BOOK REVIEWS AND ARTICLES
ASCHB AT 50: INFLUENTIAL BOOKS
Despite the difficulties thrown up by Transport for London, the meeting at the Gallery on 21st November proved entertaining and informative for all. The final result of the voting showed that Pevsner’s Buildings of England was resoundingly the most influential publication for our members.
- Pevsner, Nikolaus Buildings of England series
- Brunskill, R W The Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture
- Colvin, Howard Biographical Dictionary of English Architects 1660-1840
- Clifton-Taylor, Alec The Pattern Of English Building
- English Heritage Practical Conservation Series (1st edition)
- Binney, Marcus and Emma Milne Vanishing Houses of England – A Pictorial Documentary of Lost Country Houses
- Insall, Donald The Care of Old Buildings Today: A Practical Guide
- ICOMOS The Burra Charter (1979 and later editions)
- Powys, A R Repair of Ancient Buildings
- Cullen, Gordon Townscape
- Fletcher, Banister Sir Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method
- English Heritage Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance
- Feilden, Bernard Conservation of Historic Buildings
- Caroe, Alban and Martin Stonework: Maintenance and Surface Repair
- Cantacuzino, Sherban New Uses for Old Buildings
- Heyman, Jacques The Stone Skeleton: Structural Engineering of Masonry Architecture
- Worskett, Roy The Character of Towns
- Fawcett, Jane Ed. The Future of the Past
- Charles, Frederick WB, and Mary Charles Conservation of Timber Buildings
- Harvey, John Conservation of Buildings
Members talked about their nominations: Ian Bristow on Pevsner, Jenny Freeman on Brunskill, Hugh Feilden championed Heyman’s Stone Skeleton, Alasdair Glass spoke on Sir Donald Insall’s Care of Old Buildings, and Robyn Pender on Practical Building Conservation. Richard Woolf made a plea for revisiting Banister Fletcher and Sherry Bates supported the construction books of Rivington and McKay. Charles Wagner pointed out the importance of the Burra Charter and EH Conservation Principles in setting frameworks for assessing the values of conservation, and Helen Axworthy paid tribute to Ian Bristow’s volumes on architectural colours and their analysis. Malcolm Dickson recommended the Historic Scotland publications and the works of the Survey of London, and Karen Butti told of her introduction to conservation through John Ashurst’s Mortars, Plasters and Renders. Sir Donald Insall summed up with the authors that had influenced him.
In the course of putting together the list, Jean Letherby noted that many of the books were out of print and that there was a shrinking number of publishers. People tended to look to the internet and YouTube for guidance, which raised the question ‘Where will we find authoritative guidance in the future?’
ASCHB AT 50: INFLUENTIAL BOOKS -VOTE NOW
The top 20 of your nominations have been listed and voting forms circulated by email. If you have had difficulty voting online, there are further instructions here and voting form here. Please vote by close of day, Sunday 19th November, and join us on Tuesday 21st November at the The Gallery to debate the top five.
The top 20 books are:
Binney, Marcus and Emma Milne | Vanishing Houses of England – A Pictorial Documentary of Lost Country Houses |
Brunskill, R W | The Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture |
Cantacuzino, Sherban | New Uses for Old Buildings |
Caroe, Alban and Martin | Stonework: Maintenance and Surface Repair |
Charles, Frederick WB, and Mary Charles | Conservation of Timber Buildings |
Clifton-Taylor, Alec | The Pattern Of English Building |
Colvin, Howard | Biographical Dictionary of English Architects 1660-1840 (1954) |
Cullen, Gordon | Townscape (Issued as The Concise Townscape in 1971, omitting the studies of specific towns and with a new foreword and conclusion) |
English Heritage | Practical Conservation Series (1st edition) |
English Heritage | Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance |
Fawcett, Jane Ed. | The Future of the Past |
Feilden, Bernard | Conservation of Historic Buildings |
Fletcher, Banister | Sir Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method |
Harvey, John | Conservation of Buildings |
Heyman, Jacques | The Stone Skeleton: Structural Engineering of Masonry Architecture |
ICOMOS | The Burra Charter (1979 and later editions) |
Insall, Donald | The Care of Old Buildings Today: A Practical Guide |
Pevsner, Nikolaus | Pevsner’s Buildings of England series |
Powys, A R | Repair of Ancient Buildings |
Worskett, Roy | The Character of Towns (1969) |
We will be publishing a list with all the nominations, including those that arrived later, and publishing a report of the debate in Transactions.
ASCHB AT 50: INFLUENTIAL BOOKS
ASCHB has recognised that over the past 50 years there have been certain books which have influenced the practice and philosophy of the conservation of buildings and places. The influence may have been for good or ill, but they have left their mark.
ASCHB invites you to nominate the five books you think are the most influential, with your reasons, in not more than 50 words. We will draw up a list of the fifty most nominated books, publish it on our website, and ask for your votes for the best.
We will debate the merits of the top five at our meeting on 21st November.
