Professor Edmund Ribbington

While others admired finished buildings, Professor Edmund Ribbington imagined them long before the first stone was laid. As Royal Architect he designed many of the kingdom’s most celebrated landmarks, including Lord Snapworth’s magnificent library, Professor Foxworth’s Grand Archive, and Admiral Slowmere’s naval academy. His polished opera binoculars are not for the theatre: they are precision viewing glasses, allowing him to inspect construction from remarkable distances. Patient, meticulous and endlessly creative, he believes every great civilisation should be remembered not only for its leaders, but for the buildings that outlive them.

From the register

• Builders joke that he can spot a crooked chimney from half a mile away — and they are usually right.
• Lady Woolcombe’s architectural research has, he credits, saved several historic buildings from careless restoration.