These days it seems obvious that stupendous constructions like St Pancras Station should be preserved and restored. But as recently as the 1970s Glasgow’s superb St Enoch’s Hotel made way for a shopping centre, and in the 1960s St Pancras itself was also earmarked for demolition. ‘Victorian’ was a term of abuse. Add in wartime bombing by the Luftwaffe, and town planners eager for ring roads and multi-storeys, and the destruction is shocking.
This poignant, angry book, full of stunning images, chronicles the catastrophic swathe cut through our architectural heritage by the twentieth century’s sustained antipathy to the nineteenth, entirely through buildings that have disappeared. Of the 200 notable examples of Victorian architecture illustrated in this book, from the magnificent Imperial Institute in Kensington to the vast country house of Eaton Hall, not one still exists. A photograph is all we have left.
As well as architectural causes célèbres like the Euston Arch and London’s Coal Exchange, Gavin Stamp turns up many lesser-known Victorian buildings, like the extraordinary Gothic battlements of Columbia Market in East London, or Chatsworth’s soaring glasshouse streamlined like a spaceship. Surprising, chastening, but also uplifting, Lost Victorian Britain is a memorable journey back into a world we should never have lost.
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Review
Gavin Stamp, one of our most distinguished architectural historians, has done a depressing but important public service in cataloguing this odious chapter of destruction.
-- The Telegraph, October, 2010
`Gavin Stamp's Lost Victorian Britain contains many pictures of the fine architecture that a postwar generation delighted in destroying. In a brilliant essay, Stamp blames aesthetic snobbery and a frenzy of self-hatred.'
-- Ian Jack, The Guardian
This is an important book. ...It is well written, full of passion and illustrations of all the lost buildings.
--Books Choice, Oxford Times
this look at the Victorian buildings destroyed in the 20th century makes for heartbreaking reading --The Sunday Times, January 2011
...a poignant, well informed book that depressed and delights in equal measure. --Manchester Evening News, December 2010
"A photographic account of the Victorian buildings demolished in 20th-century reforms makes for moving reading" --Simon Jenkins, Culture, the Sunday Times
"...a powerful and compelling indictment of the destruction of numerous magnificent Victorian buildings"
--Marcus Binney, the Times
`an excellent book'
--Literary Review, Feb 2011
-- The Telegraph, October, 2010
`Gavin Stamp's Lost Victorian Britain contains many pictures of the fine architecture that a postwar generation delighted in destroying. In a brilliant essay, Stamp blames aesthetic snobbery and a frenzy of self-hatred.'
-- Ian Jack, The Guardian
This is an important book. ...It is well written, full of passion and illustrations of all the lost buildings.
--Books Choice, Oxford Times
this look at the Victorian buildings destroyed in the 20th century makes for heartbreaking reading --The Sunday Times, January 2011
...a poignant, well informed book that depressed and delights in equal measure. --Manchester Evening News, December 2010
"A photographic account of the Victorian buildings demolished in 20th-century reforms makes for moving reading" --Simon Jenkins, Culture, the Sunday Times
"...a powerful and compelling indictment of the destruction of numerous magnificent Victorian buildings"
--Marcus Binney, the Times
`an excellent book'
--Literary Review, Feb 2011
About the Author
GAVIN STAMP’s other books for Aurum are Britain’s Lost Cities and Edwin Lutyens Country Houses. He lives in London.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
47 of 47 people found the following review helpful
By Stephen
TOP 1000 REVIEWER
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a most valuable look at some of the buildings we lost through neglect, wilful architectural snobbery and modernist ideas, and sadly also wartime damage. The text is angry but informative, the pictures exceedingly well chosen. Strongly recommended to anyone with an interest in our lost heritage.
30 of 31 people found the following review helpful
By Pashley
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book was a present for my husband, who has huge admiration for the achievements of Victorian England. He was simply entranced by the quality of the writing and the pictures, but then was saddened by the realisation of what the modern-day vandalism of planning departments had destroyed, merely because it was old.
We are both convinced that anyone with an eye for splendour will thoroughly enjoy this magnificent book and we have no hesitation in awarding five points!
We are both convinced that anyone with an eye for splendour will thoroughly enjoy this magnificent book and we have no hesitation in awarding five points!
24 of 26 people found the following review helpful
By SEANSIRRS
Format:Hardcover
Fantastic book, crammed with information about the lost Victorian Architecture of our country. Amazing photo's. This is a real must for anyone interested in the Victorian Age, or the Gothic Revival.
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
By M. M. Jordan
Format:Hardcover
This is a beautiful book with great photographs of Victorian buildings, demolished in the name of progress. The buildings are from all over the country. I particularly liked the station buildings such as the ticket hall etc at Euston or St Enoch's in Glasgow. I can recommend this book without reservation.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This is a fine book, well worth owning for anyone involved in historic and civic preservation.
However, this book could be twice the thickness, with many more sites and photographs. Even so, this catalog of sickening and largely unnecessary losses is stuffed with beautiful photographs and information. Again, a very worthwhile book.
Greg Hubbard
However, this book could be twice the thickness, with many more sites and photographs. Even so, this catalog of sickening and largely unnecessary losses is stuffed with beautiful photographs and information. Again, a very worthwhile book.
Greg Hubbard
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By Alan Cambs
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This book makes great value: I got it at £10.71 (delivered) in hardback - worth every penny! It's about A4 size and about half an inch thick; it contains lots of fascinating images of lost Victorian buildings - images date from the Victorian period, right through to fairly recent times. London is the most featured location, but there are examples from all over England and Scotland. There is also quite a lot of narrative provided, which makes for interesting reading. Overall, great value for money, especially if you get it for under £15.
By artdealer
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
This was a most enthralling read, with an excellent photographic record of historic buildings lost to demolition. I should strongly recommend it to those who are as interested in this topic as I.
7 of 14 people found the following review helpful
By Eric Evans
Format:Hardcover
This was bought as a present for a senior town planner.
He thought it excellent and I have had no criticisms back.
He thought it excellent and I have had no criticisms back.
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