Art exhibition for “kind and loved teacher” draws to an end

Originally published on Sheffield Wire: https://sheffieldwire.co.uk/index.php/2025/12/12/art-exhibition-for-kind-and-loved-teacher-draws-to-an-end/

An exhibition at Western Bank Library to celebrate a prestigious architecture teacher is coming to an end after a successful six months.

Western Bank library’s latest exhibition, titled: ‘Peter Blundell Jones: architecture, landscape and the city’, will be coming to an end on December 14, having run since July.

The exhibition celebrates the life and work of Peter Blundell Jones, an architectural historian who worked at the University of Sheffield as Professor of Architecture from 1994 until his death in 2016, when his works were donated to the University archives.

While Blundell Jones wasn’t a practicing architect, he worked on architecture projects throughout his whole life, which was reflected in the exhibit.

It displays some of his notes, books, plans, models and even tools. The showcase begins with some of his work from childhood, when he was just discovering architecture, to then move onto his work as a lecturer and plans he developed in his own time.

Visitors can also watch a film, which is projected during their tours. There is also the opportunity for guests to design their own buildings.

Mariam Yamin, a senior archivist in the Special Collections heritage and archives team at Western bank library, who curated the Peter Blundell Jones exhibition said: “We’ve been really happy that lots of people have done that so they’ve really interacted with the exhibition, which is something we always hope.”

The exhibition was organised with the help of the University’s school of architecture and landscape, and it includes some projects done by then-students.

The biggest project, which Ms Yamin referred to as “the star of the show” is the Sheffield 1900 model, and what according to her has attracted the most external attention to the exhibition.

It was created in the 1990s by fifth year Sheffield architecture students, supervised by Blundell Jones, as a replica of the city as it would have been in the year 1900.

Featuring two train stations, and a church where the now peace gardens stand, the card and paper model shows a very different city at the heigh of industrialisation, before its landscape was changed by two world wars.

This was Ms Yamin’s first time curating an exhibition. She said: “It was quite a responsibility to produce an exhibition as I never met Peter.

“He was such a kind and loved teacher. I hope he would have liked this.”

The exhibition has been well received by Blundell Jones’ friends and family. His widow, Christine Paulson called it a “fitting tribute.”