The architectural historian Elain Harwood, who has died unexpectedly aged 64, chronicled the postwar architecture of England and overcame opposition to achieve its acceptance as heritage. She wrote in the preface to her major book Space, Hope and Brutalism (2015): “The values of the welfare state formed me and I grew up believing they would last forever.”
The book was the summation of a long programme of research, growing out of the listing programme for English Heritage (now Historic England), for which she became the co-ordinator and main spokesperson, having joined the organisation in the mid-1980s.
