Englands Lost Houses by Giles Worsley
Of all the photographs in the Country Life archive, none are more poignant than the images of houses that have been lost through demolition or fire. In a great number of cases, the photographs taken by the magazine for their weekly feature on country houses are the only record of many of the most important houses and interiors that were destroyed. From Uffington House, Lincolnshire, a fine Restoration house burnt in 1904, to the Rococo magnificence of Nuthall temple, Nottinghamshire, its site now buried under the M1 motorway, this book provides a moving testimony to one of the saddest chapters in English 20th century history. Giles Worsley's incisive text makes this more than just an elegy for lost glories. By studying the circumstances behind one hundred houses that have gone, he is able to explain why such a large number were destroyed in the last century. He explains how many houses were lost as great landowners, responding to economic and political changes, sold off secondary estates and demolished palatial houses of the nineteenth century. He also examines how chance played its part, with fire emerging as one of the chief causes of destruction. As the twentieth century recedes into history the story of the country house over the past hundred years becomes increasingly fascinating. England's Lost Houses is essential reading for all those seeking to understand what really happened.
'This grave compilation of Country Life photographs of great houses, burned, stripped, wrecked, demolished and otherwise ruined since 1900 feels like an illustrated supplement to English fiction, high and low, over the same period.. Haunting' Guardian 'Both sad and fascinating' Best of British 'Provides a powerful impression of the richness and variety of the English country house and of the treasures that were destroyed.' Echo Magazine (Dorset Echo) 'Poignant' The Lady 'An elegant testimonial to these vanished houses' Apollo magazine
Giles Worsley (1961-2006) was a distinguished architectural writer and critic and the architecture correspondent of the Daily Telegraph. He was formerly architectural editor of Country Life and then editor of Perspectives on Architecture. He was the author of many books, including Architectural Drawings of the Regency Period (1991), Classical Architecture in Britain: The Heroic Age (1994), which won the Yorkshire Post Best Art Book Award in 1995, and editor of The Life and Works of John Carr by Brian Wragg (2000). His critically acclaimed Inigo Jones and the European Classicist Tradition was published posthumously in 2007.
| SKU | Unavailable |
| ISBN 13 | 9781845136147 |
| ISBN 10 | 1845136144 |
| Title | Englands Lost Houses |
| Author | Giles Worsley |
| Condition | Unavailable |
| Binding Type | Paperback |
| Publisher | Quarto Publishing PLC |
| Year published | 2011-05-25 |
| Number of pages | 192 |
| Cover note | Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary. |
| Note | Unavailable |