Professor James Stevens Curl - Architectural Historian & Author

On The Honourable The Irish Society and The Plantation of Ulster 1608-2000

‘Curl’s history is one of obstinate retreat recorded with scholarly integrity’ Timothy Mowl in Country Life (8 February 2001) 99

‘A brief review cannot do justice to a work of such quality as this. Professor Curl is a leading authority on architecture and architectural history, whose literary output is phenomenal. In this work, which exhibits superlative production values, he also reveals his ability as a historian. Thirteen manageable chapters… reveal [an] impressive and universal command of detail and interpretation. Throughout the book there is much tangential but related material on emigration and comparative currency values, which is equally well-researched. The volume is liberally and superbly illustrated, complementing a number of valuable maps, and accompanying a useful, detailed, twenty-page glossary. The production is characterised by Professor Curl’s erudition and fluent, articulate style.. You will not find better than this volume on the subject’. Due North. The Magazine of the Federation for Ulster Local Studies 1/4 (Autumn/Winter 2001) 44

‘Curl paints a vivid picture of an embattled Society, set against a detailed background of historical events, seemingly attacked from all sides and yet managing to survive… The story of the London Companies’ involvement in the Plantation of Ulster was a remarkable one, with close parallels to various other trading companies that had been set up in America and Asia at that time’. Jane Fenlon in Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Newsletter 79 (Spring 2003) 12-13

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On The Victorian Celebration of Death

‘Fascinating, well researched, and easily read, this book, about a subject from which none can escape, is a must’ Peter Pearson in The Irish Times (10 February 2001) 13

‘This handsome tome… published to coincide with the centenary of Queen Victoria’s death …[is]… very readable. Professor Curl needs little or no introduction’ Ron Woollacott in The Quarterly Journal of the Friends of Nunhead Cemetery lxxi (Mar-June 2001), 5

‘This wonderful book on the 19^th-century iconography of death… is a masterpiece… and more than vindicates Curl’s status as pioneer of the dark art of funerary studies. Every page of this book is a treat – “gorgeous grief” indeed’ Jad Adams in BBC History Magazine ii/3 (March 2001) 59

‘Curl… is a well-known name to cemetery enthusiasts who are likely to have read his important study A Celebration of Death, on the architecture associated with the history of graveyards and cemeteries from ancient cultures to modern days… [His studies] have stood him well in placing the Victorian period in a broader context including a consideration of relevant music and literature. The Victorian Celebration of Death… is a valuable contribution to a proper understanding of the complexities of the needs of social reformers and the greed of private entrepreneurs… This erudite publication must find its way into the libraries of universities, colleges, genealogists, and interested general readers’. Jennifer McKendry in Journal of the Society for the Study of Architecture in Canada 26/1, 2 (2001) 69-79

‘In this fascinating book,… Curl’s starting premise is the romantic, literary, Arcadian view expressed in the writings of Thomas Gray, Robert Blair, and Edward Young… Curl does not neglect, however, the more prosaic aspects of the state of burial of the dead in Victorian Britain… One of the best features of The Victorian Celebration is its wonderful survey of state funerals… Curl examines all the details… He includes fascinating accounts of some of the more eccentric and esoteric aspects of the subject. Mrs Basil Holmes, in 1896, was wrong in seeing no merit in Victorian funerary art. In The Victorian Celebration of Death Curl belatedly and entertainingly rebukes her’. Henry Vivian-Neal in The Tablet (7 April 2001) 49

‘Curl’s beautifully illustrated book treats the whole question of the Victorian commemoration of death with wit and elegance. He does, in fact, do much more, analysing “the great black cornucopia of Victorian agony and the terrific paraphernalia of the Last Act” in considerable detail’. Maurice Lindsay in The Scottish Civic Trust Newsletter 21 (Spring 2001) 14

‘When Curl first began writing about cemeteries he was ridiculed as “perverse” and “morbid”, but there is little doubt that today’s more robust, natural attitude to cemeteries is largely due to [his] writing. Curl is one of those rare people who is not only a rigorous historian, but also an enthusiastic and compelling writer. No aspect of death and disposal [is] not covered by Curl’. Ann Jameson in Abney Park Cemetery Newsletter 9 (October 2001) 5

‘Today [in 2001] there has been a definite shift in perception and with it a dawning acknowledgement of the historical, artistic, and social value of the Victorian culture of commemoration. There are various reasons for this change, but a principal catalyst, particularly for the development of academic interest in the field, was the publication in 1972 of Curl’s [study], the first work of modern scholarship to recognise the importance of nineteenth-century cemeteries and their monuments, and to protest against the ignorant indifference that was condemning them to neglect and destruction. A chapter on the end of the Victorian era… leads to some magisterial reflections on contemporary attitudes to death, which for Professor Curl are characterised, for the most part, by evasion and emotional illiteracy. Authoritative and scholarly, The Victorian Celebration of Death is also an intensely personal book… shot through with the strong and inspiring sense of a scholar and campaigner who continues passionately to argue and fight for what he believes in. While Curl welcomes the evidence of a change in attitudes towards historic cemeteries, a change for which he can take much credit, he still rages – quite rightly – against ignorant dismissiveness and the stupid destruction to which it can often lead. But now his anger embraces a wider front than thirty years ago. In… utilitarian anonymity… he reads a terrible indifference, a denial of all those yesterdays from which we build our very sense of identity. “We are to be set adrift without the anchor of any communal memory, any history, anything that links us with our ancestors or with times that are gone”. That is as eloquent as it is bleak, and it encapsulates much of the book’s running attack on the banality and superficiality of contemporary society… Curl’s critique of the modern should be listened to. For the way in which a society habitually regards the dead implies a great deal about how it treats the living’. Chris Brooks in Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 26/2 (Summer 2001) 144-5

