"'Thirst for information, faith in commerce and industry, inventiveness and technical daring, energy and tenacity, and a tendency to mix up religion with visible success - all these qualities have to be remembered as one embarks on a conducted tour of some of the exhibits of 1851.'"

The Great Exhibition of 1851 at the Crystal Palace was opened by Queen Victoria and would attract more than six million visitors. Writing one hundred years later, Nikolaus Pevsner makes a brilliant survey of what the Exhibition - 'the final flourish of a century of great commercial expansion' - offered to posterity as the hallmarks of High Victorian Design; also as windows into the mentality of mid-nineteenth-century England.

Exeter Cathedral is but the crowning glory of Devon's wealth of medieval churches, replete with sumptuous fittings and monuments. The county's peak of prosperity from the late Middle Ages to the seventeenth-century is reflected too in its castles, its secluded manor houses, and its scores of sturdily built farmhouses. The delights of Devon's well loved seaside and country towns are explored from the distinctive merchants' houses of Totnes and Topsham to the elegant Regency crescents of Teignmouth and Sidmouth. The picture is completed by accounts of the creation of the docks at Plymouth, industrial relics, and the substantial but little known store of Devon's Victorian churches.

Rich in new discoveries and fresh interpretation, this fully revised survey is the perfect companion and guide to one of England's most beguiling counties. A profusion of black-and-white timber-framed houses testifies to the prosperity of earlier centuries, as do the many and varied parish churches. Highlights among these include the extraordinary Norman carvings at Kilpeck, the exquisitely spare Cistercian architecture of Abbey Dore, the seductive Georgian Gothick of Shobdon, and Lethaby's Arts and Crafts masterpiece at Brockhampton. The city of Hereford is freshly presented in detail, from its splendid medieval cathedral to the architectural adventures of the Georgians and Victorians. Country houses are plentiful and diverse, including much that is well in step with national fashions. The characteristic landscape of hills and woods lends a special pleasure to architectural exploration, while market towns such as Ledbury, Leominster, and Ross-on-Wye can match any in England for visual and architectural appeal.

The latest revised volume in the Pevsner Architectural Guides, covering Birmingham and the towns and settlements of the Black Country This fully revised account of the buildings of the City of Birmingham, its suburbs and outskirts, and the adjacent Black Country explores an area rich in Victorian and Edwardian architecture. Even the small towns of the Black Country supported local architects with their own distinctive styles, such as C. W. D. Joynson in Darlaston and A. T. Butler in Cradley Heath. Much West Midlands industry was organized in small to medium-sized firms, resulting in a rich and diverse streetscape and canalscape. The Arts and Crafts tradition also established deep roots in the area, resulting in masterpieces such as Lethaby's Eagle Insurance in Birmingham and Wolverhampton's Wightwick Manor, as well as a host of fine villas and churches. Older buildings of national significance include the grand Jacobean mansion of Aston Hall, Thomas Archer's Birmingham Cathedral, and such unexpected delights as the neoclassical barn in Solihull by Sir John Soane. Featuring new color photography and numerous maps and text illustrations, this volume will transform understanding and enjoyment of the architecture of this key English region.

Providing unrivalled coverage of the area, this volume offers a fully revised and updated guide to the North Riding of Yorkshire. From the fells on the Westmorland border, through the unspoilt wild beauty of Swaledale and Wensleydale to the highest cliffs in the country, the area represents some of the finest landscaping and impressive castle architecture in the north of England. Towns explored include Richmond with its large cobbled marketplace and the beautiful fishing town of Whitby presided over by the Gothic silhouette of its iconic abbey. Architectural styles range from the remains of unusually complete and beautiful monastic establishments, including the Cistercians at Rievaulx, to the stone and stucco marine terraces and villas of the Victorian seaside resort of Scarborough. Covering structures as diverse as Vanbrugh's Castle Howard, early Garden City housing by the Rowntrees at New Earswick and the Middlesbrough transporter bridge, this volume is an essential reference for visitors and residents alike.

