This title takes a fresh look at a familiar building type - the town house in 18th century London - and investigates the circumstances in which individuals made decisions about living in London, and particularly about their West End house.
For every great country house of the Georgian period, there was usually also a town house. Chatsworth, for example, the home of the Devonshires, has officially been recognised as one of the country's favourite national treasures - but most of its visitors know little of Devonshire House, which the family once owned in the capital. In part, this is because town houses were often leased, rather than being passed down through generations as country estates were. But, most crucially, many London town houses, including Devonshire House, no longer exist, having been demolished in the early twentieth century. This book seeks to place centre-stage the hugely important yet hitherto overlooked town houses of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, exploring the prime position they once occupied in the lives of families and the nation as a whole. It explores the owners, how they furnished and used these properties, and how their houses were judged by the various types of visitor who gained access.
Continuing her exploration of English interiors, Ros Byam Shaw visits 14 distinctive townhouses full of charm, character and style. In Perfect English Townhouse, Ros Byam Shaw examines the timeless English style of decoration in a variety of Georgian, Victorian, and contemporary townhouses. Architecturally, these tall, narrow properties present challenges. How do you make the best of a basement kitchen with a low ceiling and little light? Or allocate space effectively when you live across five floors? And how do you maximize any outdoor space? Perfect English Townhouse features case studies of such homes, not only in London but also in the provincial towns and cities of England. Some feel like little corners of countryside surrounded by sidewalks, others have a more sophisticated urban allure; some are endearingly quirky, others more classical. All the interiors featured are interesting, inspiring, and reflect the personalities of the people who live in them. These are the kinds of spaces that most of us are familiar with, and that many of us occupy. What is unusual is how cleverly and creatively these examples have been decorated and designed, in the Perfect English style.
First published as London: The Art of Georgian Building, this book has been widely acclaimed as a classic study of London's town houses built between 1700 and 1821 - the greatest period of British architecture. Dan Cruickshank's text, combined with numerous photographs and Peter Wyld's superbly executed measured drawings of facades and details, is a unique record of these buildings. Now, this book has been re-issued at £14.99.
Imagine some obscure bar. Imagine light bulbs going back and forth above tables filled with empty glasses. Imagine men with perfect haircuts begging beautiful women for a long, sensuous dance, and end up with Room Eleven. Or, with as much ease, imagine that final holiday night in which seductive glances have their last shot and a lonely mosquito gets lost in the blazing campfire. The list of atmospheric sketches one can come up with is endless, but as long as they sway back and forth between melancholic, summery, seductive and fiery, they are accurate. So, imagine Room Eleven, a band that came into existence because of a simple note pinned on a notice board at the Conservatorium in Utrecht. With their 2006 debut album Six White Russians And A Pink Pussycat, they have managed to impress an increasingly bigger audience with a catchy mixture of jazz, pop, funk, blues and a touch of folk. Whether a strict jazz lover or a young pop fan, in the end you will be won over by the their incredible stage presence. Not only music fans have come to appreciate the band, Room Eleven has also managed to convince the press. Their debut album has received much critical acclaim. One magazine poetically described Janne Schra's voice as 'a juicy green meadow, just after sunset, covered in fresh dew.' As one radio DJ put it: 'She seduces you, moves you and makes you happy, all in one sentence.'
In 1806, the Marquess and Marchioness of Stafford opened a gallery at Cleveland House, London, to display their internationally-renowned collection of Old Master paintings to the public. A ticket to the gallery's Wednesday afternoon openings was a sought-after prize, granting access to the collection and the house's dazzling interior in the company of artists, celebrities, and Britain's elite. This book explores the gallery's interior through the lens of its abundant material culture, including paintings in gilded frames, furniture, silver oil lamps, flower arrangements, and the numerous printed catalogues and guidebooks that made the gallery visible to those who might never cross its threshold. Through detailed analysis of these objects and a wide range of other visual, material, textual and archival sources, the book presents the gallery at Cleveland House as a methodological case study on how the display of art in the 19th century was shaped by notions about public and private space, domesticity, and the role art galleries played in the formation of national culture. In doing so, the book also explains how and why magnificent private galleries and the artworks and objects they contained gripped the public imagination during a critical period of political and cultural transformation during and after the Napoleonic Wars. Combining historical, cultural and material analysis, the book will make essential reading for researchers in British art in the Regency period, museum studies, collecting studies, social history, and the histories of interior decoration and design in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Three stories set in three of Dublin's best-known Georgian Terraces. 1. CHRISTMAS 2013 - Herbert Place: A lovingly restored townhouse - on the street where Elizabeth Bowen and Edward Carson lived - becomes a testing burden for a young family after the financial crash. 2. GEORGE WASHINGTON'S BED - Upper Pembroke Street: A moment of crisis - and an eighteenth-century bed - bring together an unlikely group in one of Dublin's most familiar Georgian streets. 3. GRACE KELLY'S DRESS - Merrion Square: A famous dress, a spectacular dinner party, and a dining room of family legend and of family tragedy - on the grand Georgian square which Oscar Wilde, W.B. Yeats, Sheridan LeFanu, and Daniel O'Connell once called home. "A stylish production, and undoubtedly stylish tales." - Books Ireland Magazine
In the eighteenth century, it would not have been impossible to encounter an elephant or a kangaroo making its way down the Strand, heading towards the menagerie of Mr. Pidcock at the Exeter Change. Pidcock's was just one of a number of commercial menagerists who plied their trade in London in this period the predecessors to the zoological societies of the Victorian era. As the British Empire expanded and seaborne trade flooded into London's ports, the menagerists gained access to animals from the most far-flung corners of the globe, and these strange creatures became the objects of fascination and wonder. Many aristocratic families sought to create their own private menageries with which to entertain their guests, while for the less well-heeled, touring exhibitions of exotic creatures both alive and dead satisfied their curiosity for the animal world. While many exotic creatures were treasured as a form of spectacle, others fared less well turtles went into soups and civet cats were sought after for ingredients for perfume. In this entertaining and enlightening book, Plumb introduces the many tales of exotic animals in London.
From prize-winning historical novelist Louise Allen, this book presents nine walks through both the London Jane Austen knew and the London of her novels! Follow in Jane's footsteps to her publisher's doorstep and the Prince Regent's vanished palace, see where she stayed when she was correcting proofs of Sense and Sensibility and accompany her on a shopping expedition – and afterwards to the theatre. In modern London the walker can still visit the church where Lydia Bennett married Wickham, stroll with Elinor Dashwood in Kensington Palace Gardens or imagine they follow Jane's naval officer brothers as they stride down Whitehall to the Admiralty. From well-known landmarks to hidden corners, these walks reveal a lost London that can still come alive in vivid detail for the curious visitor, who will discover eighteenth-century chop houses, elegant squares, sinister prisons, bustling city streets and exclusive gentlemen's clubs amongst innumerable other Austen-esque delights.