‘A fascinating and well-illustrated book covering a multitude of aspects of the Victorian treatment of death. The writing is engaging and the scholarship truly impressive’. David Lorimer in Network 75 (April 2001) 72

‘There can be no doubt that the work of Professor Curl has dominated writing on the history of cemetery establishment and more specifically design. His new book – produced at a surprisingly reasonable price, given the high quality of its general production and the extensive illustration – traces the development of cemetery aesthetics in detail from the eighteenth to the nineteenth century’. Julie Rugg in Mortality vi/2 (2001) 231-2

‘This history of the cemetery is also a very personal book… It is a detailed, informative, and closely referenced account of the origin and development of the garden cemetery, with a codicil on the growth of cremation. It traces the development of cemeteries from the poetic imagination of death, in particular Edward Young’s Night Thoughts, through private commercial initiative to the actions of Burial Boards and local authorities… Many of the threads of the story are fascinating…’ The Revd Paul Bayshaw in International Journal of Heritage Studies vii/3 (2001) 300-2

‘The best general local history books should excite you enough to try and apply their general points to your area – and Curl’s book is one of these. [It] is… brilliant… and… written in an engrossing style… [with] many trenchant observations. Highly recommended and amazingly good value’. Peter Christie in The Local Historian. Journal of the British Association for Local History xxxii/1 (February 2002) 72-3

‘… an inexpensive delight which can only… encourage us to go and explore that rich and exciting world… of the Victorian attitude to death’. John Ashby in Freemasonry Today xx (April 2002) 56

‘The Victorian Celebration of Death was first published in 1972 and effectively created a new subject for historical research. There had previously been studies of funerary monuments, but there had never been an historical study of the cemetery as an architectural type. Curl having blazed the trail, others... followed... The revised and expanded work has profited from research that has been carried out in the last three decades... The timing is right for The Victorian Celebration to appear again’. Brent Elliott in Garden History xxix/2 (Winter 2001) 229

‘Curl covers an impressively wide range of topics, masterfully controlling material which could well have become unwieldy. He does not spare us, and nor should he, since they are central to his theme, the almost unbelievable horrors of intramural burial… He describes the rise of the cemetery movement against the background of the urban growth, high mortality rate, and huge demographic changes of Britain in the nineteenth century… The literary side of this huge subject is interestingly handled… quotations which introduce each chapter, and indeed those in the text too, are memorable and apposite, if at times strong stuff… Curl… examines the whole cult of death and bereavement, the trappings of funerals and the ephemera connected with them… (his book) gives rise to many reflections and comparisons on the part of the reader about attitudes to death and bereavement, both then and now… Pugin… would have recognised and appreciated commitment and involvement, and that is what this book manifests’. Catriona Blaker in True Principles. The Journal of the Pugin Society iii/2 (Summer 2005) 77-8.

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On Piety Proclaimed: An Introduction to Places of Worship in Victorian England

‘A useful and necessary book… Curl synthesises recent work in this field, competently summarises a crowded period, and gives it… combative application for the general reader. He also provides a valuable service in toppling sacred cows of historical interpretation by treating the late-Gothic Revival with as much seriousness as the mid-Victorian and recognises its value as the flowering and culmination of the rebirth. Curl takes Sir Giles Gilbert Scott’s Liverpool Cathedral (1906-80) as seriously as Butterfield’s All Saints, Margaret Street, St Marylebone (1849-59). A restoration of balance has long been needed and this is strengthened by magnificent colour plates by Martin Charles and well-chosen illustrations that show churches in their original integrity’. Anthony Symondson, SJ, in The Catholic Herald (13 September 2002) 10

‘This really is a very good introduction to Victorian places of worship, just as the title claims… Curl writes well and has an easy-to-understand style. Long complicated words are avoided and the book is divided into manageable sections so you can just as easily read it in bed as on the train. Apart from describing the main architectural developments during the nineteenth century, the text also deals with the religious questions that underlay the liturgical changes. Especially clear and concise is an account of Anglo-Catholicism that appears towards the end of the book. This is something all students of the Victorian period should read and learn! The book has been nicely produced…and is extremely well illustrated with many black and white images and a small colour section… For the studious there is a good select bibliography and an extensive glossary… At £16.95 it is competitively priced and should sell well, especially amongst students of the Victorian period and those who want to know a little more about the religious and architectural changes that led to the great variety of Victorian church styles. And that perhaps is the book’s most appealing element. If you want to know what it was that caused the churches to be built the way they were, this is very much the book for you. A good read and a very good Christmas present’. JE in Ecclesiology Today. Journal of the Ecclesiological Society Issue 29 (September 2002) 44

