Description
Book SynopsisThe idea of a "Greater London" emerged in the 18th century with the expansion of the city's suburbs. In this book, the author traces this growth back to the 17th century, when domestic retreats were established in outlying areas. It shows London as the forerunner of the complex, multifaceted modern cities of today.
Trade Review"Elizabeth McKellar is one of the most perceptive and sensible of architectural historians, and she understands London like few others. Her new book
Landscapes of London will be important because we now know so much architectural innovation stemmed from cities and the mercantile classes that lived in them."—Simon Thurley,
BBC History Magazine -- Simon Thurley * BBC History Magazine *
Book of the Year, TLS * TLS *
‘That rare thing, a scholarly volume of interest to the non-specialist. Tracing suburbia since the 17th century, McKellar shows historic London as the forerunner of today’s culturally and architecturally complex, multi-faceted cities; she made me look at the layers of the city I thought I knew with fresh eyes.’—Jackie Wullschlager,
The Financial Times -- Jackie Wullschlager * Financial Times *
"This book, a major contribution to cultural history, establishes that a suburban culture existed in London's rural-urban interface much earlier than the early-19th-century time period posited by conventional scholarship. McKellar employs a variety of sources, including guidebooks, art, music, and literature, to document the culture of the inhabitants of the suburban landscape that emerged in this zone in the 17th century."—E.H. Teague,
CHOICE -- E.H. Teague * CHOICE *
Winner of the 2017 Elisabeth MacDougall Book Award by the Society of Architecture Historians. -- Elisabeth Blair MacDougall Book Award * Society of Architectural Historians *
