Heavenly Mansions and Other Essays on Architecture

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W. W. Norton & Company, 1998 - Architecture - 253 pages
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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Contents

ANTITHESES OF THE QUATTROCENTO
29
THE MIND OF WREN
51
JOHN WOOD AND THE ENGLISH TOWNPLANNING TRADITION
87
THE VISION OF J M GANDY III
111
VIOLLETLEDUC AND THE RATIONAL POINT OF VIEW
135
WILLIAM BUTTERFIELD OR THE GLORY OF UGLINESS
159
ARCHITECTURE PAINTING AND LE CORBUSIER
177
THE MISCHIEVOUS ANALOGY
195
THE PAST IN THE FUTURE
219
THE PLATES IXLIX following
242
INDEX 243
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About the author (1998)

The late SirJohn Summerson taught at Oxford and Cambridge.

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