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Sapling.info Bookstore (46)
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Norwich: The Biography
Christopher Reeve
(2011)
Hardcover - 222 pages
Amberley Publishing
ISBN: 1848689896
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
If only stones could speak. Often, when we visit historic towns, churches, castles, or old family mansions, we wish that the people who were once connected with those places could step out of the shadowy walls and tell us stories about their distant past. This book aims to do just that, combining the history of the great city of Norwich, with revelations concerning the lives and labours, the lamentations and loves, of rich and poor, the great and the ungodly, throughout the last 1,000 years. Drawing on information derived from historic documents, tomb inscriptions, parish records, diaries and newspapers, Norwich: The Biography, conjures up a vivid panorama of life in one of Britain s most warm-hearted and fascinating cities.
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Inside Edinburgh: Discovering the Classic Interiors of Edinburgh
David Torrance and Steven Richmond
(2010)
Paperback - 224 pages
Birlinn Ltd
ISBN: 1841587877
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
In Inside Edinburgh, David Torrance takes us on a journey of discovery beyond the grand architectural facades of Scotland's capital, revealing the often private interiors of Edinburgh's most unique buildings. In this brilliantly conceived and illuminating pictorial record of 100 of Edinburgh's most fascinating period interiors, specially commissioned photographs capture the varied atmospheres of these venerable locations, from hotels, restaurants, shops, pubs, hospitals, and gentlemen's clubs to town houses. Each photograph is accompanied by a short text which not only describes the key features of architectural and design interest, but also uncovers related historical anecdotes. Examples include the Beaux Arts interiors of St Andrew's House and the tiled walls of the Cafe Royal bar. Intact interiors such as T J Walls opticians on Forrest Road and the Phoebe Anna Traquair-decorated Song School are also presented. Comprehensive information on buildings open to the public is included. It is a compelling, luminous and beautiful record of Edinburgh's grand interiors, from those that are open for all to see, to those that are seldom recognised.
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Walking London's Parks and Gardens
Geoffrey Young and Roger Tagholm
(2010 - 2nd Revised Edition)
Paperback - 176 pages
New Holland Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 1847736173
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
London is as famous for its green spaces as for the historic buildings surrounding them. For "Walking London's Parks and Gardens", wildlife journalist Geoffrey Young specially devised 24 walks around over 30 of the most historic and beautiful parks and gardens that flourish in the capital. His walks range from the Chelsea Physic Garden (the second oldest apothecaries' garden in England) to the 2,500 acres of Richmond Park, former royal hunting forest and London's largest park. He includes beautiful clusters of garden squares that he has imaginatively woven into walks through central London's most graceful districts, such as Bloomsbury and Westminster. He has set each walk in the area's historic context and included detailed information on features and highlights, such as plantings, statuary and architecture. He has also provided the reader with easy-to-follow detailed route maps for each walk. Wonderfully illustrated with specially commissioned colour photographs and route maps, the book provides full details of addresses, opening times, and the best bars and restaurants to visit en route.
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Great British Railway Journeys
Michael Portillo (Foreword), Charlie Bunce
(2011)
Hardcover - 320 pages
Collins
ISBN: 0007394764
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
A glorious insight into Britain over the last 150 years - its history, landscape and people - from the window of Britain's many and magnificent railway journeys.
Inspired by George Bradshaw, a 19th-century cartographer who mapped Britain's railways as they sprung up around him, Charlie Bunce and Michael Portillo take a journey along nine classic British railway routes and surround themselves with the history, the charm and the people at the heart of the railways.
More than just a practical mode of transport, Britain's railways are richly representative and evocative of British society and how it has developed over the last 150 years. Symbols of progress and change, they tell of remarkable breakthroughs in technology, industry and travel. Iconic in their design they have both made a distinctive impact on Britain's landscape and opened it up to millions of people who, through train journeys alone, became acquainted with wonderful new places and sights. And as fond staples of childhood experiences they evoke deep, memorable feelings of nostalgia, of holidays and home.
Great British Train Journeys is a passionate, charming and insightful look at Britain from a window seat: a compelling read for all who look forward to travelling by train.
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Lost Victorian Britain: How the Twentieth Century Destroyed the Nineteenth Century's Architectural Masterpieces
Gavin Stamp
(2010)
Hardcover - 192 pages
Aurum Press Ltd
ISBN: 1845135326
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
These days it seems perfectly obvious that stupendous nineteenth-century constructions like St Pancras Station should be not only preserved from dereliction but also restored to their original iron-and-glass glory - and used. But it was not always the case. As recently as the 1970s a superb Victorian building like Glasgow's St Enoch's Hotel was being levelled to make way for a banal shopping centre. In the mid-1960s St Pancras itself had been earmarked for demolition. The prevailing attitude of the twentieth century towards Victorian architecture had, for many decades, been well summed up by P.G. Wodehouse in his dismissal of the fictional mid-Victorian Walsingford Hall as 'a celebrated eyesore in all its startling revolting hideousness'. 'Victorian', quite simply, was a term of abuse. Add in the wartime bombing of our cities by the Luftwaffe, and the vandalism of the town planners to make way for the modern ring road and the multi-story, and the scale of the damage is truly sobering.
This poignant book, full of stunning and unexpected images, chronicles - and deplores - the catastrophic swathe cut through our architectural heritage by the twentieth century's sustained antipathy to the nineteenth, as well as offering an offbeat history of Victorian architecture, and its belated re-evaluation, entirely through buildings that have disappeared. Of the 200 notable examples of Victorian architecture illustrated in this book, from the magnificent Imperial Institute in Kensington to Norman Shaw's superb church in Bingley, from Preston Town Hall to the vast country house of Eaton Hall, not one still exists. A photograph is all we have left.
