Product Description
Synopsis
In practice, there are two main factors which prevent a building standing in an unaltered state for, say, 600 years: one is the natural tendency of things to fall down, and the other is the remorseless march of fashion. It is part of the very nature of human existence, that what one man builds is no sooner completed, than another declares it out of fashion, a third redundant, and afourth seeks to tear it down. Even such a landmark figure as Sir Christopher Wren, were he to return today, would only find 11 of his 51 churches intact. Unlike most authors on the subject, Owen Jordan, eschews the chronological approach and the battle of the styles. He is much more concerned with why the tower fell down than what period it belonged to. To read this book is to delve into deconstruction: to have the fabric of the English church taken apart by an expert and re-assembled before your eyes. This book is intended to be a working handbook of English church architecture; a guide not only to what you can see, but what it is you are actually looking at, and in some cases where it can be found.
