Overview

""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 ""

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9780393318579

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Reviews

Essays, studies in architecture, not from the point of view of the technical processes, but the philosophical thought, the social impulses behind architectural developments. Many of Summerson's theories will provide controversy in his profession. His attitude in relation to the Po??pellan and classical design as basic influence in Gothic; his attitudes on fundamental values as a ground for restoration and preservation of antiquities; his characterisation of the ghastly wilderness of the last decade; his assault on various groups of ideas rather generally accepted-all of these issues will stir the placid waters. He has chosen in other essays leading lights of architecture, - Alberti, Colonna, Wren, John Wood, J.M. Gandy, Viollet-le-Duo, William Butterfield-and viewed them through anything but orthodox lenses. And he ends with Le Corbusier, and his witty, subli??-nonsensical approach to architecture . (Kirkus Reviews)

Author Information

The late SirJohn Summerson taught at Oxford and Cambridge. Kent Bloomer teaches at Yale University.

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