The origin of the society was as a committee of the East Riding Antiquarian Society tasked with "making a list of buildings of that period in our Riding, and any other matters deemed necessary with regard to the preservation of Georgian buildings" by Rupert Alec-Smith in January 1937.
In the late 1930s there was wide spread destruction of many Georgian Buildings which caused concern to a number of architects and historians; this concern was most prominently voiced by Robert Byron in his polemic article "How We Celebrate the Coronation" in the May 1937 edition of the Architectural Review.
The first committee meeting was held on 2 June 1937; after which Rupert Alec-Smith wrote to Lord Derwent to invite him to become the society's President.
[1] The architect Francis Johnson was invited to join the society in 1938 and became a very prominent member.
His professional skills were called upon when the society bought and restored properties in Hull which had suffered bomb damage during World War II.