Ptolemy Dean
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ptolemy Dean, a British architect and television presenter. He specialises in historic preservation, as well as designing new buildings that are in keeping with their historic or natural settings. He is best known for his appearances on two BBC television series, "Restoration (TV series)" and "The Perfect Village."
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[edit] Personal
Dean is the son of a judge and grew up in Wye in Kent, one of the English Home Counties. His sister, Tacita Dean, is an artist.
He studied architecture first at the Bartlett School of Architecture at University College London, then continued with a post-graduate diploma in architecture from Edinburgh University. At Edinburgh, Dean studied under late-modernist Professor Izi Metzestein, and was profoundly influenced by his tutor Mike Duriez.
[edit] Career
[edit] Architecture
After finishing his academic studies, Dean received funding from the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS) to document mud adobe structures in New Mexico and Arizona. He then worked for Peter Inskip and Peter Jenkins Architects on a variety of Grade I listed buildings, including Stowe House, Chastleton House and Waddesdon Manor.
He has worked for a number of Britain's more traditionally influenced architects, including Sir William Whitfield, neo-classicist John Simpson, Sir Frederick Gibberd and Richard Griffiths. At Richard Griffith's, he provided heritage assistance in obtaining planning consent for RHWL architects' post-modern influenced extension to St Pancras Chambers.
He now runs his own small practice, Ptolemy Dean Architects, in the Covent Garden district of London.
[edit] Books
Dean has written and illustrated two books on the 19th century British architect Sir John Soane, and co-written a study of London's Borough Market.
[edit] Television
Dean has appeared with Marianne Suhr as the resident "ruin detective" on the BBC Two television programme Restoration. In his seven-episode series The Perfect Village, on BBC Four, Dean visited 12 English villages and discussed the qualities that would create the "perfect village."
[edit] Art and illustration
As seen in his television appearances, Dean produces watercolor cityscapes and architectural renderings or illustrations. These are done in ink with color washes, and are very close to the style, technique, and subject matter of the architect and artist Sir Hugh Casson.
[edit] Bibliography
- Dean, Ptolemy, Sir John Soane and London (Lund Humphries, 2006) ISBN 0-7546-3926-6
- Dean, Ptolemy, Sir John Soane and the Country Estate (Ashgate, 1999) ISBN 1-84014-293-6
- Dean, Ptolemy, et al., The Borough Market Book: From Roots to Renaissance (Civic Books, 2004) ISBN 1-904104-90-8