‘When Curl wrote this, perhaps is most important book to date, no one had approached English Gothic Revival churches of the 19^th century with the two essential qualifications for such a study. One was a personal Christian delight in how these churches were meant to function ritually. The other was the detached aesthetic judgement required to see that most of George Gilbert Scott senior’s churches, and those by A W Pugin, were mediocre in their interior spatial effects and exterior profiles; the best-known names were not the best designers…As a High Church Anglican, Curl can empathise with Tractarian, Roman Catholic, and Nonconformist aspirations, reserving his rare flashes of malice for Evangelicals and Nikolaus Pevsner. With a confident, though never superior, scholarship, Curl traces the complex political and spiritual tensions of the century. Then, with Martin Charles’ seductive colour plates of interiors all caught in a golden haze, and with monochrome illustrations of virtually every church discussed at any length, the text takes an exhilarating ride through the three main stages of the Revival. These are first, Pugin and Scott’s mistaken historicism; then the muscular Gothic of architects such as Butterfield, Burges, Teulon, and Lamb; and lastly the architects working in an historicist, but developing Gothic: J L Pearson, Bodley, Garner, Giles Gilbert Scott, Sedding, and Comper. These last are Curl’s heroes. What is so admirable is Curl’s masterly jettisoning of the entire pedantic apparatus, … the modern excuse for loose, pretentious writing. All his wide learning is expressed precisely within the flow of his text, as it should be and could be in any integrated scholarly argument’. Timothy Mowl in The Architects’ Journal (17 October 2002) 44-5.

‘Here is an enjoyable and useful book... Curl’s knowledge could properly be called encyclopaedic, and his book is extremely good value for its price. The narrative is... efficient and concise; in particular, the introduction to the political history of the dissenting groups and their relationship with architecture is usefully put. The selection of churches discussed is truly representative: a real achievement given such an embarrassment of riches’. Timothy Brittain-Catlin in The Tablet (10 May 2003) 33

‘This book is, let it be said at once, a most useful addition to the literature on the churches of the Victorian age, well researched, generously illustrated, with an excellent bibliography, a glossary that is much more than an alphabetical list of architectural terms..., and a reliable index... Professor Curl’s Preface is a must. In wonderfully spirited fashion he lists the various problems when considering Victorian churches, the ‘distortion of truth’ by some architectural writers (and it is not difficult to know whom he means), our secular society, and the behaviour over the last forty years or so of the various denominations themselves... It is not the least remarkable aspect of Piety Proclaimed that it deals as very adequately as it does with so many themes over a period... The illustrations show how rich and varied is English Victorian ecclesiastical architecture, and Curl writes about it with enthusiasm... The true ultimate value of the book is to see the churches and chapels as an expression of the importance of religion in the nineteenth century and to consider the theological and liturgical contexts within which they were built. Curl shows how the Catholic principles of church architecture established by Pugin, the acute and painful controversies within the Church of England concerning especially the doctrine of the Real Presence, and the immense liturgical scholarship, Catholic as much as Anglican, all stimulated ritualism and the emergence of a vigorous Anglo-Catholicism out of the principles of the Oxford Movement. The churches of the late Victorian period are shown to be not so much a descent from High Victorian originality into mere medieval imitation... as a summation of, the architectural expression of, decades of religious, theological, and liturgiological scholarship.’ George McHardy in The Antiquaries Journal, lxxxiii (2003) 517-8

‘Professor Curl is a conservationist at heart, not just a chronicler of the period… He is fiercely critical of Pevsner’s bias against architects of the late Gothic Revival. He deplores his historical determinism and the “vast accretion of prejudice and misunderstanding”… Curl thunders from his pulpit in the tradition of the great Victorian preachers. He castigates modern critics for their… ignorance of ritual. He chastises the clergy for their lack of aesthetic awareness. But we hear him catch his breath when entranced by Bodley’s Holy Angels, Hoar Cross, and feel his pain at the “almost unbearably beautiful” St Mary, Studley Royal, by Burges. With its plentiful illustrations and its patient explanations of the liturgical context, this is the most comprehensive introduction to Victorian churches in print.’ Ian Dungavell in The Victorian: The Magazine of The Victorian Society xxi (March 2006) 25

On Death and Architecture: an Introduction to Funerary and Commemorative Buildings in the Western European Tradition, with some Consideration of their Settings

‘This standard text has been due for reissue for some time… In twelve chapters and 400 or so pages, Curl gives an account of the stylistic development of memorial architecture from the temples of ancient Egypt… to the cemeteries and monuments designed to accommodate, physically and spiritually, the twentieth century’s two world wars. In particular, he highlights the architectural changes, met with typical Victorian gusto, of combining economic and physical practicality, moral instruction, and tastes. The final chapters contain a fascinating survey of cremation and crematoria, a moving tribute to war cemeteries and memorials, and a selection of civic buildings to commemorate the dead… The extensive, up-to-date bibliography… fairly indicates the author’s zeal and expertise. Curl has established himself over the years, as the Pevsner of the boneyard. The book is packed with juxtapositions of the serene and the dramatic, surprising contrasts in scale and style, widely different ideas of decorum. There is abundance. There is vitality. The artistry of Italy distinguishes itself throughout… Curl’s book ends on a spectacular note with a painting of Harvey and Seddon’s Monumental Halls, a scheme designed to cope with Westminster Abbey’s shortage of space for eminent corpses. This Gothic dream, straight out of Gormenghast, towers over the Palace of Westminster, and had it been built it would have cast in its shadow the so-called corridors of power, subduing their self-important glow. Curl’s 350 illustrations do more than support his text; they are the stars of the show… Death and Architecture, so generously inclusive, is a sparkling anthology… but is not the only overview available. Howard Colvin’s Architecture and the After-Life (1991) tells the same story, except that Colvin is more selective in his treatment, concentrating on earlier tombs and monuments… Curl and Colvin give each other the briefest of passing references, but their books are complementary. Colvin has little time for the nineteenth century… yet this is where Curl’s more democratic study comes fully to life. Colvin and Curl, perhaps to their intense irritation, belong next to each other on the bookshelf…Curl insists on keeping the distinction between commemorative structures — which should simply “be” — and utilitarian “good works”, thus anticipating the intense debates that will no doubt take place in New York concerning the future of Ground Zero. All told, his book is a success: a lively casebook to accompany Sir Thomas Browne’s sepulchrudinous classic, Hydriotaphia (1658)'. Hal Jensen in The Times Literary Supplement 5196 (1 November 2002) 12

