sense of plausibility despite being creations of his imagination. In 1951, he won first place for the Architect’s Benevolent Society competition with his design “A Monument to Commemorate the Passing of the Good Old Days of Architecture.” His first drawing to be published was “Greeves Flying Machines” in The Saturday Book No. 26 in 1966. Due to popular demand, a colour spread of “A Steam Palace” and “Impelled Glider Ferry” followed in the next issue. Both featured fantasy technology, imagined from a nineteenth-century perspective. Greeves’ drawings were also published in Country Life, The Architects’ Journal, and The Design of Suburbia by Arthur M. Edwards (1981). The Royal Academy exhibited his work at six of their Summer Exhibitions. Robin Garton organised two exhibitions of his work in London: Robin Garton Gallery (1978) and Garton & Cooke (1987). The RIBA holds six works by Greeves.\r\n\r\nGreeves was also an early advocate of the conservation of Victorian architecture. In 1958, he joined the newly founded Victorian Society, founded to protect Victorian and Edwardian architecture. In 1963, he co-founded the Bedford Park Society to campaign for the suburb’s preservation and Norman Shaw’s legacy. He published Bedford Park: The First Garden Suburb in 1975.\r\n\r\nGreeves celebrated Victorian buildings when they were unfashionable, honouring them not only in his artworks but also by actively campaigning for their preservation. Greeves’ artistic output and activism exemplifies how his talent and passion had a concrete impact on a local and national scale. \r\n","physicalDescription":"Pen and ink drawing of fantasy architecture","artistMakerPerson":[{"name":{"text":"Thomas A. Greeves","id":"AUTH390745"},"association":{"text":"Artist","id":"AAT25103"},"note":""}],"artistMakerOrganisations":[],"artistMakerPeople":[],"materials":[{"text":"paper","id":"x30308"}],"techniques":[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}],"materialsAndTechniques":"Pen and ink drawing","categories":[{"text":"Architectural drawings","id":"THES274432"}],"styles":[],"collectionCode":{"text":"PDP","id":"THES48595"},"images":["2025PF0232"],"imageResolution":"high","galleryLocations":[{"current":{"text":"LVLE","id":"THES49657"},"free":"","case":"A","shelf":"234","box":""}],"partTypes":[[{"text":"drawing","id":"x32498"}]],"contentWarnings":[{"apprise":"","note":""}],"placesOfOrigin":[{"place":{"text":"England","id":"x28826"},"association":{"text":"made","id":"x28654"},"note":""}],"productionDates":[],"associatedObjects":[],"creditLine":"","dimensions":[{"dimension":"Height","value":"40.2","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""},{"dimension":"Width","value":"50.7","unit":"cm","qualifier":"","date":{"text":"","earliest":null,"latest":null},"part":"","note":""}],"dimensionsNote":"","marksAndInscriptions":[],"objectHistory":"","historicalContext":"","briefDescription":"Drawing, 'The Temple' by Thomas Greeves","bibliographicReferences":[],"production":"","productionType":{"text":"","id":""},"contentDescription":"","contentPlaces":[],"associatedPlaces":[],"contentPerson":[],"associatedPerson":[],"contentOrganisations":[],"associatedOrganisations":[],"contentPeople":[],"associatedPeople":[],"contentEvents":[],"associatedEvents":[],"contentOthers":[],"contentConcepts":[],"contentLiteraryRefs":[],"galleryLabels":[],"partNumbers":["E.38-2025"],"accessionNumberNum":"38","accessionNumberPrefix":"E","accessionYear":2025,"otherNumbers":[],"copyNumber":"","aspects":["WHOLE"],"assets":[],"recordModificationDate":"2025-09-15","recordCreationDate":"2023-04-17","availableToBook":false}}