The English House
A History in Eight Buildings
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cornerstone
Publishing:25th Jun '26
£12.99
This title is due to be published on 25th June, and will be despatched as soon as possible.
This paperback is available in another edition too:
- Hardback£26.00(9781529152456)
This is the story of the superbly elegant early eighteenth-century Pallant House in Chichester. It’s the story of 19 Princelet Street in Spitafields, built for a Huguenot silk-weaver, ultimately a synagogue. It’s also the story of – among others – a row of two-up, two-downs in Toxteth, a block of flats in London’s East End, and what Ideal Home’s magazine described in 1926 as Britain’s ‘first modern house’ – in Northampton.
Together these buildings reveal the ways in which English homes have developed and changed over the past few centuries. At the same time, as Dan Cruickshank shows, they have much to tell us about the lives of their first occupants: their aspirations, their struggles, their place within society and relationship with their local community. The English House brilliantly weaves these two strands together, blending architectural and social history to create a series of brilliantly observed portraits of fascinating buildings.
Cruickshank’s enthusiasm for England’s vernacular architecture shines through every infectious sentence of this glorious book. His great skill is to dig down into details so that no building’s hidden corner, crooked window or clever keystone goes unremarked. At the same time, he situates these idiosyncratic details in a wider reading of the social and economic conditions which gave rise to every brick, strut and gurning gargoyle. A triumph * The Times *
A mine of information presented in an effortlessly accessible style. Unlike many books that merely convey stories attached to buildings, this is social and architectural history delivered with forensic insight * Country Life *
The English House condenses the intriguing story of how English homes have developed. * The Independent, Books of the Month *
The most delightfully reassuring of books. In The English House, Cruickshank lovingly and methodically dives into the history of eight different buildings. Fascinating. Cruickshank guides the reader through 19 Princelet St […] with great charm and a keen sense of the resonance of the building, which – like all the buildings in the book – he brings beautifully to life. * Jewish Chronicle *
Diverting and illuminating * Observer *
ISBN: 9781804941546
Dimensions: 198mm x 129mm x 35mm
Weight: 500g
512 pages