‘Professor Curl eloquently guides the reader on a grand tour of the history of death, pausing en route to pay homage to countless temples, mausolea, cemeteries and monumental tombs, each exemplifying the multifarious ways our forebears have chosen to celebrate the inevitable conclusion of life.’ Matthew Scanlan in Freemasonry Today 28 (Spring 2004) 56

‘Curl is a pioneering scholar in several fields of research, including the celebration of death in architectural terms. In Death and Architecture he explores the extraordinary legacy of funerary monuments from ancient civilisations to modern times, and covers a wide geographical area... The book reveals many hidden wonders and beauties throughout the world... It is... a handsome volume’. Ron Woollacott in FONC News, n.s. ii/78 (Dec.-Feb. 2002-3) 18

‘…fascinating and provocative… Curl’s argument is that Egyptian motifs were absorbed into Greek and then Graeco-Roman culture at least from the era of Alexander the Great, and can be traced almost continuously ever since; his vigorous and scholarly narrative is particularly valuable in uncovering unexpected fusions of ideas throughout history, and in challenging the conventional impression that the Egyptian revival somehow belongs to the 1800s and the 1920s alone. Many additions have been made to the earlier versions of this book: in particular, there are lengthy new sections on the fate of antique obelisks and on Hadrian’s Villa at Tivoli, as well as several interesting insertions on funerary architecture… There are more than a hundred new illustrations, including two colour sections, and the glossary has been greatly enhanced. Curl is especially enjoyable on the subject of the various revivals of early nineteenth-century England…’ Timothy Brittain-Catlin in The Architectural Review ccxix/1307 (January 2006) 79

‘The distinguished author of this book… (has)… an international reputation as an eminent architectural historian and author of scholarly works… For a detailed and well-researched history of the various manifestations of the Egyptian Revival and the cultural contexts in which Egyptianising forms in art and architecture have flourished, Professor Curl’s The Egyptian Revival must surely be a standard reference for years to come’ Andrew Cowser in Perspective: The Journal of The Royal Society of Ulster Architects xv/1 (January-February 2006) 88-9

‘The third, much expanded, edition of what has now become a classic. The lure of ancient Egypt has proved compelling for many European generations.’ Newsletter of The Ancient Monuments Society (Winter 2006) 36

‘It is hard to imagine a more stimulating or comprehensive work on this subject, which has been exercising Professor Curl’s attention since he published his first book on it nearly a quarter of a century ago. In this, the latest mammoth edition, it has grown to 572 pages and 259 plates, of which 40 are in colour. Every book Curl writes is distinguished by his rare and compelling combination of passion and scholarship. …With its illustrative glossary and full bibliography, Curl’s masterly book will be the definitive study for many years.’ Professor David Watkin in Apollo: The International Magazine of Art and Antiques clxiii/530 (April 2006) 71.

‘Curl has read everything relevant, and noted, every building, drawing, and detail that could conceivably be described as “Egyptian Revival”, including road bridges over the M1, lighthouse keepers’ cottages in Scotland, the trappings of an eighteenth-century royal funeral in Sweden, and a cinema on the Boulevard Magenta in Paris. Add to such a fascinatingly inclusive text 219 monochrome illustrations with forty more in colour, and it becomes safe to predict that this will be the definitive work on the subject.’ Timothy Mowl in The Times Literary Supplement 5375 (7 April 2006) 31

‘The third edition of this classic reference on the history of the Egyptian Revival… has been updated and expanded… This is… an invaluable source,… and… has almost doubled in content. The return of The Egyptian Revival is most welcome. For many readers it will be sufficiently comprehensive to serve as the definitive reference. For the more serious student, Prof. Curl’s authoritative book, with its lavish illustrations, copious footnotes, and careful indexing, provides clues and directions for more detailed studies… I can heartily recommend this third edition to anyone who is interested in learning about the Egyptian Revival.’ Cathie Bryan in Ancient Egypt: The History, People, and Culture of the Nile Valley vi/5 (April/May 2006) 62

‘This book has a distinguished lineage, being essentially the third edition of Professor Curl’s classic study, first published in 1982… Here the book not only makes a very welcome return into print, but has also been heavily revised and expanded from the ground up, as it were. This edition has the added advantage over previous ones of 40 colour plates, as well as the extraordinary number of illustrations (many from the author’s own collection) that present so many facets in varying media of ‘Egyptianising’ in the western world from Roman times to the modern day… The Egyptian Revival is an international phenomenon mostly crystallised in the last four centuries, and still with us today. To the intricacies of interpretation and influence in various western countries, architecture, painting, decorative arts, media, and thought there can be no better guide than Professor Curl’s in depth and perceptive study. It is good to see it once more available for it is a book that all art historians, connoisseurs, artists, Egyptologists, and students can turn to for information, education, and also simply for delight.’ Peter A Clayton in Minerva: The International Review of Ancient Art & Archaeology xvii/4 (July-August 2006) 58