As well as architectural causes celebres like the Euston Arch and London's Coal Exchange, Stamp also turns up many lesser-known but amazing Victorian buildings whose loss is perhaps even more to be mourned, because history gave us no time at all to appreciate them. Who'd have known that Hackney in East London briefly accommodated the extraordinary Gothic battlements of Columbia Market, or that Chatsworth in Derbyshire once boasted a soaring glasshouse streamlined like a spaceship? Complementing these plangent images is Gavin Stamp's angry account of the wilful destruction, largely motivated by ignorance and prejudice, of grand, solid, striking buildings made to last a lifetime. Surprising, chastening, but also uplifting, Lost Victorian Britain is a memorable journey back into a world we should never have lost.
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The Secret Lives of Buildings: From the Parthenon to the Vegas Strip in Thirteen Stories
Edward Hollis
(2010)
Paperback - 448 pages
Portobello Books Ltd
ISBN: 1846271282
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
The plans are drawn up, a site is chosen, foundations are dug: a building comes into being with the expectation that it will stay put and stay for ever. But a building is a capricious thing: it is inhabited and changed, and its existence is a tale of constant and curious transformation. In this radical re-imagination of architectural history, Edward Hollis tells the stories of thirteen buildings, beginning with the 'once upon a time' when they first appeared, through the years of appropriation, ruin and renovation, and ending with a temporary 'ever after'. In spell-binding prose, Hollis follows his buildings through time and space to reveal the hidden histories of the Parthenon and the Alhambra, Gloucester Cathedral and Haghia Sofia, Sans Souci and Notre Dame de Paris, Malatesta's Tempio and Loreto, and exploring landmarks of our own time, from Hulme's legendary crescents to the Berlin Wall and the fibre-glass theme parks of Las Vegas.
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The Lost City of Stoke-on-Trent
Matthew Rice
(2010)
Hardcover - 152 pages
Frances Lincoln
ISBN: 0711231397
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
This is a song for Stoke: a fanfare for one of the great cities of the world's first industrial revolution; a lament for the bottle kilns and pot banks, the terraces and mansions that were thrown up or carefully planned to house a global industry and then torn down in the 1960s; and the ballad of a remarkable city - how she was born, how she grew and behaved as a big, bold grown up and how she crumbled as she grew old but, surprisingly, never died. This is not a guide book but an invitation to explore and discover a (deeply flawed) treasure trove Matthew Rice's detailed - and often funny - architectural watercolours are the basis of this book, but those bones are fleshed out with a narrative of the place: the towering figures of the eighteenth century, Wedgwood, Spode and Brindley; the geological underpinning of coal and clay that fixed its position; the trade with America with cargos mapping the great marches west across the prairies of the New World; the reports of unspeakable humanitarian horrors that sent a thrilling shudder through the drawing rooms of Victorian Britain and the changes those reports brought about; and the sad decline and mismanagements that all but destroyed the city after the second World War. The foreword is written by Matthew's wife Emma Bridgewater, whose first visit to Stoke twenty five years ago inspired her to start a business that still employs over one hundred people in a Victorian factory in the heart of the city.
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A Lust for Window Sills: A Lover's Guide to British Buildings from Portcullis to Pebble Dash
Harry Mount
(2008)
Hardcover - 384 pages
Little, Brown
ISBN: 1408700905
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Ever wondered why the floors in our terraced houses are different heights? Or what the landscape round where you live looked like before it was built on? And did you know you can date a building by its window sills? A LUST FOR WINDOW SILLS tells us why and how. Harry Mount takes us on an engrossing tour of the nation's architecture, exploring the quirks, foibles and tiny details that make our buildings unique, and revealing the fascinating stories and anecdotes behind them along the way. We see every historic building style in Britain in one hour's walk across London, from the Norman apse of St Bartholomew's in Smithfield to the National Gallery's Sainsbury Wing, via Gothic in Holborn, Sir Christopher Wren in the City and the Knights Templar at Temple. A trip up the M4 reveals some of our greatest country houses, while a visit to Stonehenge, Avebury and Silbury Hill is a journey back to the Bronze Age. This book is a lively, entertaining and affectionate portrait of our history and the Britain we live in today.
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Liverpool 800: Culture, Character and History
John Belchem (Editor)
(2006)
Paperback - 416 pages
Liverpool University Press
ISBN: 1846310350
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Liverpool celebrates its 800th anniversary in 2007, and will be European Capital of Culture in 2008. As the city reinvents itself and looks forward, it is also learning from its past. Liverpool 800: Culture, Character & History is written by a team of experts, using the latest historical research to explore the citys distinctive culture and character. This is a path-breaking biography of the city, tracing its society, politics, economy and culture over eight centuries. Fully illustrated and powerfully written, it offers new perspectives on a true World City, as it works to make its future as extraordinary as its past. The books publication will become a centrepiece of the 800 the anniversary Liverpool Year of Heritage celebrations in 2007. Ranging widely over politics and government, famous and infamous personalities, domestic lives and global connections, and culture both high and low, Liverpool 800 offers a warts and all portrait of a city which has inspired contempt (a black spot on the Mersey) and adulation (the centre of consciousness of the human universe) but rarely indifference. Elegantly designed and including over 300 illustrations, many of which have never been published before, Liverpool 800 is a superb anniversary celebration of a great city and its people.
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St Pancras Station
Simon Bradley
(2007)
Paperback - 224 pages
Profile Books Ltd
ISBN: 1861979517
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
An iconic London landmark of Gothic dream palace and futuristic train shed - built in the 1860s for the new Midland Railway line into London, St. Pancras is soon to be reincarnated as the main international gateway from London to the Continent. In 1866, the ancient churchyard of St. Pancras was excavated for the new Midlands Railway line into London. Both the train shed and the Midland Grand hotel, the constituent parts of the new station, are outstanding structures: the train shed for its structural daring and drama, the hotel for its heroic attempt to adapt Gothic architecture for the requirements of modernity. In 2002, more of the churchyard was excavated as part of the station's transformation for the Channel Tunnel terminus. The work, to be finished in 2007, will reinvent St. Pancras as the main hub for rail travellers between the UK and Europe. In the years between, the station has flourished, but has also come close to being demolished. Simon Bradley examines this fascinating story of changes in taste and of our understanding of the past. It is a reminder of the revolutionary effects of the railway and of how the innovations of the Industrial Revolution have weathered subsequent technological change. St. Pancras demands to be understood for the continuing thrall in which great urban monuments can hold us.
