Product Description

The City of London has an amazingly rich architectural heritage which is quite unique in its diversity. The Tower of London, the great medieval Guildhall and St Paul's Cathedral, the masterpiece of Sir Christopher Wren, all lie within its small area. Wren's genius is also apparent in the celebrated City churches, rebuilt after the Great Fire of London. Houses, banks, offices and warehouses of the working City lie in constantly surprising juxtapositions. As the financial capital of Europe, the City boasts a vigorous new generation of premises, including the urbane Broadgate Centre and the iconoclastic Lloyd's. Beneath the present City lies Roman London, whose extraordinary buildings are increasingly familiar from archaeological excavations and displays. In this guide, Simon Bradley unlocks the treasures of this most ancient and modern of capitals, aided by numerous maps, plans, drawings and photographs. Introductory essays describe the growth of the City and the distinctive characteristics of its architecture, and a gazetteer describes the buildings and streets in detail. Extensive indexes and a glossary of architectural terms not only make this wealth of information easily accessible, but also create an essential guide book for anyone interested in this fascinating area.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #101533 in Books
• Published on: 1997-01-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 704 pages

Review
"To historians and students and all who want to know a county in depth, the new editions form an essential encyclopedia; as Pevsner himself said when the first revisions came out, these are the ones to have." Andor Gomme, Times Literary Supplement

Jonathan Meades, The Observer, 25th November 2001.
"The greatest endeavour of popular architectural scholarship in the world."

About the Author
Simon Bradley worked for the Historic Royal Palaces Agency begfore joining The Buildings of England. He has lectured on many aspects of the City of London, and is now starting work on a new volume on The City of Westminster to complete the London series.

Customer Reviews

The best architectural guide to the City of London
Buildings in practically every street in the City are covered, in many cases many of the buildings in a given street are described, with interesting features pointed out.The book covers all architectural periods.If you look at every building described in this book it would take you weeks of long days walking around the city.But if you are interested in architecture it would be worth it (I know, I have done it).Or just read the book, as the book has much history as the City is made up of buildings built over the centuries. 704 pages of excellence.

A Bible of British Architecture
This book is one of a series presented by Nikolaus Pevsner and updated by Bridget Cherry on the Buildings of England.

I own three in the series, all concentrating on Greater London architecture. The books are truly comprehensive in their treatment of the streets they cover. 95% of all streets in the areas I was familiar with are treated in the book. Where noted, architect and year of construction are given.

The books are particularly useful as a reference guide to look up particular streets and buildings. However, the books always give an overall reference to the particular architectual trends of the period and how these manifested themselves in the buildings of the time. Note, individual streets are rarely derided for their architecture. However, the authors do venture into architectual criticism ocassionally. (As when they lament the monotony of the white stucco Italianate facades in mid-Victorian South Kensington)

In addition, the books treat each area separately, breaking up larger areas like Kensington & Chelsea according to their natural street and neighborhood boundaries. This allows a separate discourse on each individual area and the events and developers which shaped them.

The books give special treatment to major works including churches and public buildings. However, they are comprehensive in detail covering all residential housing on a given street.

Since buying these books, I have moved to New York City. Readers interested in a similar series on New York can look to the Monacelli Press Series by Robert Stern: "New York 1880," "New York 1900," "New York 1930," and "New York 1960." This series, however, concentrates on specific periods and details existing buildings as well as buildings since removed.