This is the essential companion to the architecture of Cambridgeshire, fully revised for the first time in sixty years and featuring superb new photography. Half of the book is devoted to the famous university city, with its astonishingly rich and varied inheritance of college buildings including striking post-war additions. A combination of boldness and innovation may be found at Ely Cathedral, one of the greatest achievements of English medieval design. By comparison, the rest of the county remains surprisingly little known. Its largely unspoiled landscapes vary from the northern flat fen country to the rolling chalk uplands of the south and east; its architecture encompasses rewarding village churches, distinctive vernacular building in timber, stone, and brick, the former monastic sites at Denny and Anglesey, and the magnificent aristocratic seat of Wimpole Hall.

This completely new edition reveals a county of contrasts. The semi-rural suburbia of outer-Outer London, with its important early Modern Movement houses, is counterbalanced by magnificent mansions and parks, like idyllic Stowe and the Rothschilds' extravaganza at Waddesdon. The Saxon Church at Wing, the exquisite seventeenth-century Winslow Hall, and Slough's twentieth-century factories all contribute to Buckinghamshire's rich inheritance. In this new edition, the unspoilt centres of small towns, like Amersham and Buckingham, are revisited and Milton Keynes, Britain's last and most ambitious New Town, is explained and explored. The rich diversity of rural buildings, built of stone, brick, timber, and even earth, is investigated with scholarship and discrimination. This accessible and comprehensive guide is prefaced by an illuminating introduction and has many excellent illustrations, plans and maps.

From small timber-framed houses to sprawling manors, this comprehensive guide to west Suffolk presents an impressive range of buildings from across the centuries. At its center lies the town of Bury St. Edmunds, site of one of Norman England's most powerful abbeys, whose monolithic gates remain as a local landmark. Other towns boast impressive architecture as well, including Newmarket, where the racetrack and other unique structures support its role as a historic and international center for horse breeding and racing. Also attesting to the remarkable variation of west Suffolk's buildings are a number of impressively grand residences, such as the fine Elizabethan manors of Long Melford, Majarajah Duleep Singh's palace at Elveden, and the extraordinary circular mansion of Ickworth.

This second volume on Norfolk provides a comprehensive survey from prehistoric times to the present day. The 17th- and 18th-century treasures of King's Lynn are explored, as well as the market towns of Swaffham and Wymondham. Castle remains and medieval churches are also explored.

Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East and its companion, Norfolk 2: North-West and South, aim to provide a lively and uniquely comprehensive survey of the architectural treasures of Norfolk. Extensively revised and expanded, these new editions of Sir Nikolaus Pevsner's original volumes bring together the latest research on a county which has some of the most attractive buildings in England. The gazetteer is enhanced by an introduction which provides a perceptive overview of the region's architectural inheritance, and is illustrated by numerous text figures, maps and 130 photographs (many specially commissioned). Pre-eminent in this volume is the city of Norwich, rich in major buildings of outstanding quality, from Norman cathedral and castle to twentieth-century city hall and university. Supreme among the ports described in this volume is the medieval walled town of Great Yarmouth, whose highly individual history and buildings are here examined in detail for the first time. There are also full descriptions of many appealing market towns, whilst the rest of the county is revealed through succinct accounts of its parish churches and less well-known buildings. Abbey ruins, brick eighteenth-century farmhouses and estate cottages in quiet inland villages contrast with coastal fishing settlements and resorts. Great barns testify to the significance of agriculture. Country houses range from the magnificent Jacobean Blickling Hall to seaside extravaganzas by Lutyens. Detailed indexes make this not only an essential reference book, but also a guide book for anyone interested in the rich region of Norfolk.

The indispensable guide to the architectural heritage of Wiltshire With hundreds of buildings added to the new gazetteer, this volume offers a fully revised and updated guide to Wiltshire. From prehistoric Stonehenge and thirteenth-century Salisbury Cathedral, to Elizabethan Longleat, Palladian Wilton and landscaped gardens of Stourhead, the buildings of Wiltshire represent the best of every period of English architecture. Towns range from Marlborough with its sweeping High Street to Bradford-on-Avon, rich in the architectural legacy of clothiers' houses. Villages include the exceptional Lacock in the shadow of its abbey's remains as well as Avebury, where the houses sit within the famous stone circle. This volume, covering structures as diverse as garden follies and railway workers' housing is an essential reference for visitors and residents alike.

