John N. Summerson

Pt. 1: The English Renaissance (1530-1610) -- Pt. 2: Inigo Jones and his times (1610-1660) -- Pt. 3: Wren and the Baroque (1660-1710) -- Pt. 4: The Palladian phase (1710-1750) -- Pt. 5: Neo-classicism and the Picturesque (1750-1830) -- Appendix 1: Architecture in Scotland (1530-1707) -- Appendix 2: English architecture in America -- Plates.

"Inigo Jones, the first English classical architect, was famous in his own time and was the posthumous sponsor of the Palladian movement of the eighteenth century. This book, first published in 1966, reassessed Jones's life and career, cleared away the myths of attribution that surround his work, and reassigned to him projects that had disappeared from his oeuvre. Summerson's text is enhanced by a new foreword and notes by Howard Colvin, updated bibliography, and improved illustrations."--BOOK JACKET.

Sir John Summerson's short (roughly 80 page) classic is an informal yet trenchant explanation of the classical grammar that has shaped Western architecture from antiquity through the current age. Various architectural elements and styles are explained in a delightful prose that engages and informs.

A classic of architectural history and theory, Heavenly Mansions interprets architecture as a reflection of the age in which it flowers, and it traces the alternating themes of fantasy and functionalism as exemplified in various styles and in the works of a number of influential men, including Christopher Wren, Viollet-le-Duc, William Butterfield, and Le Corbusier. It gives an account of John Wood and the unique English Town-Planning Tradition begun early in the eighteenth century, and of J.M. Gandy, whose two curious books of designs paralleled the Romantic Age of literature and were yet unmistakably prophetic of cubism. Succinctly summarizing 800 years of viewpoints about architecture, it ranges from Gothic architecture to the Renaissance to the influence of modern abstract art on twentieth-century architecture. This work is invaluable to students of art, architecture, and the humanities in general.

"In this classic of English architectural history (first published more than half a century ago), John Summerson provided a perceptive and highly readable account of a major building period in the history of London. Encompassing the architecture of the capital from the Great Fire of 1666 through the city's early nineteenth-century expansion, the book remains an indispensable guide to the genesis and development of Georgian London." "Summerson examines the way in which building in late Stuart and Georgian London was conditioned by social, economic and financial circumstances. He discusses the origins of the London squares, the characteristic forms of London street architecture, the great Georgian public buildings, the industrial architecture of the docklands, and the suburban developments of the early nineteenth century. The major Georgian buildings of the capital are critically discussed and the contributions of their architects evaluated with characteristic wit and elegance." "While Summerson's text is essentially unchanged in this edition, it has been corrected in the light of new research, expanded to include a few significant buildings that were originally overlooked, and enhanced with new illustrations. The Appendix of surviving Georgian buildings has also been carefully updated."--Jacket.