A revised and updated edition of Sir John Summerson's classic book. Derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture in antiquity, the classical style has long dominated the history of western architecture from the Renaissance to the present. Sir John Summerson’s timeless text, as relevant today as it was when first published, distils the visual language of architecture into its core classical elements, and illustrates that building throughout the ages express an awareness of the ‘grammar’ of style and its rules even if they vary, break or poetically contradict them. From the original edifices of Greece and Rome to the recapitulations and innovations of the Renaissance; the explosive rhetoric of the Baroque to the grave statements of Neo-classicism; and finally, the exuberant eclecticism of the Victorians and Edwardians to the 'stripped Neo-classicism' of some of the moderns; Summerson explains how every period has employed classical language to make their statement. With a new introduction by academic and architectural historian Alan Powers, this introduction continues to be one of the defining texts on the subject and is essential reading for all students of architecture.

The author's purpose is to set out as simply and vividly as possible the exact grammatical workings of an architectural language. Classical architecture is a visual "language" and like any other language has its own grammatical rules. Classical buildings as widely spaced in time as a Roman temple, an Italian Renaissance palace and a Regency house all show an awareness of these rules even if they vary them, break them or poetically contradict them. Sir Christopher Wren described them as the "Latin" of architecture and the analogy is almost exact. There is the difference, however, that whereas the learning of Latin is a slow and difficult business, the language of classical architecture is relatively simple. It is still, to a great extent, the mode of expression of our urban surroundings, since classical architecture was the common language of the western world till comparatively recent times. Anybody to whom architecture makes a strong appeal has probably already discovered something of its grammar for himself. In this book, the author's purpose is to set out as simply and vividly as possible the exact grammatical workings of this architectural language. He is less concerned with its development in Greece and Rome than with its expansion and use in the centuries since the Renaissance. He explains the vigorous discipline of "the orders" and the scope of "rustication"; the dramatic deviations of the Baroque and, in the last chapter, the relationship between the classical tradition and the "modern" architecture of today. The book is intended for anybody who cares for architecture but more specifically for students beginning a course in the history of architecture, to whom a guide to the classical rules will be an essential companion.

Brilliantly written essays on the aesthetic principles and enduring motives of architecture.

A classic of architectural history and theory, Heavenly Mansions interprets architecture as a reflection of the age in which it flowers, and traces the alternating themes of fantasy and functionalism as exemplified in various styles and in the works of a number of influential men, including Wren, Viollet-le-Duc, William Butterfield, and Le Corbusier. Succinctly summarizing 800 years of viewpoints about architecture, it ranges from Gothic architecture to the Renaissance to the influence of modern abstract art on twentieth-century architecture.

• "Each essay is a voyage of discovery. What is so interesting and what makes Mr. Summerson the architectural critic of his generation . . . is [an] aversion to dogma. . . . It is supremely well worth reading."—Spectator

Inigo Jones, the first English classical architect, was famous in his own time and was the posthumous sponsor of the Palladian movement of the eighteenth century. This authoritative and elegantly written book, first published in 1966, reassessed Jones's life and career, cleared away the myths of attribution that surround his work, and reassigned to him projects that had disappeared from his oeuvre. Summerson's classic text is enhanced by a new foreword and notes by Howard Colvin, updated bibliography, and improved illustrations.