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 Victorian
Architecture: Diversity & Invention
By means of a magnificent collection of illustrations and an
authoritative text, Curl brings to life the great architectural
achievements of the Victorian Age which responded to unprecedented
challenges and opportunities with confident, colourful, rumbustiously
eclectic buildings. He deals with the palette of styles available
to the Victorians; entirely new building types; novel materials;
ecclesiastical buildings that, arguably, were superior to mediaeval
exemplars; the responses of a vital society to contemporary challenges;
and how they went further than anyone since Roman times to potty-train
Urban Man. All this is set firmly within the context of the intellectual
complexities of the Age, illuminated by Curl's mellifluous and
jargon-free prose. Wearing his learning lightly, he presents his
case with gusto, elegance, grace, and wit, bringing the Victorian
period to life in a work which will give readers much to ponder,
savour, and enjoy.
Victorian Architecture: Diversity & Invention (Reading:
Spire Books Ltd., 2007).
ISBN: 978-1-904965-06-0 (hbk.)
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Reviews
'Curl, an unquestioned authority as an architectural historian
and in many fields an expert without equal, deploys ....a major
weapon in the current relignment of forces: his is an ambitious
vision that stretches across the era, and his book aims to become
the standard work of reference in which every major building is
definitively placed in its historical context...it is about time
that general reference books on Victorian architecture stopped
being lists of things and started being more assertive...[This]
book is a significant advance on earlier surveys: [it] is a monument:
the kind of monument that a decent Victorian builder would have
been proud of.'
The Tablet
'...timely and welcome...a comprehensive study and wide-ranging
showcase for British architecture of this period of rapid and
unprecedented industrialisation, wealth creation, and urbanisation.
There can be few better qualified...to compile a volume such as
this. It is clear that [it] represents a life's work in examining
the built legacy of the Victorians...It is a remarkable contribution
to architectural publishing...it is hard to think of a more impressive
survey.'
Perspective: The Journal of The Royal Society of Ulster Architects
'...a weighty volume....but worth every penny, and can fairly
be described as a bargain at the price. It is a magnificent, major
achievement of scholarship and learning, written with grace and
authority. It is the distillation of a life's work, and like all
the best of intellectual endeavour it is open and available to
all, scholar and general reader alike...Curl is one of the most
distinguished and most consistently readable of architectural
historians...In this book is the Victorian Age in all its architectural
glory. The pages almost glow. The buildings are described with
zest and the illustrations are perfection...[forming] a constantly
fascinating and instructive retrospective. The whole production
is...a...triumph.'
newdirections
'This comprehensive work combining scholarship with imagination...is
a liberal education in itself....Curl's passion for the whole
Victorian achievement shines throughout...A vast and magisterial
work which it is hard to imagine ever being superseded.'
The Architectural Review
'....a huge survey of Victorian architecture...Curl has spent
a lifetime studying the period, and his eye is finely trained
to the subtle stylistic varieties of an iron rood-screen or a
mullioned window. The scope...is impressive...'
The Times Literary Supplement
' ...lavishly illustrated, splendidly written, and magisterial
in scope, it is a joyous testament...with some wonderful insights...'
Newsletter of SAVE Britain's Heritage
' Curl's tremendous new book is a monument in itself....It is
well written in a sober modern style, but one of the most striking
things about it is a certain pervasive Victorian-ness. There is
something Victorian about the certainty and the sharply-delivered
judgments...The book provides a superb overview of the development
of the Gothic Revival, ...underpinned by a profound understanding
of Victorian religion and religious politics....The architectural
descriptions and judgments are authoritative, testifying to excellent
taste and a lifetime of visual discrimination. It is refreshing,
too, to see idols such as Pugin and Ruskin taken to task for the
damaging effects of their attempts to conflate architectural criticism,
social criticism, and morality. Modernist interpretations come
in for some splendidly blunt treatment as well. ...The book is
very well illustrated....it has the best range of illustrations
of Victorian architecture that this reviewer has ever seen in
a single volume: it is a magnificent achievement, a labour of love
for the subject..., by a scholar who has devoted several decades
to its study.'
The Victorian: The Magazine of The Victorian Society
'Curl...[was] one of the earliest to bring our attention to the
splendours of the Victorian way of death, almost four decades
ago...He was also among the heroic generation of conservationists
who found endless fascination in the Victorian way of building.
This...book is his third on the subject, and is an epic undertaking....As
well as being a celebratory book, this is in places an angry book
too: angry at the destruction of so many fine buildings; angry
at the self-satisfied modernism which has taken its place; at
the lack of respect given the endeavours of our forebears....There
is nothing bland about this book: its praise is fulsome, and its
criticisms are stinging... And...its authoritative stature cannot
be questioned. For once, it covers Britain, rather than England...This
is a truly substantial book too: it begins at the beginning, with
the emergence of post-Reformation approaches to architecture,
and carries the story right up to....recent years. It is a heroic
publishing achievement, in that so many illustrations have been
reproduced within such a lavish format. And what pictures!...All
are finely reproduced, resulting in a volume that is meant to
last....Dissecting dreams, and identifying just what the sources
were, is another of Curl's great strengths. It takes an extremely
good grasp of European architecture to spot all of the allusions...
Authoritative, extensive, beautifully produced, opinionated, scholarly,
brisk, compendious: this is no ordinary book. By bringing so many
buildings to our notice, and by so masterfully laying out the
intellectual and architectural context for our contemplation,
our appreciation of the Victorian building scene is considerably
enriched. A special volume, all in all, and one that deserves
every success.' Roger Bowdler (Head of Designation for English
Heritage)
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