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How We Built Britain
David Dimbleby
(2007)
Hardcover - 288 pages
Bloomsbury
ISBN: 0747588716
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
In this meticulously researched and stunningly illustrated book, David Dimbleby tells the dramatic and heroic story of Britain's architecture - the extraordinary buildings that define a nation and which grew out of the experiences and beliefs of the British people. How did we get from the fortified tower to the grand open mansion and back again to the gated communities of today? How did we lose the marketplace to the out-of-town shopping mall? When did it become so important how libraries and prisons look? What does the way we arrange our city centres say about us? Can architecture really make a difference to our quality of life? This fascinating and authoritative account of a thousand years of change in Britain's buildings tackles these questions and many more.
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Town and Country Planning in the UK
Barry Cullingworth, Vincent Nadin
(2006 - 14th Edition)
Paperback - 624 pages
Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd
ISBN: 0415358108
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
This extensively revised 14th edition of "Town and Country Planning in the UK" incorporates the major changes to planning introduced by the 2004 Planning and Compulsory Purchase Act and the government's mission to change the culture of planning. It provides a critical discussion of the system of planning - the institutions involved, the plans and other instruments that are used, the procedures for controlling development and land use change, and the mechanisms for implementing policy and proposals. It reviews current policy for sustainable development, housing and the Sustainable Communities Plan, the Barker Review, urban renewal and regeneration, the renaissance of city and town centres, the countryside, transport, and the heritage. Contemporary arrangements are explained with reference to their historical development, the influence of the European Union, the Labour government and changing social and economic demands for land use change. Detailed consideration is given to: the nature of planning and its historical evolution; central, regional and local government, and the devolved administrations; the EU and its environmental and regional policies; the mechanisms of controlling development; policies for managing urban growth and delivering housing; sustainable development principles for planning; social and economic development of the countryside; planning the natural environment, waste and pollution control; conserving the heritage; the urban renaissance and regeneration; community engagement in planning; and changes to the profession and education of planners. Special attention is given to the objective of improving the co-ordination of government policies through the spatial planning approach. The many recent changes to the system are explained in detail - the new national policy statements and plans, regional spatial strategies and local development frameworks in England and other arrangements in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland; new forms of land use regulation; sustainability appraisal and strategic environmental assessment; community engagement and relations between planning and community strategies; partnership working; changes to planning gain; and new initiatives in urban and housing renewal. Each chapter ends with notes on further reading and at the end of the book there are lists of official publications and an extensive bibliography, enhancing its reputation as the bible of British Planning.
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The Buildings of Ireland - Dublin
Christine Casey
(2005)
Hardcover - 800 pages
Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300109237
Synopsis by publisher:
A uniquely comprehensive guide to the buildings of central Dublin. Churches, public buildings and streets are described for every district, each full of new discoveries and lively detail. The entire area within the canals is covered, along with the Phoenix Park. The grand eighteenth-century set-pieces - Custom House, Four Courts, Bank of Ireland - are offset by a graceful Georgian cityscape, much of which remains intact. The rewardingly complex buildings of Trinity College and Dublin Castle are explored in full, and the astonishingly rich and varied house interiors are also described, many for the first time. Civic and commercial Victorian architecture features in strength, together with the highs and lows of post-war building, which culminate in some sensitive and resourceful buildings by a new generation of Irish architects. Two fine Gothic cathedrals remain from the medieval city, whose history is traced in a scholarly introduction that runs down to the present day. Sculpture, monuments and public art - the greatest such concentration in all Ireland - also feature in strength.
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Historic Arts and Crafts Homes of Great Britain
Brian D. Coleman
(2005)
Hardcover - 192 pages
Gibbs M Smith Inc
ISBN: 158685531X
Synopsis by publisher:
From esteemed author Brian D. Coleman comes a thorough exploration into the origins of the design and philosophy of the Arts and Crafts movement in Great Britain - the roots of which are inspiring a fresh new approach to the more traditional American Arts and Crafts style. Coleman leads an inspiring and beautiful tour of ten of the most historic Arts and Crafts homes in Britain, from William Morris's Red House in Kent to Macintosh's Hill House in Glasgow.
Learn about the history, construction, and thoughtfulness of design that give valuable insight into the philosophy of the movement and how it is reinterpreted today. Honesty of construction, attention to detail, and the value of handcraftsmanship are principles of the Arts and Crafts movement first celebrated by William Morris and John Ruskin over one hundred years ago. Other homes featured in the book include Blackwell in the Lake District (architect M. H. Baillie Scott), Castle Drogo in Devon (architect Sir Edwin Lutyens), Cragside in Northumberland (architect Richard Norman Shaw), and Kelmscott Manor in London (William Morris's holiday home). All homes featured in the book are open to the public and maintained as museums and tributes to the artistry. Contact information is provided for each house, which provides a helpful tool for planning a visit.
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The Stone Puzzle of Rosslyn Chapel
Philip Coppens
(2002)
Paperback - 120 pages
Frontier Sciences Foundation
ISBN: 1931882088
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Rosslyn Chapel has fuelled controversy and debate, both recently in several best-selling books as well as in past centuries. Revered by Freemasons as a vital part of their history, believed by some to hold evidence of pre-Columbian voyages to America, assumed by others to hold important relics, from the Holy Grail to the Head of Christ, the Scottish chapel is a place full of mystery. This book will guide you through the theories, showing and describing where and what is being discussed; what is impossible, what is likely...and what is fact. At the same time, the book will virtually guide you around all enigmatic and important aspects of the chapel. The history of the chapel, its relationship to freemasonry and the family behind the scenes, the Sinclairs, is brought to life, incorporating new, forgotten and often unknown evidence. Finally, the story is placed in the equally enigmatic landscape surrounding the chapel, from Templar commanderies to prehistoric markings, from an ancient kingly site to the South, to Arthur's Seat directly north from the Chapel - before its true significance and meaning is finally unveiled: that the Chapel was a medieval stone book of esoteric knowledge, 'written' by the Sinclair family, one of the most powerful and wealthy families in Scotland, chosen patrons of Freemasonry.