‘There has recently been a resurgence of interest in the history of Egypt as an inspiration for the West ...This book – a fully updated third edition of a work first published in 1982–has some claim to have begun this trend, and to have been the inspiration for more recent publications dealing with “Egyptomania” in the classical world. The book is....well written and highly readable.’ Paul Nicholson in The Times Higher Education Supplement mdcclvii (25 August 2006) 26-7

‘If you want to know anything about the Egyptian Revival, then here is the place to start. This book is explicitly not a catalogue, but, with over 550 pages including 55 of glossary and 60 of bibliography, if anything has been left out, it cannot be very important.’ Ian Dungavell in The Victorian: The Magazine of the Victorian Society xxiii (November 2006) 24

‘The historical and geographical scope of Curl’s survey is impressive and the huge range of examples he employs is convincing... The Egyptian Revival is a fantastic source book. There is certainly no doubting the breadth of evidence collected by Professor Curl over the past four decades... Indeed, the considerably enlarged bibliography suggests that the original edition, published more than twenty years ago, was a stimulant to scholarly interest in the topic... In its updated version, this book will continue to be the first port of call for anyone interested in western responses to ancient Egypt.’ Kathryn Ferry in Newsletter 89 of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain (Autumn 2006) 19-20

‘Curl is among the most productive of architectural historians writing today....His book, a major study of synthesis, grew out of a visit in 1960 to Salzburg that took in an exhibition of Schinkel’s designs for The Magic Flute. One of the many impressive aspects is the author’s equal familiarity with continental and British sources.... Densely scholarly, with an extremely useful fifty-five-page glossary and a sixty-one-page bibliography, the book impresses with its depth of learning and deftness of connections. Equally, it stimulates with its dynamic and opinionated analyses of a vast range of tributes to the enduring lure of the Nilotic style.’ Roger Bowdler in The Antiquaries Journal being The Journal of The Society of Antiquaries of London lxxxvi (2006) 461-2

‘...a fascinating and thoroughly researched volume... Curl’s thesis is laid out in eleven chapters, each with several sub-sections, and illustrated with over 250 plates in colour and black and white, each with an extensive caption. The author is careful to point out that this is not a comprehensive catalogue, but there cannot be many examples that he has missed in this tour de force. ... Another fascinating revelation is the author’s convincing argument that in liturgy and beliefs the cult of the Egyptian goddess Isis was a real influence on the early Christian church — “the resemblances between Isis and the Virgin Mary are far too close and numerous to be accidental”. Curl’s study....is a revelation in text and illustration.’ Stephen Croad in Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society li (2007) 140-2

On A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture

‘Along with pithy technical definitions, the 6,000 entries here include succinct coverage of styles and periods. Curl’s aphoristic style is best employed in his micro-biographies. Frank Lloyd Wright’s writing is described as suffering from “rather obvious conceit, prolixity, and dense obfuscation”. Curl finds room for Mies’s Nazi links and Le Corbusier’s plan to replace central Paris with 18 skyscrapers. The brief entry on Frank Gehry describes a Seattle project as “one example of Blobismus too many” Christopher Hirst in The Independent Arts & Books Review (17 March 2006) 27

‘A formidably informative yet admirably user-friendly work,… this book will be a real boon for the architecture aficionado’. The Scotsman (18 March 2006) Critique 2

‘The best introduction to a broad understanding and appreciation of architecture is a good dictionary. James Stevens Curl’s is one of the best available… Curl has… produced a comprehensive work that will not quickly be superseded… We have here not merely a glossary of architectural terms and building types, but concise biographical entries, disquisitions on architectural movements and styles, and explanations of building techniques that cover every period of western architectural history. Curl’s dictionary includes over 6,000 entries, fully cross-referenced, and has over 250 fine illustrations drawn meticulously by the author himself…. An annual pleasure for those on his Christmas card list are Curl’s exquisite architectural fantasies that deserve to be collected in a book of their own… Then there are the biographical entries, and in them this dictionary excels… All the architects that one has generally heard of are there but there are innumerable others that lie in obscurity, including many still alive. Founded on formidable knowledge, judgment, and reading, Curl’s dictionary informs and delights… there is no better source of architectural reference available at the price’. Anthony Symondson, SJ, in The Catholic Herald (24 March 2006) 13

‘This book is a mine of information, and… one has the impression that, despite the phenomenal task involved, Professor Curl has had more than a few moments of fun compiling this volume. The scope of the dictionary is immense, covering every period of Western architectural development…, entries are both succinct and comprehensive, …and… one of the merits of the dictionary is the sheer convenience of finding, in précis form, a list of key works, dates, the correct spelling of names, and useful bibliographic references if further information is required. Norman Foster may not be the Michelangelo of his age, but his entry shows how an important living architect might be viewed from an historicist perspective… The impressive list of Foster’s built work ends with the Sage Music Centre in Gateshead, about which the author observes… ‘some have found disappointing in relation to its site’… It is just such… gentle taunts that keep the text alive and encourage the reader to explore further. This is a volume huge in scope, with over 6000 entries, and yet it is a manageable size and easy to handle. The book is well laid out with a clear typeface and simple graphics. All the illustrations in the book are line-drawings by the author, and contribute greatly to clarity and understanding. The dictionary is comprehensive, easy to use, and well priced. Here are definitions, précis of styles and movements, mini-biographies of the well known and not so well known, and a lifetime’s experience and enthusiasm brought to one volume. For once the publisher’s claim that the book is an invaluable work of reference for both students and the general reader does not sound like an exaggeration. Practitioners and academics too will undoubtedly have use of this volume… Curl has produced something hugely enjoyable, informative, and useful’ Andrew Cowser in Perspective: The Journal of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects xv/3 (May-June 2006) 106-7

