{"product_id":"lasting-elegance-book-michael-hall-9781580932561","title":"Lasting Elegance","description":"The great English country house tradition reached its apotheosis in the nineteenth  century. Designed by all the most eminent architects of the age, houses constructed  during this period were larger, more elaborate, and more lavishly furnished than  ever before, and they became famous throughout Europe and America for their luxury,  technological innovation, and convenience of plan.         Michael Hall's survey draws on  the vast archive of  the great British magazine Country Life to present the fullest  visual record yet published of the Victorian-era country house in England and Wales.  It ranges from the High Gothic of Tyntesfield to Ferdinand Rothschild's flamboyantly  French Waddesdon Manor and Philip Webb's Arts and Crafts interiors at Standen. These  remarkable photographs are in many cases the only record of the great houses in their  heyday; those such as Wrest Park, Thoresby Hall, and Hewell Grange were all sold  in the twentieth century and their magnificent furniture and priceless artwork and  collections dispersed. Houses that have survived with their interiors intact but  are little known or rarely accessible to the public also feature prominently, such  as Flintham Hall and the Earl of Harrowby's Sandon Hall. Highclere Castle, now famous as TV's Downton Abbey, features prominently.         Spectacular color photographs  provide a fascinating look at some of the most celebrated houses of the period, from  A. W. N. Pugin's Scarisbrick Hall and William Burges's Cardiff Castle to J. F. Bentley's  Carlton Towers and J. D. Crace's astonishing interiors at Longleat. This chronologically  arranged survey of Victorian houses spans the decades from the 1830s to the 1890s  and includes not only new houses, but also historic county seats that have been in  families for generations and were given major renovations or additions in this era.  With over 150 superb color and black-and-white photographs specially selected to  highlight the century's most significant houses and their architects and an authoritative  commentary by Michael Hall, this book provides a thorough overview of a major period  in British architectural history.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50785946501393,"sku":"GOR006017432","price":27.7,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":52962958967057,"sku":"CIN1580932568G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1580932568.jpg?v=1751342001","url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/lasting-elegance-book-michael-hall-9781580932561","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}