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The Buildings of England - Lincolnshire
Nikolaus Pevsner, John Harris, Nicholas Antram (Editor)
(2002)
Hardcover - 880 pages
Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300096208
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Lincolnshire is incredibly rich in medieval churches from Saxon times onwards, many of them still little known. Lincoln Cathedral is justly famous, and second only to Durham in the grandeur of its setting. The prosperous years from the Middle Ages though to the eighteenth century have left a splendid legacy in the great town churches of Boston and Louth, in the innumerable village churches of the south of the county, the delightful manor houses (such as Tennyson's Somersby) and the Georgian town houses and coaching inns of Boston and Grantham, of Lincoln and Louth, and above all of Stamford. Monuments to industry include the vast maltings at Sleaford, the soaring dock tower of Grimsby, and an abundance of windmills.
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Making of the Royal Pavilion, Brighton: Designs and Drawings
John Morley
(2003)
Paperback - 280 pages
Philip Wilson Publishers Ltd
ISBN: 0856675571
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
The Royal Pavilion, Brighton, is one of the most famous and opulent royal extravaganzas in existence. First built in 1787 for the Prince of Wales as a neo-classical marine villa, by the time the Prince became king in 1820 it had grown into the extraordinary Indian-Chinese fantasy that it is today. This study reproduces all of the important surviving designs, for the exterior and interior of the Pavilion, revealing the great variety of brilliant exotic schemes devised for its construction and decoration. The projects for the exterior include the pretty but chaste designs of Henry Holland and the wilder Indian and Chinese fantasies of William Pordent and Humphry. The interior designs are often astonishing; they include schemes for whole rooms as well as for individual details such as windows, skylights, doorways, carpets and curtains.
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Heritage, Museums and Galleries: An Introductory Reader
Gerard Corsane
(2004)
Paperback - 400 pages
Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd
ISBN: 0415289467
Synopsis by publisher:
This comprehensive reader outlines and explains the many diverse issues that have been identified and brought to the fore in the field of heritage, museums and galleries over the past couple of decades. The volume is divided into four parts: Part 1 presents overviews and useful starting points for critical reflection. Part 2 focuses more specifically on selected issues of significance, looking particularly at the museum's role and responsibilities in the postmodern and postcolonial world. Part 3 concentrates on issues related to cultural heritage and tourism, while Part 4 is dedicated to public participation in heritage, museum and gallery processes and activities.
The book provides an ideal starting point for those coming to the study of museums and galleries for the first time, and brings the reader the very best of modern scholarship from the heritage community.
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Save Severalls: An Arts & Crafts Village for Living and Learning
Adam Wilkinson
(2004)
Paperback - 16 pages
SAVE Britain's Heritage
ISBN: 0905978471
Synopsis by publisher:
SAVE is now working to preserve this remarkable arts and crafts hospital complex and the surrounding mature parkland. Developers would have the site demolished, but SAVE has an alternative scheme on hand which involves a musical centre and housing. Ideally this unique and beautiful site would find new uses that involve a minimum of demolition and development. A new lightning report is available that focuses on the architecture, parkland and plans for this site, as well as its importance.
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Cinema Treasures: A New Look at Classic Movie Theaters
Ross Melnick, Andreas Fuchs
(2004)
Hardcover - 204 pages
Motorbooks International
ISBN: 0760314926
Synopsis by publisher:
What twin theater opened in 1915?
How did Marcus Loew begin his career?
Where was stadium seating first popularized?
Who was "Roxy"?
Answers to these questions and many more can be found in a Cinema Treasures, by Ross Melnick and Andreas Fuchs. This new book will not only interest anyone working in or studying motion picture exhibition, but just about everyone who loves to go to the movies.
Melnick and Fuchs demonstrate how classic theaters in major cities and small towns across the United States are alive and well today, thanks to the dedication of their owners, community initiatives, and cultural and corporate sponsorships. Cinema Treasures showcases American movie theaters of all eras and architectural styles.
There are single-screen theaters, twins, triplexes, and, of course, multi- and megaplexes - all of which are of intrinsic cultural, social, architectural, and historical significance, at the same time as they hold a special place in the hearts of moviegoers. Cinema Treasures celebrates the past, present, and future of the moviegoing experience.
In addition to individual theater profiles chosen to represent over 100 years of moviegoing, the main attraction of Cinema Treasures is its tour through the history of U.S. theatrical exhibition - from the penny arcade and nickelodeon pioneers, to the designers and showmen of the movie palace era, the drive-in developers and widescreen visionaries, and the theater circuits of today.
Well-rounded and meticulously researched, this survey features an informative and engaging narrative filled with hundreds of beautiful photographs, vintage ads, and other fascinating images.
Contents:
Preface
I. Five and Dime: 1904 - 1912
II. Birth of the Palaces: 1913 - 1919
III. Chain Store Strategies: 1920 - 1925
IV. "Temples of Democracy": 1926 - 1932
V. Bust and Boom: 1933 - 1946
VI. Breakup, Breakdown & Breakthroughs: 1947 - 1962
VII. Splitsville: 1962 - 1974
VIII. Now Playing... Everywhere: 1975 - 1994
IX. Re-Screening America: 1995 - Present
Resources
Acknowledgments
Index
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Conservation and Planning
Edward Hobson
(2003)
Paperback - 304 pages
Spon Press
ISBN: 0415278198
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Conserving historic buildings continues to excite and inflame opinion. The means of protecting such buildings and areas are well established but frequently suffer a lack of wider understanding. Conservation and Planning takes a detailed look at the way these processes have evolved and their use today by policy makers and local decision makers. The rise of the urban renaissance agenda, the crystalisation of sustainable development and the ascendancy of regional governance are all significant factors which have influenced the policy and practice of conserving historic buildings. The interpretation of value in the built environment is also significant, with a consideration of buildings as independent artefacts often overshadowing the value in the environmental and cultural context. Few studies have examined the underlying values used to justify the policies and actions undertaken in the name of conservation. This book presents original research into how national and local decision-makers construct and implement conservation of the built environment.