‘In compiling his dictionary, the author has drawn widely and wisely on the lexicographies of the past, elucidating the phraseologies of early pattern books and manuals, and referring to recent specialist publications. He explains slackly used words carefully as well as introducing obscure terms with clarity and concision. Each word is defined on its own terms and does not presume a level of knowledge among readers. The dictionary is thus more than a compendium of facts and data. It is a lively, cross-referenced and succinct guide to architectural terminology, embracing a pleasing range of terms associated with building conservation and landscape architecture… As the author states, “terms are one thing, biographies another”. A significant number of entries is devoted to architects and architectural practices, past and present… It is refreshing to note the introduction of many lesser-known 20th century architects of genuine interest, and a number of exponents of the repair and conservation of historic buildings… Given the concise nature of this publication, the dictionary is astonishing in its scope. It is dense with important details, and at the same time fluent and accessible. It will be of invaluable assistance in writing reports, preparing publications, or as a quarry for brief biographies of the work of major architects and others. In itself it is a fascinating survey of architectural achievement.’ Jennifer M. Freeman in Context: Institute of Historic Building Conservation 94 (May 2006) 35-6

‘A great merit of this book is the quality of the illustrations. Anyone seeking a handy guide to bricks and brick bonds, explanations of the Classical Orders or Gothic period styles, or the component parts of an arch, will find admirably clear and economically executed diagrams... it will no doubt be used extensively by architects and architectural historians, and the constant reminders that the settings of buildings also have a history... can only be salutary.’ Brent Elliott in Garden History: The Journal of The Garden History Society 34/1 (Summer 2006) 151-2

‘This second edition fully revises and expands Curl’s A Dictionary of Architecture (1999), completely updating it in addition to merging landscape architecture into the coverage. Containing over 6,000 entries from Aalto to zystos (a cross-reference to xystus), this authoritative dictionary of architecture covers all periods of Western architectural history from ancient times to the present. Beautifully illustrated and written in a clear, concise style, it includes brief biographies of leading architects from Brunelleschi and Imhotep to Le Corbusier and Richard Rogers. New entries include definitions of landscape terms and biographies of modern architects. Each entry is followed by a mini-bibliography with suggestions for further reading. This work also contains over 50 new illustrations; more than 250 beautiful and meticulous line drawings, labelled cross-sections, and diagrams complement the text. These include precise drawings of typical building features, making it easy for readers to identify particular period styles. This invaluable reference, with clear descriptions providing in-depth analysis, will appeal to anyone with an interest in architecture, from students to professional architects to general readers. Summing Up: Essential. All levels.’ A. E. Bonnette, Lafayette (LA) Public Library, Choice xliv/3 (November 2006) 448 Review No 44-1258

‘This is a second edition of a much praised classic, that rare thing, an encyclopaedia with flair, accuracy, and authority but with a distinctive authorial voice.’ Ancient Monuments Society Newsletter (Autumn 2006 [03/2006]) 46

‘This is a fascinating architectural dictionary, not least for its clear, concise and snappy entries. It is a delight to read..., wonderfully entertaining. The architectural terms are...splendidly written and there are many ...topics covered with aplomb....Curl’s line-drawings are exquisite and illustrate the architectural terms precisely...This is an essential reference work and one to which I will turn to time and time again. That is the real test of a successful dictionary.’ Peter T. J. Rumley in Ars Quatuor Coronatorum cxviii for 2005 (London: Quatuor Coronati Lodge 2006) 246

‘This is incomparably the finest dictionary of architecture in existence... Professor Curl prefaces his great work with Dr Johnson’s claim that writers of dictionaries are “unhappy mortals” because, while “every other author may aspire to praise, the lexicographer can only hope to escape reproach”. It says much for Curl’s prose, as well as for his vast scholarship, that this book escapes reproach entirely and deserves the highest praise a reviewer can confer.’ David Watkin in The Georgian: The Magazine of The Georgian Group Issue 2 (2006) 30

‘Anyone seeking a single-volume dictionary of architecture which includes biographical entries has, in fact, only one choice and that is Curl. The first edition of James Stevens Curl’s A Dictionary of Architecture was published by the Oxford University Press in 1999 and was by far the best in the field, covering technical terms, styles, and building types as well as architects. The second edition, published last year, is even better. In fact it is a magnificent achievement – and never dull. Its strength is its broadness, for Curl is no modernist. Here, in biographical form, is a true history of the 20th century in all its stylistic diversity. So, in addition to the usual suspects like Le Corbusier, who are treated at length and very fairly, there are entries on such unorthodox but important figures as Bellot, Plečnik – who Curl rightly asserts “deserves to be ranked among the greatest architects of C20” – Piacentini, Tengbom, and Makovecz. Of course Curl (like Sam Johnson) is opinionated. That is part of the pleasure, so he writes of that Italian exponent of Novocento, Giovanni Muzio, that his association with Fascism “led to his interesting, even brilliant, architecture being ignored or denounced after 1945, but it has been reassessed by more open minds”. [Curl as] lexicographer is catholic and immensely knowledgeable... Once you have Curl’s Dictionary on your shelf, it rapidly becomes indispensable.’ Gavin Stamp in The Magazine of the Twentieth-Century Society (Autumn 2007) 21

