In this episode Matthew Lloyd Roberts was joined by the historian Katrina Navickas to discuss the history of Grosvenor Square in Mayfair as a site of protest and policing. From the early twentieth century the square was home to the US Embassy, and it was the site of several protests against American foreign policy, most notably the Vietnam War in 1968. The policing of the Vietnam Solidarity Campaign led to the first CCTV system in the UK being erected in the square. The Embassy building itself, designed by Eero Saarinen, became a potent symbol of American power in London, but more recently the Embassy has moved to a more secure location in Nine Elms.
Katrina Navickas is Professor of History at the University of Hertfordshire. Her latest book is Contested Commons: a History of Protest and Public Space in England (Reaktion Books, 2025). She contributed the ‘Croydon’ chapter to Owen Hatherley’s The Alternative Guide to the London Boroughs (Open House London, 2020), and also the Croydon guide for the Open City Pocket London maps. She is also a founding member of the Rural Modernism network.
The podcast is produced in association with the Architects’ Journal, London Society, C20 Society and Save Britain's Heritage. It's recorded and produced at the Open City offices located in Bureau. Subscribe on Spotify, Soundcloud or iTunes and to further support, become an Open City Friend.
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