Its original motto was "Antiqua Tegenda, Pulchra Petenda, Futura Colenda”, Latin for "look after the old, seek the beautiful, cultivate the future".
It was agreed at the society's annual general meeting in 2018 that a new motto would be adopted: "Valuing the past; looking to the future", which came into effect in 2019.
In its first issue the architect David Barclay Niven wrote a paper on the need for new roads and a system of parks in outer London before the area was swamped by new development; his ideas chimed with those of George Pepler who gave a paper at the RIBA conference suggesting that a voluntary body might undertake inquiries into London's needs and lead public opinion.
The minutes of the first meeting indicate that it was attended by only ‘a few men keenly interested in the artistic development of London and the protection of its beauty and character’.
[2] Two weeks later, the society adopted its name and settled its objects as being ‘to foster an intelligent interest in London as the largest civic centre’ and ‘to induce a public spirit for the study and encouragement of its improvement’.
This included politician John Burns, planner Sir George Pepler, and architects William Edward Riley and Arthur Beresford Pite.
By the end of 1913 the society's membership was over 400, including 65 MPs and peers, 9 members of the London County Council and many practising architects and surveyors.
This was the first attempt to envisage the management of London as a functional metropolitan region and a key step in developing the notion of a green belt.
The first major project to be taken up by the society, the Development Plan pulled together many of the ideas for roads and open spaces being canvassed in the years before the Great War.
[citation needed] By the early 21st century the society's activities had begun to focus increasingly on heritage and conservation.
For this reason, following its centenary in 2012, the society's executive committee proposed merging the organisation into the Heritage of London Trust (HOLT).
This prompted an influential group of professionals to intervene and set out an alternative vision for the future, instead making the case for retaining and reinvigorating the charity with a renewed focus on its original objects.
[6] Indeed, notable early members of the council and executive committee include Sir Edwin Lutyens, Raymond Unwin, Sir Aston Webb, Stanley Davenport Adshead, Arthur Beresford Pite, David Barclay Niven,[7] Leonard Stokes and Reginald Blomfield.
[citation needed] Those from beyond the architectural professions included illustrator Thomas Raffles Davison, artist and president of the Royal Academy, Frank Brangwyn (who studied under William Morris and worked alongside Diego Rivera and Josep Maria Sert to decorate the concourse of the RCA Building in New York), publisher J. M. Dent (producer of the Everyman's Library series) and politician Reginald Brabazon, 12th Earl of Meath.
[16][17] It also calls for a new Garden City at Northolt Airport and a new orbital railway linking Uxbridge and Staines via West Drayton and Heathrow.
In the early years the political diversity and influence of the society was particularly notable, not least because the Government remained cautious of state intervention in built environment issues.
[citation needed] This connection to Parliament was re-established with the launch of the All-party parliamentary group (APPG) on London's Planning and Built Environment in October 2015, for which the society provides the secretariat.
The first chair was Rupa Huq and vice-chair Paul Scully, with the Bishop of London being Lords liaison and Helen Hayes acting as treasurer.