Inspired by the great architectural dictionaries of the nineteenth century, such as those of Viollet-le-Duc, the Architectural Publication Society, and others, Professor Curl, mindful of the shortcomings of reference-books available in the 1990s, was commissioned by Oxford University Press to prepare a single-volume dictionary that would include biographies of architects, essays on styles, architectural terms, and much else, suitably illustrated. After it was published, first in 1999, and then in a second edition in 2006, the book (both editions appeared in hardback and paperback) was hailed as the best architectural dictionary and had many reprintings. It was described as 'formidably informative yet admirably user-friendly', 'there is no better source of...reference available at the price', 'a mine of information, hugely enjoyable, informative, and useful', 'a fascinating survey of architectural achievement', 'essential', 'a classic', 'clear, concise, and snappy', 'incomparably the finest dictionary of architecture in existence', ' a smasher', and praised in the highest possible terms; 'anyone seeking a single-volume dictionary of architecture which includes biographical entries has, in fact, only once choice and that is Curl [who is] immensely knowledgeable...once you have Curl's Dictionary on your shelf it rapidly becomes indispensable'. Curl's clear drawings enhance his meticulous texts, and a very small sample of these is shown here.
Click for more on the Oxford Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture.
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Anglo-Saxon architecture Hypothetical church-tower incorporating motifs from the churches of All Saints, Earls Barton, Northants., St Mary, Sompting, West Sussex, and St Mary, Deerhurst, Glos. |
fasces Three types of Classical bundles with axes.
flushwork Typical East Anglian flushwork of knapped flint with limestone dressings. |
arabesque Panels of arabesque ornament, (a) from C17 Flemish patter-book; (b) C16 example from The Louvre, Paris. |
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arcade (a) Simple regular Romanesque blind arcade with scallop-capitals and corbel-table. (b) Romanesque blind interlacing arcade: the intersecting elements form pointed arches. (c) Simple or regular Classical arcade on piers. (d) Classical arcade on coupled columns. (e) Simple or regular Classical arcade on columns. (f) Alternating Classical arcade consisting of arches carried on entablatures supported on columns, so is a mixture of colonnade and arcade. It resembles a series of overlapping Serlianas. (g) Syncopated First Pointed arcading. |
Corinthian Order Greek Corinthian Order from the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates (334BC) ( after Normand).
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Corinthian Order Roman Corinthian Order from the Pantheon, Rome, probably recycled from an early C1 temple and re-erected in the early C2 ( after Normand).
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Doric Order C5 BC Greek Doric Order from the Temple of ‘Theseus’, Athens (after Normand). |
Ionic Order Greek Ionic Order from Eleusis (after Normand). |
Ionic angle- or corner-capital From the Temple of Fortuna Virilis, Rome.
Scamozzi or angular capital (after Langley). |
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Aeolic Proto-Ionic Capital From Neandria.
Ammonite capital From a group of houses on New Cross Road, Southwark. |
addorsed Two types of addorsed ornament.
festoon With ribbons and fruit (after Normand). |
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