Georgian architecture in the British Isles, 1714-1830 /

This ambitious revised edition (1st ed., Georgian Architecture, 1993) offers a wide-ranging view of its subject. Going beyond the period's familiar classicism, Curl (Univ. of Ulster, Northern Ireland), a well-known writer on British and Irish architecture, emphasizes the continuity of stylistic practice and the varied nature of 18th-century taste. He considers "rule book" Palladianism along with Greek and Egyptian revivals, and the influence of Baroque masters like Vanbrugh and Hawksmoor, while underscoring the persistent importance of Gothic as the national style. The expected attention to country houses and public buildings is supplemented with welcome discussions of factories, bridges, planned towns, and even cemeteries, along with well-judged observations on the political implications of style (Whig classicism versus Tory associations with "Absolutist and Papist Baroque"). The book is loaded with useful insights. Curl has a good eye for detail and for explaining the salient elements of a given building. Included are over 400 excellent illustrations, many in color. Endnotes are unhelpfully keyed to the extensive bibliography. The absence of a glossary, in a book filled with technical terms and aimed at a generalist audience, is astonishing. Yet the fluid writing, despite an often chatty style and some repetitiveness, makes for a very readable book. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-division undergraduates and above; general readers. W. S. Rodner Tidewater Community College