The county's remarkable and richly varied military architecutre, from Hadrian's Wall to Warkworth, contrasts with monastic ruins buried deep in the valleys of the Coquet and the Aln or standing proudly by the sea at Holy Island and Tynemouth. Newcastle upon Tyne has the most elegant nineteenth-century city centre in England. Elsewhere the distinctive smaller towns include Alnwick, dominated by its castle, Hexham with its priory, brick-built Morpeth, and Berwick-upon-Tweed, ringed with exceptional sixteenth-century fortifications. Great country houses range from Vanbrugh's theatrical Seaton Delaval to Sir Charles Monck's austere Belsay and Norman Shaw's romantic Cragside. Monuments of a great industrial past, as well as a wealth of smaller buildings, such as bastle houses (peelhouses or stronghouses unique to the Border country), are all vividly described in this revised guide to Northumberland's architectural pleasures.

This volume on London architecture covers the boroughs of Barnet, Camden, Enfield, Hackney, Haringey and Islington. It gives a view of London's expansion northward from formal Georgian squares, to the hill towns of Hampstead and Highgate.

Covering the northern half of Yorkshire, this volume is full of contrasts, from urbanized Leeds to the tight-knit mill towns and villages pushing into the Pennines.

Winchester, with its Cathedral, Castle, College and churches is unrivalled for medieval architecture, and the surrounding countryside is rich in historic villages and an abundance of country houses. This volume of "The Buildings of England" also includes monuments of unique national and international significance: Jane Austen's house at Chawton; the spectacular French Imperial mausoleum at Farnborough Abbey; and Stanley Spencer's moving series of war paintings for the chapel at Burghclere.

A comprehensive guide to County Durham, one of Northern England's most fascinating and architecturally diverse counties This volume surveys one of northern England's most varied and rewarding counties. County Durham, flanked by the rivers Tyne and Tees, boasts Durham Cathedral, England's most impressive Norman church, located unforgettably alongside Durham Castle on the cliff tops above the River Wear. Exceptionally rich in Anglo-Saxon churches and sculpture, County Durham features the legacy of the brilliant culture of the age of Bede. Many of Durham's extraordinary castles remain inhabited, with palatial interiors from the Georgian and Victorian periods. In addition to fine gentry houses and stone-built market towns, the county also reveals the legacy of historic industries, including early railway buildings, collieries and lead mines. During the 20th century, a new generation of innovative buildings for culture and education at Gateshead and Sunderland emerged. Specially commissioned photography and maps complement an exceptional guide to this architecturally rich northern English county.

This authoritative survey of east Suffolk includes some of England's most beautiful landscapes, including "Constable Country," the land surrounding the River Stour that was home to John Constable. East Suffolk's rural landscape includes a variety of intriguing medieval buildings: brick and timber-framed houses, stunning churches, and the grand castles of Orford and Framlingham. Additionally, Suffolk's coast is home to a number of charming resorts, as well as the Viking ship burial site at Sutton Hoo. This volume also includes the town of Ipswich, where medieval buildings are situated alongside Norman Foster's offices for Willis Faber, one of the major works of 20th-century British architecture.

Fully revised, updated, and expanded, this book offers a fresh and comprehensive account of the buildings of Dorset, one of England's best-loved and most beautiful counties. With its wonderful variety of building stones, Dorset offers visual pleasures which few English counties can match. Its country houses are exceptionally rich and varied, from medieval Woodsford and Athelhampton to the late Victorian splendors of Norman Shaw's Bryanston. Highlights among the churches include the former abbeys of Sherborne, Wimborne, and Milton. Towns include the mid-Georgian showpiece of Blandford Forum, the seaside resort of Weymouth, and ports large and small, from busy Poole to charming Lyme Regis. Featuring all new color photography, this volume is the ideal guide to one of the most architecturally rewarding regions in England.