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Pevsner Architectural Guides: Liverpool
Joseph Sharples
(2004)
Paperback - 320 pages
Yale University Press
ISBN: 0300102585
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
From the eighteenth to the early twentieth century Liverpool was one of the most prosperous towns in Britain, and one of the greatest ports in the world; for many of its citizens it was also a place of extreme poverty. Economic success is reflected in a wealth of late Georgian housing, extravagant Victorian and Edwardian office blocks, proud civic buildings, suburban parks, churches, and the unique architecture and engineering of the docks. Alongside these monuments stand buildings associated with public health and housing reform, illustrating the other side of Liverpool's story. A frenzy of rebuilding in the 1960s was followed by a long period of decline, now giving way to a new construction boom.
This guide book describes all the architecturally significant buildings in central Liverpool, and gives an account of the city's overall physical development. It includes some suburban areas of outstanding interest, and excursions to notable sites further out. Major buildings - such as the Town Hall, St George's Hall, and the two Cathedrals - are singled out for extended treatment, the streets of the business district are dealt with alphabetically, and the rest of the city - including the docks - is covered in a series of carefully planned walks.
The book is based on Nikolaus Pevsner's original text for the Buildings of England, augmented by close study of the buildings themselves, and extensive new research into published sources and original documents. Illustrated in colour throughout, mostly with specially commissioned photographs, but also with historical images, including building plans, maps, and architects' drawings, it is a detailed, authoritative, and practical guide to the buildings of a city which in 2008 will be European Capital of Culture.
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The City Shaped: Urban Patterns and Meanings Through History
Spiro Kostof, Richard Tobias (Illustrator)
(1999)
Paperback - 352 pages
Thames and Hudson
ISBN: 0500280991
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Cities are among the most enduring and remarkable of human artefacts. This study explains how and why cities took the shape they did. Professor Kostof focuses on a number of themes - organic patterns, the grid, the city as diagram, the grand manner and the skyline - and interprets the hidden order of urban patterns. Photographs, historical views and specially commissioned drawings depict a global mosaic of citybuilding: the shaping of medieval Siena; the creation of New Delhi as the crown of the Raj; the remodelling of Moscow as the self-styled capital of world socialism and the transformation of the skyline as religious and civic symbols yield to the towers of corporate business.
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Silence in Court: The Future of the UK's Historic Law Courts
Richard Pollard
(2004)
Paperback - 172 pages
SAVE Britain's Heritage
ISBN: 0905978439
Synopsis by publisher:
SAVE's long awaited book on historic law courts is finally in print, with over 170 photographs, many previously unpublished, of the UK's historic courts - a remarkable group of buildings. The report looks at the problems faced by the buildings across the UK (with the PFI route of procurement being at the fore), as well as at those that have been successfully refurbished to meet modern expectations.
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London's Disused Underground Stations
J.C.Connor
(2001)
Hardcover - 128 pages
Capital Transport Publishing
ISBN: 185414250X
Review by Sapling Editor:
As the book itself suggests, "closed Underground stations hold a unique fascination... a street level building that recognisably was once an Underground station or a break in tube tunnelling that hints at a disused platform attracts our curiosity." Written by Jim Connor, one of the foremost authorities on the subject, 'London's Disused Underground Stations' does not disappoint, and the thoroughness of Connor's research is apparent throughout. The book provides an enthralling, chronological account of the stations, buildings and platforms which have closed, Connor drawing attention to the numerous traces which remain visible today, as well as explaining the circumstances leading to closure. Indeed, while obviously of interest to public transport aficionados, the book also offers a fascinating insight into the richness and changing styles of London Underground on-street architecture, many examples of which survive. In hardback format with over 100 photographs, the book's splendid content is complemented by its beautiful presentation, making it an essential read for anyone interested in the transport and architectural history of London -- Graham Soult
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Newcastle's Grainger Town: An Urban Renaissance
Fiona Cullen, David Lovie
(2003)
Paperback - 74 pages
English Heritage Publications
ISBN: 1873592779
Review by Sapling Editor:
Grainger Town' is a historically important area at the heart of Newcastle upon Tyne, centred upon a series of Classical streets laid out by Richard Grainger in the 1830s. By the 1990s, Grainger's streets were largely intact but in severe decline, the area having lost its position as the city's retail and business centre. Set up in 1997, the Grainger Town Project was an ambitious attempt to breath new life into the area, seeking to improve the public realm and bring buildings back into use in a programme of 'heritage-led regeneration'. By the time it ended in 2003, the Project had achieved many of its goals, bringing in new retail, leisure, office and residential schemes, and successful transforming the appearance and perceptions of the area.
Published in 2003, this new book provides a timely opportunity to reflect on the Project's successes and challenges. However, with English Heritage a key player in the Project, and both authors playing important roles themselves, the book's portrayal veers towards rose-tintedness; while it rightly celebrates the Project's successes - of which there are many - it would be useful to learn also from the Project's difficulties and mistakes. The book does note the challenges in persuading businesses to invest in the area, but we learn little of the contestations around specific schemes, or ideas that were rejected; for instance, a key example of facadism, contrary to the Project's own policy and subject to signifiant local opposition, is rather glossed over.
