David John Watkin,FRIBAFSA (7 April 1941 – 30 August 2018)^[1][2] was a British architectural historian. He was an emeritus fellow ofPeterhouse, Cambridge, and professor emeritus of History of Architecture in the Department of History of Art at theUniversity of Cambridge. He also taught at thePrince of Wales's Institute of Architecture.^[3]

Watkin's main research interest wasneoclassical architecture, particularly from the 18th century to the present day, and he published widely on that topic. He also published on general topics includingA History of Western Architecture (7th ed. 2023) andEnglish Architecture: A Concise History (2nd ed. 2001), as well as more specialised monographs on architects. He was an honorary fellow of theRoyal Institute of British Architects. He was vice-chairman of theGeorgian Group, and was a member of theHistoric Buildings Council and its successor bodies inEnglish Heritage from 1980 to 1995.

He was born inSalisbury, the son of Thomas Watkin, a director of a builders' merchants, and his wife Vera. He was brought up inFarnham, and educated atFarnham Grammar School. He enteredTrinity Hall, Cambridge, where he was anexhibitioner, and in Part I of the Tripos read English.^[4]

Watkin then took afirst in Part II of the Fine Arts Tripos.^[2] He went on to write a Ph.D. underNikolaus Pevsner onThomas Hope, which was published in 1968 asThomas Hope and the Neo-Classical Idea, 1769–1831.

Watkin spent his career at Cambridge. He was Librarian of the Fine Arts Faculty from 1967 to 1972, University Lecturer in the History of Art between 1972 and 1993, and Reader in the History of Architecture between 1993 and 2001. He was head of the Department of History of Art from 1989 to 1992 and from 2006 to 2007.

From 1970 to 2008, he was a fellow of Peterhouse, Cambridge, where he belonged to a circle of right-wing intellectuals centred on the historianMaurice Cowling.^[5]

In a lecture of 1968, Watkin began to develop a critique of modernism, in an attack on Pevsner, his research supervisor.^[6] His views came to wider attention with his bookMorality and Architecture: The Development of a Theme in Architectural History and Theory from the Gothic Revival to the Modern Movement (1977); it was re-published in expanded form asMorality and Architecture Revisited (2001). A polemical work, it identified a context for Pevsner of French and British authors using deterministic arguments.^[7] Pevsner was defended in a review ofMorality and Architecture byReyner Banham, another pupil, who called it "offensive".^[8]

Relying onThe Poverty of Historicism byKarl Popper, Watkin argued that use of theZeitgeist concept in architectural history was fallacious. He traced back culprits toAugustus Pugin.^[4]

Among the contemporary architects Watkin championed wereJohn Simpson andQuinlan Terry, as well as theoristLéon Krier. In his book on Terry,Radical Classicism: The Architecture of Quinlan Terry (2006) Watkin was forthright: "The modernism with which Quinlan Terry has had to battle is, like theTaliban, apuritanical religion."

• David Watkin,The Architecture of John Simpson: The Timeless Language of Classicism. Rizzoli, New York, 2016.ISBN 978-0-8478-4869-0.
• David Watkin,The Practice of Classical Architecture: The Architecture of Quinlan and Francis Terry, 2005–2015. Rizzoli, New York, 2015.ISBN 978-0-8478-4490-6.
• David Watkin,The Roman Forum, Profile Books, London, 2009.
• David Watkin,Carl Laubin:The Poetry of Art And Architecture. Philip Wilson Publishers, London, 2007.
• David Watkin,Radical Classicism: The Architecture of Quinlan Terry. Rizzoli, New York, 2006.
• Christopher Hartop,Philippa Glanville, Diana Scarisbrick,Charles Truman, David Watkin, and Matthew Winterbottom,Royal Goldsmiths: The Art ofRundell & Bridge.John Adamson, Cambridge, 2006.
• David Watkin,A History of Western Architecture, various editions and publishers, 1st edn 1986, 7th edn, revised by Owen Hopkins, 2023
• David Watkin,The Architect King: George III and the Culture of the Enlightenment. Royal Collection, London. 2004.
• David Watkin and Robin Middleton,Architecture of the Nineteenth Century. Phaidon Inc Ltd, London, 2003.
• David Watkin,Morality and Architecture Revisited, University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2001.
• David Watkin,English Architecture: A Concise History, W. W. Norton and Co. Inc., New York, 2001.
• David Watkin (Ed).Sir John Soane: The Royal Academy Lectures, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000.
• David Watkin (Ed),Sir John Soane: Enlightenment Thought and the Royal Academy Lectures (Cambridge Studies in the History of Architecture) Cambridge University Press, 1996.
• David Watkin,The Royal Interiors of Regency England. Rizzoli, New York, 1985.
• David Watkin,Morality and Architecture: The Development of a Theme in Architectural History and Theory from the Gothic Revival to the Modern Movement. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, (1984/original 1977).
• David Watkin,The English Vision. John Murray, London, 1982.
• David Watkin,Athenian Stuart: Pioneer of the Greek Revival. Harper Collins, New York, 1982.
• David Watkin,The Rise of Architectural History, Eastview Editions, London, Reprint edition, 1980.
• David Watkin,English Architecture, 'The World of Art Library' series, Thames & Hudson, London, 1979.

• 1941 births
• 2018 deaths
• Alumni of Trinity Hall, Cambridge
• British architectural historians
• English architecture writers
• Fellows of Peterhouse, Cambridge
• Fellows of the Royal Institute of British Architects
• Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London
• People from Salisbury

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• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use dmy dates from April 2022