- Hardcover: 192 pages
- Publisher: Aurum Press Ltd; illustrated edition edition (1 Oct 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 1845132645
- ISBN-13: 978-1845132644
- Product Dimensions: 28.6 x 21.8 x 2.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 243,471 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
The destruction meted out on Britain's city centres during the twentieth century, by the combined efforts of the Luftwaffe and city-planners, is legendary. Medieval churches, Tudor alleyways, Georgian terraces and Victorian theaters, many vanished for ever, to be replaced by a gruesome landscape of concrete office-blocks and characterless shopping malls. Now, for the first time, Gavin Stamp shows us exactly what we have lost. Reproduced in this haunting volume are hundreds of top-quality photographs of cities from Plymouth to Dundee, all of streets and buildings that are gone for ever. In the accompanying text, Stamp traces their creation and destruction, remembering the massive campaign to save the Euston Arch, wantonly demolished in 1962, and mourning the loss of lovely medieval Coventry, which was already doomed by the city planners even before German air-raids intervened. Alternately fascinating, enraging and heartbreaking, this is an extraordinary evocation of Britain's architectural past, and a much-needed reminder of the importance of preserving our heritage.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
30 of 30 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Probably the saddest book I have read in a long time.
Your first impulse is to flick through the pictures and look at all the absolutely brilliant architecture and amazing places. You imagine that these old photographs depict locations (like Hull) that are now swarming with tourists and the pride of each of the listed cities. You then start skimming the text and captions and the true horror starts to dawn that pretty well everything shown in the book has been demolished. Finally, you discover that these cities were not destroyed by bombers, earthquakes or fire but by 20th century planners and insane `visionaries' who knowingly set out to annihilate the past and replace it with a new progressive future. Bear this book in mind the next time your hear about 'progress'.
The only thing missing is photographs showing what the depicted places look like now...but perhaps that would be too much to bear.
Your first impulse is to flick through the pictures and look at all the absolutely brilliant architecture and amazing places. You imagine that these old photographs depict locations (like Hull) that are now swarming with tourists and the pride of each of the listed cities. You then start skimming the text and captions and the true horror starts to dawn that pretty well everything shown in the book has been demolished. Finally, you discover that these cities were not destroyed by bombers, earthquakes or fire but by 20th century planners and insane `visionaries' who knowingly set out to annihilate the past and replace it with a new progressive future. Bear this book in mind the next time your hear about 'progress'.
The only thing missing is photographs showing what the depicted places look like now...but perhaps that would be too much to bear.
11 of 11 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I read this book with mounting fury that Britain's pre- and post-war planners could have been so dim-witted and lacking in appreciation for Britain's heritage. Stamp's account is the stuff of nightmares. The book is full of excellent photographs, some of them achingly beautiful, and the text, appropriately, has real bite. My only criticism is that it should have been longer. A fine book if you want to torture yourself over the loss of buildings and streetscapes that had history, beauty, life, integrity and character, so unlike the rubbish that replaced them. Buy it and weep.
22 of 23 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The many photographs are fascinating in themselves as a record of what has been destroyed in the way of historic buildings during the twentieth century in nineteen major British cities. But the photos also come with an astute and illuminating text which catalogues the disastrous decisions made by our city planners both before and after the German bombings in the Second World War. Stamp is never purely reactionary - practicalities are acknowledged and good modern buildings praised - but it is impossible not to share his dismay at what we have lost.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
Glorious and Bittersweet
How can it not be bittersweet?
This is a pictorial history of some of the lost gems of British urban architecture. Read more
This is a pictorial history of some of the lost gems of British urban architecture. Read more
Published 1 month ago by Sean T. Page
A mixed review!!!
Britains Lost Cities is excellent but do not use this site to order 'Lost London' which is a very similar book. Read more
Published on 28 Mar 2010 by Richard Portman
A sad epitaph
I'd agree with all the other reviews of this book. The photos are indeed the main glory of the book, supported by a perceptive and elgaic text. Read more
Published on 3 Jan 2010 by Derek Alcraft
Wanton demolition
This is a fascinating book giving the reader insight into how 19 of Britain's major cities looked before modern-day reconstruction. Read more
Published on 23 Feb 2008 by Jory Bennett
Listmania!
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