'Newcastle's Grainger Town' is also very much a book of parts - the first section provides a good historical account of the city's growth, leading up to Grainger's radical remodelling; the second sets the scene for the Grainger Town Project itself, providing an insight into its operation; and the third is a walking tour incorporating many of the most notable buildings, streets and spaces. While the structure of the first two parts makes good sense, the walking tour does feel rather incongruously tacked on, and replicates much of the content from Lovie's earlier 'Buildings of Grainger Town' guide. By not seeming quite sure who its audience is - academics, practitioners, visitors to the city - the book ends up spreading itself rather thin, a difficulty when it is already relatively short. With its attractive presentation and many beautiful photographs, the book does offer a reasonably-priced introduction to Grainger Town, particularly for anyone unfamiliar with Newcastle. However, those who have seen the Project unfold may prefer to read the various evaluation reports, or wait for a more critical and reflexive account elsewhere -- Graham Soult
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England's Lost Houses: from the Archives of 'Country Life'
Giles Worsley
(2002)
Hardcover - 192 pages
Aurum Press
ISBN: 1854108204
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Of all the photographs in Country Life's extensive archive, none are more poignant or intriguing than the images of houses that have been lost. For the first time, these have been gather together to provide a powerful impression of the richness and variety of the English country house and of the treasures that were destroyed through demolition or fire in the twentieth century.
Giles Worsley's incisive text makes this book more than just an elegy for lost glories. By studying the circumstances behind some one hundred houses that have gone, he is able to explain why so many were destroyed in the last century. He puts demolition of country houses in its historical context, as many landowners were driven by economic and political changes to sell their homes. And in every decade, chance played its part, as fire wreaked its devastation. Not all burnt houses were completely destroyed though, some were lovingly restored, often with the help of Country Life's photgraphs. But while a significant number of houses were lost, far more survived, most of which are still in private ownership today. By the 1960s, houses began to be saved assisted by the passing of the 1968 Town and Country Planning Act. Today it is legally impossible to demolish a country house of any significance.
As the twentieth century recedes into history, the story of the country house over the past hundred years becomes increasingly fascinating. It is undoubtably the next major area of research that will engross historians and architectural historians alike. Beautifully illustrated, this beautiful book will be essential reading for all those who wish to understand what really happened.
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Destination Culture: Tourism, Museums, and Heritage
Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett
(1998)
Paperback - 311 pages
University of California Press
ISBN: 0520209664
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
This volume takes the reader on a journey from ethnological artifacts to kitsch. Posing the question, "What does it mean to show?", the author explores the agency of display in a variety of settings: museums, festivals, world's fairs, historical re-creations, memorials and tourist attractions. She talks about how objects - and people - are made to "perform" their meaning for us by the very fact of being collected and exhibited and about how specific techniques of display, not just the things shown, convey powerful messages. The analysis shows how museums compete with tourism in the production of "heritage." To make themselves profitable, museums are marketing themselves as tourist attractions. To make locations into destinations, tourism is staging the world as a museum of itself. Both promise to deliver heritage. Although heritage is marketeted as something old, she argues that heritage is actually a new mode of cultural production that gives a second life to dying ways of life, economies and places. The book concludes with a commentary on the "good taste/bad taste" debate in the ephemeral "museum of the life world," where everyone is a curator of sorts and the process of converting life into heritage begins.
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Conservation and the City
Peter Larkham
(1996)
Paperback - 352 pages
Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd
ISBN: 0415079489
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
This is a study of conservation and change throughout the built environment - city centres, suburbs, even villages - and how the activities of conservation interact with the planning system. It seeks to explore why, and what, change occurs, and who proposes and controls change, in areas of townscape that have been identified as worth conserving. Examining the key social, economic, and psychological ideas which support conservation, the book discusses various countries' conservation planning systems and the fundamental ideas that act as precendents to guide future practice.
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Tourists in Historic Towns: Urban Conservation and Heritage Management
Aylin Orbasli
(2000)
Paperback - 228 pages
Spon Press
ISBN: 0419259309
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
For the tourist industry, history has become a product that can be marketed, sold and even re-created. Historic settlements and urban areas have become products for consumers seeking an experience. This text examines the relationship of culture, heritage, conservation and tourism development in historic towns and urban centres, debating the impacts of tourism on historic towns and the role tourism plays in conservation and urban continuity. Discussing long-term planning and effective management, based on strategic decision making which is multi-disciplinary and multi-dimensional, the book aims to provide guidance in tourism development and visitor management for historic towns, in support of sustainable development objectives and community development. The main focus of the book is medium-sized historic towns and historic quarters which are attractive to the tourist market, but historic quarters in large cities and smaller rural settlements are not excluded. The book covers historic towns that are established or emerging on the tourist market in both developed and developing countries. Alongside over a hundred examples of historic towns, five historic towns are discussed as case studies: Granada, Spain; York, England; Mdina, Malta; Antalya, Turkey and Quedlinburg, Germany. Aylin Orbasli is a trained architect and specialist on the subject of historic towns, tourism, conservation and development. She actively works in the field both as a practitioner and as a consultant, also continuing to research the subject. She works internationally as a consultant, advising on heritage management, tourism planning and development.
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The Story of Britain's Best Buildings
Dan Cruickshank
(2002)
Hardcover - 256 pages
BBC Consumer Publishing (Books)
ISBN: 0563488239
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Britain is covered with an extraordinary array of fantastic and brilliant buildings. There are more historic buildings of more styles in Britain than even in Italy. And, our favourites occupy a similar place in the national psyche as Robin Hood and Nell Gwynne. Britain's Best Buildings celebrates the bricks-and-mortar icons of our history that are well known and loved beyond all the others: Dan Cruickshank re-visits the stuff of legend but also reveals the stories behind the buildings. Like the life of any human being, there are highs and lows to the story of every building and as even the best-known celebrity has dark corners and secret closets to explore, so do Britain's best-loved buildings. To know a great building is to make it more our own - to know it even more will make us feel we have a stake in its past, present, and future. Each of the buildings is outstanding architecturally, yet each has strong personal stories behind their construction and as a whole they offer a journey through the nation's architecture and psyche from the 12th century to the present day.