The buildings of East London reflect a chequered history of economic change, social need, urban renewal, and conservation. Along the Thames relics of a powerful industrial and maritime past at Wapping, Limehouse and the Isle of Dogs remain among the glossy new offices and smart riverside flats of the former Docklands. In the fast-changing historic East End, where the City edges ever closer, Hawksmoor's monumental Baroque churches still tower over their surroundings, while Georgian houses of prosperous silkweavers are juxtaposed with philanthropic institutions which catered for the Victorian poor of Spitalfields, Whitechapel and Bethnal Green. The contribution of successive generations of immigrants is reflected in the variety of places of worship and cultural centres, from chapels to synagogues and mosques, while a century of social housing has produced innovative planning and architecture, now itself of historic interest. Further out, in London-over-the-border, medieval churches and merchants' country mansions lie embedded among the suburban streets of Walthamstow and Woodford, and proud civic buildings of the busy towns of Barking, Stratford, Ilford and Romford. Essex, and traditional rural buildings among the marshes and farmland of the Essex countryside. This volume covers the boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Havering, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and Waltham Forest. For each area there is a detailed gazetteer and historical overview. Numerous maps and plans, over one hundred specially-taken photographs and full indexes make this volume invaluable as both reference work and guide. London 5: East is the fifth in the six-volume London series of The Buildings of England. Already published: London 1: the City of London, London 2: South, London 3: North West, London 4: North and London 6: Westminster. Also available in paperback: London: The City Churches.

This volume, a companion to Hampshire: Winchester and the North, covers the county's southern half, from the woodland and heath of the New Forest to the cities along the Solent, and from remote Saxon churches to Modernist seaside villas. The original text has been fully revised to include new research and 130 specially commissioned color photographs. The guide explores major ecclesiastical monuments at Romsey, the Bishop of Winchester's palace at Bishops Waltham, and the remains of the great post-Dissolution houses at Beaulieu and Titchfield. At Southampton is one of England's best preserved medieval town walls, while at Portsmouth the structures of the 18th- and 19th-century Royal Navy dockyard are among the most important of their kind. Amid all this beauty are traces of conflict, from the Roman fort at Portchester, to the coastal castles of Henry VIII's rule, to the relics of the Normandy invasions of 1944.

This essential guide opens up the treasures of London's most alluring quarter. At its core are Westminster Abbey, Parliament, and the palatial Government buildings of Whitehall, together with the great band of Royal Parks stretching westward toward Kensington. It also includes London's West End (Covent Garden, Soho, Mayfair, and St. James's) and the less well-known Belgravia and Pimlico. For each area there is a detailed gazetteer and brief introduction. A general introduction provides a historical and artistic overview. Numerous maps and plans, over 100 new color photographs, full indexes, and an illustrated glossary help to make this book invaluable as both reference work and guide. This is the fifth of six Pevsner Architectural Guides volumes on London available in cloth.

Originally published in 1940, this book charts the origins and evolution of academies of art from the sixteenth century to the first half of the twentieth century. Pevsner expertly explains the political, religious and mercantile forces affecting the education of artists in various countries in Western Europe, and the growing 'academisation' of artistic training that he saw is his own day. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in the various historical schools of art instruction and the history of art more generally.

The East Sussex volume of The Buildings of England covers an area ranging from the High Weald in the north of the county to the massive ridge of the South Downs and the resort towns and ancient ports of the coast. Its coastal resorts are particularly distinguished, none more so than Brighton and Hove, where John Nash's oriental Pavilion for the Prince Regent sets the tone. Elsewhere castles at Camber, Bodiam and fortified town walls at Rye and Winchelsea attest to its military past and Battle Abbey to its medieval endowments. The towns and villages are especially rich in timber-framed, brick and tile houses for which the county is famous. The twentieth century makes its mark in the exhilarating De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill, and the uncompromising forms of the 1960s University of Sussex campus.

A comprehensive architectural guide encompassing three centuries of metropolitan growth spanning an area from Georgian St Marylebone and the riverside terraces of Chelsea and Chiswick to Heathrow Airport and the outer fringes of Middlesex.