On Victorian Architecture: Diversity & Invention

‘Professor Curl, an unquestioned authority as an architectural historian and in many fields an expert without equal, is deploying with the publication of this massive book a major weapon in the current realignment 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. First, the Pugin revolution underwrites the whole thing; for all the many architects and buildings discussed in detail here, this is really a book about what Pugin did. Secondly, and this is one of the book’s strongest features, the information is presented in a combination of the chronological with the associational: architects are often presented as members of a group with shared interests, values and preoccupations. That means, for example, that museums find themselves alongside churches because the common theme is not the building type but architects’ attitudes to new forms of construction. That’s an excellent innovation. Thirdly, you will discover many unfamiliar buildings, often signalling Curl’s expertise in varied fields: Northern Ireland; Kensington; churches; cemeteries. Finally, there are fabulous illustrations...[Curl’s] book is a monument: the kind of monument that a decent Victorian builder would have been proud of.’ Timothy Brittain-Catlin in The Tablet (8 December 2007) 26

‘This…is…a timely and welcome publication. Here is a comprehensive study and wide-ranging showcase for the British architecture of this period of rapid and unprecedented industrialisation, wealth creation, and urbanisation. There can be few better qualified architectural historians to compile a volume such as this. Curl—well-known within RSUA and wider architectural and academic circles—brings to the subject years of research and scholarship and has written numerous enjoyable and informative texts on aspects of Victorian design. Victorian Churches; Piety Proclaimed: An Introduction to Places of Worship in Victorian England; The Victorian Celebration of Death; and The Art and Architecture of Freemasonry (Sir Banister Fletcher Award for Best Book of the Year, 1992), to name just a few, all underpin the writing of this new 635-page book. It is clear that the publication represents a life’s work in examining the built legacy of the Victorians, born out of a fascination and love for it on the part of the author. Sharing it is an act of generosity. The wealth of photographic documentation presented, along with the lengthy bibliography, extensive notes, and detailed index make this a superlative work of reference. As for the text, it is authoritative, detailed, and impressively cross-referenced while achieving an enthusiastic tone which makes it accessible to the general reader as well as the student or professional. There is a strong presence of the thesis throughout: Victorian architecture is diverse—as in the subtitle—because it changed dynamically in response to the different needs of client or site; it constantly had to invent and re-invent itself in response to changes in society at large. Curl sees the Victorian designer responding to unprecedented challenges and opportunities with “colourful, rumbustiously eclectic architecture”. New building types, novel materials, and varied colour palettes were all explored. The book is well organised. Sensibly, the first few chapters set the scene with a summary of what preceded the Victorian age before discussing the rise of Gothic scholarship. The secular and religious contexts are also examined, as is the phenomenon of Victorian urbanisation….Pleasingly, considerable attention is given to reform and hygiene, the Victorians, after all, going further than any epoch since the Romans to solve the problems of urban hygiene. There is also separate analysis of the new materials and technological challenges of the age, particularly the development of iron and glass structures…. Curl’s strong knowledge of Ulster architecture means that the volume rightly includes many fine examples from these shores. So often studies of Victorian Britain neglect the Ulster dimension, either wilfully or from ignorance — especially of Belfast, so notably a city…whose appearance…is that of an industrialised bastion of the Victorian British Empire... So here, we at last see photographs and read descriptions of Victorian gems such as Lanyon’s Custom House, Palm House, and Queen’s University; W.J.Barre’s former Methodist Church, University Road and the Albert Memorial; and W.H. Lynn’s Sinclair Seamen’s Church, Richardson & Owdens warehouse, and former Belfast Bank, Newtownards, within rather than aside from the “bigger picture”. Victorian Architecture: Diversity & Invention is a remarkable contribution to architectural publishing and will provide a huge insight into the architecture of the period for those naturally interested and intrigued and for those whose education either skipped over it too lightly or even rejected it….The two-columned layout of text is clear and easy to read, and the large font size won’t make the reader squint….for sheer range of coverage and reference photographs it is hard to think of a more impressive survey.’ Paul Harron in Perspective: The Journal of the Royal Society of Ulster Architects xvii/1 (January-February 2008) 92-3