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Cities in Civilization
Peter Hall
(1999)
Paperback - 1180 pages
Phoenix Press
ISBN: 0753808153
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
This is an exploration of the history of cities and their role in the development of civilization, from the cultural crucibles of Athens, through Florence in the 15th century, to the industrial innovations of Manchester and Palo Alto, to the "city as freeway" in Los Angeles.
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The English Urban Landscape
Philip Waller (Editor)
(2000)
Hardcover - 352 pages
Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198601174
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
The emphasis in this work is that of the historian, rather than the physical geographer: that is, a primary focus on the people who make the landscapes, the changing social structure of the communities, and the different economies which sustained them. The 13 chapters combine chronological and thematic surveys. After a general introduction by Dr Waller, chapters 2-5 provide overviews of how the urban landscape in England developed during the Roman period, the Early Medieval period, the Medieval period, and the Early Modern Period. The second, larger part of the text offers a variety of thematic approaches to the history of the built environment, with a focus on the 1800s and 1900s: metropolitanism, the commercial city, the industrial city, transport, slums and suburbs, recreation, civil and ecclesiastical, and artistic and literary.
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The Archaeology of Buildings
Richard Morriss
(2000)
Paperback - 176 pages
Tempus Publishing
ISBN: 0752414291
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
The study of buildings - whether out of sheer interest or to assist planning decisions - is a branch of archaeology which is distinct from both archaeology and architectural history, yet allied to both.
The first need in understanding any building is to understand the fabric - the materials and the way they are used in the construction. So individual sections are devoted to stone, brick, and timber-framing, plus shorter sections on other materials such as thatch, iron, clay and glass. The various clues left by the builders, in carpenters' or masons' marks for example, and the way alterations can be identified, are highlighted.
With this background information the buildings archaeologist - professional or amateur - can get to grips with the equipment and techniques needed for recording in the field. The level of detail may range from an outline sketch to stone-by-stone drawings, and the equipment from the hand-tape to the high-tech - such as photogrammetry and computer-aided design - but the basic philosophy of objective observation should always be the same.
Once the building has been surveyed and recorded, Richard Morris outlines how some of the basic documentary sources (such as hearth returns, wills and inventories) can add to the historic background and use of the site, and explains how all these strands of information can be woven together to produce a detailed understanding of how any building has developed over the years.
Over 100 illustrations and two invaluable appendices - typical examples of buildings archaeology in practice and an illustrated glossary of terms - complete a handbook that has long been needed by professionals and amateurs alike.
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Sir John Soane and the Country Estate (Reinterpreting Classicism)
Margaret Richardson (Foreword), Ptolemy Dean, Martin Charles (Photographer)
(1999)
Hardcover - 208 pages
Ashgate Publishing Limited
ISBN: 1840142936
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk and Sapling Editor:
Sir John Soane (1753-1837) was one of Britain's most inventive architects, whose achievements include the Bank of England and the world's first picture gallery at Dulwich. His country estate work, inspired by classicl antiquity, ranges in scale from the remodelling of existing country houses, such as Wimpole Hall in Cambridgeshire and Aynhoe Park in Northamptonshire, to simple outbuildings. Each reveals further the emergence of key themes of Soane's style and the results of his precise attention to proportion, design detail, and light and shade. Using the Soane Museum and country house archives, Ptolemy Dean examines ten of Soane's country house projects, reconstructing the creativity between client and architect. With the author's own drawings in watercolour to illustrate Soane's use of light and space, and photographs by Martin Charles, the text offers an insight into the work of this renowned architect. An illustrated inventory, a fully researched guide to Soane's country house practice, details Soane's architectural legacy. More recently, the book's author, Ptolemy Dean, has become well-known to TV viewers as one of the 'ruin detectives' in BBC2's 'Restoration' series.
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Scottish Architecture
Miles Glendinning, Aonghus MacKechnie
(2004)
Paperback - 224 pages
Thames and Hudson
ISBN: 0500203741
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
A concise, up-to-date survey that provides for the visitor or resident an overview of Scotland's finest buildings and its long line of architectural geniuses.
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Castle
Marc Morris
(2003)
Hardcover - 288 pages
Channel 4 Books
ISBN: 0752215361
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Castle is a wide-ranging and original history of some of the most magnificent buildings in Britain. It explores many of the country's most famous and best-loved castles, as well as some little-known national treasures.
The story starts in the eleventh century, when castles were introduced to Britain, and ends in the seventeenth century, when they were largely abandoned. It is, in some respects, an epic tale, driven by characters like William the Conqueror, 'Bad' King John and Edward I, who, by building and besieging castles, shaped the fate of the nation. At the same time, however, it is a more homely story, about the adventures, struggles and ambitions of lesser-known individuals, and how every aspect of their lives was wrapped up in the castles they built.
As Marc Morris shows, there is more to castles than drawbridges and battlements, portcullises and arrow-loops. Be it ever so grand or ever so humble, a castle is first and foremost a home. It may look tough and defensible on the outside, but on the inside, a castle is all about luxury and creature comforts. Inside real castles, we do not necessarily find cannons and suits of armour, but we do discover great halls, huge kitchens, private chambers and chapels - all rooms which were once luxurious and lavish, and which made these buildings perfect residences for their owners.
To understand castles - who built them, who lived in them, and why - is to understand the forces that shaped medieval Britain.
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In Ruins
Christopher Woodward
(2001)
Hardcover - 224 pages
Chatto and Windus
ISBN: 070116896X
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Why are we so fascinated by ruins? Do we see them as jig-saws and riddles or romantic evocations of the damage of time, complete with crumbling stone and ivy? This book looks back to the start of the cult in the 18th century, when follies were built in English landscape gardens. It takes the reader from Troy and Pompeii to Nazi fantasies, the shattered Statue of Liberty in the film "Planet of the Apes" and the Chelsea Flower Show's "Millennium Ruin".
