Historic Buildings & Places is delighted to announce Freya Wigzell as the winner of the 2025 Stephen Croad Prize. This prestigious annual award, which carries a prize of £600, celebrates excellence in new architectural research and writing.
The prize honours the legacy of Stephen Croad, a distinguished author, researcher, and archivist of architectural history. His dedication to uncovering and documenting the historic buildings of England and Wales made a profound impact on the field, inspiring generations of architectural historians.
Freya Wigzell, who studied art history and completed an MA in Architectural History, impressed the judges with her essay titled: ‘“Shellery”? Grottoes and Companion Buildings at the Goodwood Shell House’. Freya completed an AHRC-funded PhD at the Bartlett, UCL, focusing on shells in 20th-century architecture, and has taught architectural history at Sheffield, Oxford Brookes, and Greenwich Universities. She is currently working in the auctions division of Savills.
The award was officially presented to Freya during this year’s HB&P Annual Lecture, held online, where she received her certificate. Her essay will be published in the 2026 edition of the Journal of Historic Buildings & Places.
Congratulations to Freya Wigzell for this well-deserved recognition of her outstanding contribution to architectural research.