‘This book is in every way a weighty volume…, but it is 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….James Stevens Curl is one of the most distinguished and most consistently readable of architectural historians. He has a string of significant books to his credit, but few, if any, surpass this magisterial survey of Victorian architecture, civic, domestic, and ecclestiastic….Here he offers a representative selection of important buildings, judiciously chosen, which capture the age in vivid detail. He is surely overly modest when he describes his work as a “mere introduction”: it is much more than that. It is an indispensable guide, a definitive companion for anyone interested in the art and culture of the Victorian Age….In his bracing preface, Professor Curl writes with feeling about the devastation wrought to Victorian buildings in the twentieth century. The threat came less from Hitler’s bombs than from the ever more destructive urban planners who succeeded by their philistinism in eroding vast tracts of our Victorian architectural heritage. Victorian architecture and buildings suffered from a quasi-egalitarian backlash against the confident, imperial vision of the nineteenth century. The self-confidence, industrial assertiveness, and economic liberalism pre-eminent in the nineteenth century [were] offensive to the modernists who fashioned a revolution in aesthetics and fashion, a dislocation of sensibility, the consequences of which are still with us. In modernism, so perniciously persuasive in so many fields of artistic endeavour, there lay a deeply felt ideological objection to Victorian architecture and the values it was seen to enshrine and to proclaim. Thankfully, Professor Curl is no respecter of persons. He lambasts G.M. Trevelyan, the eminent historian and man of letters, establishment insider, as the quintessential voice of received opinion. Professor Curl’s preface, in its assured epigrammatic persuasive force, rescues Victorian architecture from ill-informed prejudice, misconceptions, gross ignorance, untutored perceptions, populist taste, and haut en bas philistinism: of all of which he is suitably scornful. He precisely identified the problem: “International Modernism was more like a religion…and woe betide those who did not conform to its rigidities or swallow its tenets.” The modernist architectural movement was Stalinist in its ideological grip, imposing a philosophical straitjacket, stifling opposition voices, dismissing those with the temerity to see value in Victorian architecture to an aesthetic Gulag. … The hallmarks of the modernist movement were its social engineering and its dehumanizing philosophy of the collective rather than of the organic community. Why are there so many social problems, so much social dislocation in mid-twentieth-century conurbations? Circumspicere….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, wonderfully reproduced in sharp and clear definition. The photographs, both historic and recent, many from Professor Curl’s own collection, lavishly complement the text. They form a constantly fascinating and instructive retrospective. There is a detailed critical apparatus to satisfy the scholarly reader, an exhaustive and detailed index, and a text accessible to all. The whole production is….[a]….triumph for ….the most meticulous and conscientious of architectural publishers…’ John Grainger in newdirections x/150 (November 2007) 27-8

‘This comprehensive work combining scholarship with imagination…is a liberal education in itself…Curl’s passion for the whole Victorian achievement shines throughout….[It is a] book which is far from mere stylistic history…everything is here from country houses to philanthropic housing, underground railways to pumping stations, and cemeteries to universities… Those of us who think we know our Victorian architecture will find unfamiliar but wonderful buildings on almost every page of this vast and magisterial work which it is hard to imagine ever being superseded.’ David Watkin in The Architectural Review ccxxiii/1333 (March 2008) 94

‘The rich textures of the built environment of the nineteenth century are gradually being re-evaluated and rescued. James Stevens Curl's huge survey of Victorian architecture will contribute to that process; 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. Prizing diversity and ingenuity, he offers a chronology of both religious and secular architecture that includes useful summaries of the pioneering work of many architects whose names have been as neglected as their buildings... He rehearses the permutations of the Gothic Revival in great detail, but also makes illuminating contrasts with lesser Classical, Romanesque, and Baroque Revivals, and with developments in structural engineering. The illustrations are copious...[The] scope of this book remains impressive...’ Thomas Marks in The Times Literary Supplement 5478 (28 March 2008) 32

‘Professor James Stevens Curl’s new volume on Victorian Architecture has found a happy spot on our bookshelves – lavishly illustrated, splendidly written, and magisterial in scope, it is a joyous testament to the notion that architectural historians never retire: they just become more practised in their art. The campaigner in Curl remains as strong as ever... He captures the excitement of the new materials and the brilliant way Victorian architects put them to use... At 636 pages this is a seriously hefty tome...which amply illustrates the diversity, creativity, and skill of Victorian architects, coloured with some wonderful personal insights....’ Newsletter of SAVE Britain's Heritage (December 2007) 13

'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) in The Magazine of The Friends of Kensal Green Cemetery xlix (July 2008) 16-18

‘The architecture of this splendid book—its structure, design, form, and articulation—is as illuminating as its content. The history is everything we would expect from its author, as he covers his period with a rigorous respect for the scholarship within which this history sits—Summerson, Pevsner and the like…. All is enlivened by pertinent and beefy illustrations with full references as to subject, source, date…. This rigorous framework is then varied just enough between and within chapters to ensure clarity and comprehension, so that even the most summary scan will bring the reader some beneficial enlightenment…. The book has the character of a uniquely serviceable reference… Indeed, this is a history book that, for all its substantial weight, is assertively accessible, a character deriving not a little from its reliance on all the good sense and media-savvy ingenuity that secured such high profiles for Pugin, Ruskin, and similar popularists of that age….We rely …on the enthusiasms of encyclopaedic specialists such as Professor Curl and other grand masters of British architectural history….to help understand, and defend, the true value and potential of our built heritage. This history is peppered with an awareness of how much we have lost, and could have lost…. Historically self-aware, logical, polemical, authoritative,…. it is necessarily a small summary of a very big age…. [Curl] makes the case brilliantly for Victorian architecture, and in many ways this most manageable of books….is a summation of how far the popular appreciation of Victorian architecture has progressed over a generation…[This] is… a splendid and engaging resource..., a unique meeting of diversity and accessibility, altogether a construct that should grace the bookshelves of anyone with an interest in architecture.’ Seán O’Reilly in Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain Newsletter xcv (Autumn 2008)11-12

‘What makes this book so valuable and, particularly where church architecture is concerned, so definitive, is the combination of superbly professional photography with a text that is as intelligently critical of A.W.N. Pugin and John Ruskin as it is of Nikolaus Pevsner. To be even-handed where those three notably prolix and self-assured writers are concerned marks James Stevens Curl down as a scholar who has read everything relevant, visited everything worth noting, but then has stood back and absorbed the period with a Christian sympathy for Victorian motivation that few architectural historians today can offer. It is unlikely that a wiser judgement on building in Victoria’s reign will ever be written’. Tim Mowl in Apollo: The International Magazine for Collectors clxviii/558 (October 2008) 122-3