Karen

#HouseHistoryHour - meet the hosts

Karen Averby MA PCG Arch Hist (Oxon) CAIfA

Buildings Historian, Research Consultant and Author

Karen is a seaside loving Buildings Historian and Research Consultant, researching the history of buildings, people and places throughout England and Wales.


A former archivist, Karen has worked in heritage since 1997, within the realms of archives, archaeology and architecture (University of Birmingham, The National Archives, Church of England), and moved into private consultancy in 2006 to focus on historical research and architectural history.


In 2010 she founded Archangel Heritage Ltd, a historical research consultancy established to provide research services for organisations and professionals within the commercial heritage sector (development, archaeology, planning, conservation). 


Aside from Archangel Heritage, Karen offers private consultancy and research services, talks and workshops in a variety of subjects including house history, hotels, seaside heritage, historical research,Birmingham (her home town!), and local history. 


She is a collaborative working advocate and welcomes opportunities to develop and promote projects using historical research, especially community heritage projects.


Current collaborative projects include working with The Royal Parks and Art4Nature Birmingham. Karen specialises in the research of houses, historic hotels and seaside and working class history and heritage.


Much of her house history and local history research focuses on 19th and 20th century and working-class housing, lives and communities, although she researches a diverse range of houses and other building types and subjects of all periods. These have been as varied as the Palace of Westminster, English Heritage blue plaque research, churches and  cathedrals, stately homes, bell foundries, statues, farms, civil defence structures, dockyards, factories and remount depots.                                     


Karen is the author of Seaside Hotels(2018), Beach Huts(2017) and Town Halls(2021), all with Amberley Publishing, and is co-author of three Historic England Area Characterisation Reports (Sheerness, Ramsgate, and Weston-super-Mare).


She has contributed chapters and articles to several publications and for six years was the local history columnist for now sadly defunct East London magazine The E-List.


She is currently working on new publications on seasides and hotels and visits the coast whenever she can.


Karen studied Architectural History at the University of Oxford (PGC Distinction), Archaeology at the University of Nottingham (MA, Distinction), and History and Classical Studies at Aberystwyth University(BA Hons). Professional memberships include the Institute of Historic Building Conservation (Affiliate), and Chartered Institute for Archaeologists (Associate).


Karen is also a member of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, the Victorian Society, Twentieth Century Society, and British Association for Local History.


Karen sits on the committee of independent architects group AE17 and is part of the Waltham Forest History and Heritage Network.:

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