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Georgian Architecture
This book is a fully illustrated guide to the architecture of the British Isles during the reigns of the first four Georges (1714-1830). To many people the term 'Georgian' suggests a dignified, often symmetrical facade of brick, with elegant sash-windows, a doorcase (usually with a fanlight), and a well-mannered and reticent appearance. However, there was far more to Georgian architecture than that. Curl shows the remarkable diversity of the architecture created during the era, from the grander Classicism influenced by the architecture of Italy, notably that of Andrea Palladio (1508-80), to the exotic tastes for Chinoiserie, Rococo, Gothick, and even the Indian (or 'Hindoo') styles. He discusses all these aspects, and also sets the scene in respect of notions concerned with the aesthetic categories of the Beautiful, the Picturesque, and the Sublime, drawing attention especially to the importance of the Picturesque during the Georgian period. His handsome book is a celebration of the main themes found in building-design of the time, and an examination of the stylistic choices of the age: Palladianism, the search for uncorrupted Classical sources through the study of Antiquity, the various revivals of Roman, Greek, and Egyptian styles, the taste for the exotic and for Orientalism, and the growing interest in Mediaeval architecture, monastic remains, and ruins which played such an important part in the Gothic Revival.
Curl's vivid and concise text, couched in clear, jargon-free, unequivocal language, together with his carefully chosen illustrations, should enable all those interested in the Georgian period to look at the surviving architecture with informed and discerning eyes.
Georgian Architecture (Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1993 & 2002)
ISBN: 0-7153-9851-2
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Reviews '....an elegant study....a beautifully illustrated celebration of the styles of the period'. The Softback Preview (December 1993).
'At the level of production and attractiveness Georgian Architecture is undoubtedly an excellent buy. The quality of the binding, the typography, paper and illustration, are of a very high standard. The format is just right. It is easy to hold and peruse. Everything appears to be in the right place, The subject matter is arranged in a sensible way. Layout is comprehensible, logical, and above all conducive to readability....the book will delight and stimulate and serve as a very useful reference....' JH in Building Conservation Newsletter (Winter 1993).
'Curl's Georgian Architecture is...the best book available on its subject and, as such, should be on the shelves of every member of The Georgian Group....Curl is at once authoritative and lively, qualities not always found in conjunction....His approach ...is challenging....and charming. His book is far from being a mere record of stylistic change, for Curl relates buildings to life at every stage, with accounts of Georgian mealtimes and sanitary arrangements. A widely-read scholar, he includes quotations from Winckelmann to Jane Austen, and relates new aesthetic sensibilities of the Georgian period to philosophers from Burke to Kant. In short, his elegant and modesty priced book cannot be recommended too highly'. David Watkin in The Georgian: The Magazine of The Georgian Group (Autumn/Winter 2002)
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