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Imagining Cities: Scripts, Signs and Memories
Sally Westwood (Editor), John Williams (Editor)
(1996)
Paperback - 304 pages
Routledge, an imprint of Taylor & Francis Books Ltd
ISBN: 0415144302
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
The city has always been a locus of research and discussion within the debates of modernity and, more recently, postmodernity. This volume brings together work on the city from within sociology and cultural studies. The book is organized around five major themes: the theoretical imagination; ethnic diversity and the politics of difference; memory and nostalgia; and the complex and complimentary narrative of the city ways. While these representations bring the past and the present together, the final section of the book elaborates the present and future, in relation to the idea of the virtual city. Hence, the world of cyberspace not only recasts our imaginaries of space and commnication, but has a profound effect on the sociological imagination itself.
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How to Read a Church: A Guide to Images, Symbols and Meanings in Churches and Cathedrals
Richard Taylor
(2003)
Hardcover - 260 pages
Rider
ISBN: 1844130533
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
A unique, accessible guide to the common symbols and meanings in church art and architecture Churches and cathedrals play an essential part in our heritage. As community-centred places of worship and as important tourist attractions, they are visited by millions of people every year. But churches were originally built to be read, and so they are packed with images, symbols and meanings that often need explanation for visitors. How to Read a Church is a lively and fascinating guide to what a visitor to a church is likely to find there and how to interpret the common images and meanings in church art and architecture. It will explain how to identify people, scenes, details and their significance, and will explore the symbolism of different animals, plants, colours, numbers and letters - and what this all means. It will be an essential guide for anyone who has ever visited / is visiting a church or cathedral, and for those who want to know more about these incredible buildings and the art they contain.
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Fertile Fortune: The Story of Tyntesfield
James Miller
(2006 - New Edition)
Paperback - 192 pages
National Trust Books
ISBN: 1905400403
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
Situated on a ridge overlooking the beautiful Land Yeo Valley, Tyntesfield is one the last remaining examples of a great country house built in the Victorian High Gothic style. It survives intact with visitors able to view an unrivalled collection of Victorian decorative arts, experience an insight into life below stairs and see a sumptuously decorated private chapel. Each year thousands of visitors come through its doors and since its acquisition by the National Trust in 2002 it has become one of the jewels in the Trust's crown. But behind the house there exists the fascinating story of the Gibbs family. "Fertile Fortune" reveals their history and how each generation stamped its own identity on the house and estate. William Gibbs came from an Exeter merchant family. His company began to export guano from the offshore Pacific islands. These bird droppings, rich in nitrate, proved a godsend as fertiliser for British farmers. A fortune was made, and Tyntesfield built in 1864. Filled with stunning images of Tyntesfield and descriptions of some of the arts held within its walls, "Fertile Fortune" is both a fascinating read and a pictorial tour of the house.
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European Cities 1890-1930s
H. Meller
(2001)
Paperback - 292 pages
Academy Editions
ISBN: 0471495549
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
The impact of industrialization, communications, technology, population growth and change, economic transformation, legislation, health regulation, war and a host of other factors left an indelible impression on urban form at all scales from individual dwellings to overall layout. It was in this crucial period that "planning" was born, and the foundations of the modern city were laid. Helen Meller, planning historian, examines through example and case study how these processes were articulated in the physical form of the city, and how society and economy were expressed in physical form.
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England's Thousand Best Houses
Simon Jenkins
(2003)
Hardcover - 992 pages
Allen Lane
ISBN: 0713995963
Synopsis by Amazon.co.uk:
This volume presents an illustrated selection of the finest houses in the country. Jenkins does not limit himself to the great and famous houses and estates, though they are certainly included in full, but includes an eclectic mix from the very best towers, castles, halls, abbeys, cottages, private houses - even schools and prisons - in England, which are open to the public for at least some part of the year.
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18 Folgate Street
Dennis Severs, Peter Ackroyd (Introduction)
(2001)
Hardcover - 286 pages
Chatto and Windus
ISBN: 0701172797
Review by Amazon.co.uk:
The innocuous-sounding address of 18 Folgate Street is here the book of the tour of Dennis Severs' extraordinary recreation of a Georgian household in Spitalfields, a piece of theatrical still life, mesmerisingly conjured. Severs died at the end of 1999, but this alternative written version, with the sympathetic editing of Jenny Uglow, a gallery of photographs and an introduction by London's literary curator and, indeed, biographer, Peter Ackroyd, provides a unique posthumous flat-pack tour, time-capsuled for the future curious.
Severs, a more-English-than-thou Californian, bought the house in a derelict street just outside the Square Mile in 1979, and set upon installing himself and his lifelong acquisitions. Friends called it a "restoration comedy", but it was to become a historical drama, with Severs' declaration that "my canvas is your imagination". He installed the fictional Gervais/Jervis family, Huguenot silk weavers, from whose affairs Severs himself weaves his narrative magic. Beginning in the basement larder and kitchen, he takes the visitor-reader on a parade upwards, though the parlour, dining room, drawing room, bedroom, boudoir and attic of the house, summoning drama and narrative from the strategically arranged and decorated rooms, heavy with the air of recent occupation. At its best, it resembles a talking book, each room an episode linking to the next, and with Severs' constant evocation of duality, symmetry and dimension as he finds art in balance rather than chronological fidelity. Taste, however, can be a cruel, haranguing thing, something Severs shares when his singular, proportionate vision of the "Space Between" takes pleasure in reading too much into things. Does it work as well on the page? Inevitably, not fully; the effect is reductive, and contrary to the very principle of Severs' ambition. However, this quirky externalisation of this eccentric Anglophile's life, and its epoch-tripping celebration of etymology, social history, hearth drama and cultural and philosophical commentary, allied to tantalisingly brief snatches of autobiography, serves as the final will and testament of Dennis Severs, who rejuvenated the soul of a house with his own charged, imaginative kindling. Ultimately, the house's motto stands as the book's--"Aut Visum Aut Non": you either see it or you don't. --David Vincent
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