Please submit your nominations by email through the contacts page on our website, or by post to 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ
Nominated Books, in alphabetical order of author, as at 3rd November 2017:
Binney Marcus and Emma Milne | Vanishing Houses of England – a Pictorial Documentary of Lost Country Houses |
Brereton, Christopher | The Repair of Historic Buildings: Advice on Principles and Methods (Aspects of Conservation) |
Bristow, Ian C | Architectural Colour in British Interiors 1615-1840, and Interior House-Painting Colours and Technology 1615-1840 |
Brunskill, R W | The Illustrated Handbook of Vernacular Architecture |
Butterworth, John Warren | Conservation of Brick |
Cantacuzino, Sherban | New Uses for Old Buildings |
Caroe, Alban and Martin | Stonework: Maintenance and Surface Repair |
Charles, Frederick WB and Mary Charles | Conservation of Timber Buildings |
Clark, Kate | Informed Conservation: Understanding Historic Buildings and their Landscapes for Conservation |
Clifton-Taylor, Alec | The Cathedrals of England |
Clifton-Taylor, Alec | The Pattern Of English Building |
Colvin, Howard | Biographical Dictionary of English Architects 1660-1840 (1954) |
Cullen, Gordon | Townscape (later editions The Concise Townscape) |
Curl, James Stevens | Death and Architecture |
Curl, James Stevens | The Victorian Celebration of Death |
Davey, Andy and Heath, Hodges, Ketchin, Milne | The Care and Conservation of Georgian Houses: a maintenance manual for Edinburgh New Town |
Dixon Hunt, John (ed.) and Peter Willis | The Genius of the Place |
English Heritage | Practical Conservation Series (1st edition) |
English Heritage | Conservation Principles, Policies and Guidance |
Fawcett, Jane | The Future of the Past |
Feilden, Bernard | Conservation of Historic Buildings |
Fletcher, Banister | Sir Banister Fletcher’s A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method |
Fowler, John and John Cornforth | English Decoration in the 18th century |
Gibbs, James | Rules for Drawing the Several Parts of Architecture |
Giedion, Sigfried | Space Time and Architecture: The Growth of a New Tradition |
Girouard, Mark | The Victorian Country House |
Girouard, Mark | Life in the English Country House (1978) |
Girouard, Mark | Robert Smythson and the Elizabethan Country House |
Harvey, John | Conservation of Buildings |
Hewett, Cecil | The Development of Carpentry, 1200-1700, an Essex Study (1969) |
Hewett, Cecil | English Historic Carpentry (1980) |
Heyman, Jacques | The Stone Skeleton |
Historic Scotland | Technical Advice Notes |
ICOMOS | The Burra Charter (1979 and later editions) |
Insall, Donald | The Care of Old Buildings Report (1958) |
Insall, Donald | The Care of Old Buildings Today: A Practical Guide |
Jacobs, Jane | Death and Life of Great American Cities |
Kennett, Wayland | Preservation |
Le Corbusier | Vers Une Architecture (Towards a New Architecture) |
Lees-Milne, James | The Earls of Creation |
Lethaby, William and A Powell, F L Griggs | Ernest Gimson, his life and work |
Lynch, Gerard | Gauged Brickwork |
MacLeod, Robert | Style and Society: Architectural Ideology in Britain, 1835-1914 |
McCarter, Robert | Carlo Scarpa (monograph 2013) |
McKay, W B | McKay’s Building Construction |
Pevsner, Nikolaus | Pevsner’s Buildings of England series |
Pevsner, Nikolaus | Buildings of England, Cornwall (1951) – the first to be published |
Powys, A R | Repair of Ancient Buildings |
Rivingtons | Notes on Building Construction (1875) |
Ruskin, John | The Nature of Gothic from The Seven Lamps of Architecture (1849) |
Ruskin, John | The Stones of Venice (1851) |
SPAB | Technical Pamphlets and Guides |
Sturt, George | The Wheelwright’s Shop |
Survey of London | Survey of London, currently 52 volumes |
Thomas Parsons | Historical Colours |
Watt, David | Surveying Historic Buildings |
Vitruvius | The Ten Books on Architecture circa 27 BCE |
Watt, David | Surveying Historic Buildings |
Worskett, Roy | The Character of Towns (1969) |
Zumthor,Peter and Thomas Durish (ed.) | Peter Zumthor : Buildings and Projects 1985-2013 |
The publications of the Architectural Press in the late 1970s, e.g. Three Centuries of British Craftsmanship, were also nominated as a group.
Book: “Hidden Histories: A Spotter’s Guide to the British Landscape”
Author: Mary-Ann Ochota
Published by Frances Lincoln Ltd, London 2016 RRP £20.00
This book was presented as a tome that would interest families, but it is far more than that. Admittedly in areas where one has expertise it can seem a bit patronising, but the sheer breadth of subjects covered makes this an invaluable book to take on trips around the British Isles and to have at home, both as a reference book and a book you can just dip into when you have a few moments of peace.
It starts off looking a ‘lumps and bumps’ which covers all forms of prehistoric earthworks from forts to burials, to hedges and ridge and furrow. It looks at ‘stones’ from standing stones to stone carvings to finding flint tools. It continues with ‘lines’ covering road and field boundary alignments to ancient woodland and trees. Its longest section is ‘in the village’ where it covers placenames, buildings and materials and all sorts of other structures and features.
Dip into a section and you may think you know about a particular area of, say, the history of roads but there are always facts you did not know about lurking in the text.
This is a highly readable book containing so much information for both families on outings and the professional involved in the building, development and transport world. I would highly recommend it as reference book for every home and office. It is an excellent accompaniment to earlier publications by Common Ground, founded in 1983 by Sue Clifford, Angela King and Roger Deakin to seek imaginative ways to engage people with their local environment. It champions the idea of local distinctiveness, and without saying as much, this book does the same in an engaging and intelligent way. A must have.
Reviewed By: Charles Wagner, President of ASCHB and Planning & Heritage Consultant