Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 Reading Architectural History Architectural history is more than just the study of buildings. Architecture of the past and present remains an essential emblem of a distinctive social system and set of cultural values and as a result it has been the subject of study of a variety of disciplines. But what is archi- tectural history and how should we read it? Reading Architectural History examines the historiographic and socio/cultural implications of the mapping of architectural history with particular reference to eighteenth- and nine- teenth-century Britain. Discursive essays consider a range of writings from biographical and social histories to visual surveys and guidebooks to examine the narrative structures of his- tories of architecture and their impact on our perception and understanding of the architecture of the past. Alongside this, each chapter cites canonical histories juxtaposed with a range of social and cultural theorists, to reveal that these writings are richer than we have perhaps recognised and that architectural production in this period can be interrogated in the same way as that from the more recent past – and can be read in a variety of ways. The essays and texts combine to form an essential discussion of methods and critical approaches to architectural history, and more generally provide examples of the kind of evi- dence used in the formation of architectural histories, while also offering a thematic introduction to architecture in Britain and its social and cultural meaning. Dana Arnold is Professor of Architectural History and Director of the Centre for Studies in Architecture and Urbanism at the University of Southampton. Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 Reading Architectural History Dana Arnold Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 London and New York First published 2002 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2004. © 2002 Dana Arnold All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-203-16447-4 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-203-25861-4 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0–415–25049–8 (hbk) ISBN 0–415–25050–1 (pbk) Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 For my mother Jose who has always encouraged me to think for myself Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 Contents List of figures ix Acknowledgements xi Extract acknowledgements xiii Introduction xv 1 Reading the past: what is architectural history? 1 E H Carr: What is history? 14 Hayden White: The fictions of factual representation 24 2The authority of the author: biography and the reconstruction of the canon 35 Sir Howard Colvin: Biographical Dictionary 51 Michel Foucault: What is an author? 71 3 On classical ground: histories of style 83 Sir John Summerson: Architecture in Britain, 1530–1830 109 Nicos Hadjinicolaou: Art history and class struggle 122 4 A class performance: social histories of architecture 127 Mark Girouard: Life in the English country house 143 E H Gombrich: In search of cultural history 164 5 The illusion of inclusion: the guidebook and historic architecture 173 Sir Nikolaus Pevsner: The buildings of England 189 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 Roland Barthes: The Blue Guide 195 6 Reading architectural herstories: the discourses of gender 199 Denise Scott Brown: Sexism and the star system in architecture 205 Alice T Friedman: Planning and representation in the early modern country house 211 Bibliography 219 Index 225 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 Figures 1.1 The Banqueting House, Whitehall, London by Inigo Jones, c. 1622 3 1.2 Eastbury, Dorset by Sir John Vanbrugh, illustrated in Vitruvius Britannicus 4 1.3 Chiswick House, London by Lord Burlington, c. 1725 5 1.4 Foots Cray Place, Kent. Engraving by William Woollet, 1760 10 1.5 Detail of map showing Bloomsbury and Soho, 1812 11 1.6 Soho Square. Anonymous nineteenth-century engraving 12 2.1 ‘Masquerade and Operas “Taste” or Burlington Gate’. Engraving by William Hogarth, 1723 36 2.2 Osterley House, Middlesex remodelled by Robert Adam 1761 onwards, detail of portico 38 2.3 Osterley House, Middlesex remodelled by Robert Adam 1761 onwards, detail of ‘Adamesque’ plaster work in entrance hall 39 2.4 Osterley House, Middlesex remodelled by Robert Adam 1761 onwards, detail of ‘Adamesque’ ceiling decoration 39 2.5 The British Museum, London, main entrance by Sir Robert Smirke, 1823 40 2.6 Holkham Hall, Norfolk 41 2.7 Hardwick Hall, Derbyshire 45 2.8 Wollaton Hall, Nottinghamshire 45 2.9 Longleat, Wiltshire 46 3.1 Houghton Hall, Norfolk, entrance façade, begun 1722 85 3.2 Gothick folly, Stowe, Buckinghamshire by James Gibbs 88 3.3 The House of Confucius in Kew Gardens, 1773 89 3.4 Essai sur l’Architecture, Marc-Antoine Laugier 90 3.5 The orders of architecture by Giacomo Leoni in his edition of I Quattro Libri Dell’Architettura, 1715 93 3.6 Erechtheon, Acropolis, Athens 94 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 3.7 Pantheon, Rome in I Quattro Libri Dell’Architettura, 1570 96 3.8 Villa Trissino at Meledo in I Quattro Libri Dell’Architettura, 1570 97 3.9 Chatsworth, Derbyshire, south front in Vitruvius Britannicus, 1715 97 3.10 House of Sir Charles Hotham, Yorkshire in Vitruvius Britannicus, 1717 98 3.11 Burlington House, Piccadilly in Vitruvius Britannicus, 1722 100 3.12 Grimsthorpe, Lincolnshire by Sir John Vanbrugh, 1722–1726 101 3.13 View of Grosvenor Square. Engraving by Nicholls, 1747 103 3.14 Diagrammatic representation of an eighteenth-century town house 104 3.15 Diagram showing proportional system of an eighteenth-century town house 105 3.16 Plans of Wanstead III and four derivatives 112 x Figures 3.17 Anglo-Palladian villa prototypes 114 4.1 Lady Kildare, later Duchess of Leinster 131 4.2 Chinese room at Carton, Co. Kildare 132 4.3 Hamels Dairy, Hertfordshire by Sir John Soane, 1781–1783 133 4.4 Grand Assembly Room, York a perspective view of the interior. Engraving by William Lindley, 1759 135 4.5 An Egyptian Hall in I Quattro Libri Dell’Architettura, 1570 136 4.6 Ground plan of the Assembly Rooms, York137 4.7 Ground plans of Kedlestone Hall, Derbyshire 138 4.8 Map showing area around Burlington House and Devonshire House by Jean Rocque, 1737–1746 139 4.9 Ragley Hall, Warwickshire, the ground floor 145 4.10 The axis of honour in the formal house 150 5.1 Plan and views of Chiswick House and gardens by Jean Rocque, 1736 174 5.2 Londesborough, Yorkshire in Nouvel Théâtre de la Grande Bretagne, 1715 175 5.3 Stourhead, Wiltshire in Vitruvius Britannicus, 1725 176 5.4 Ground plan of Eastbury in Vitruvius Britannicus, 1717 177 5.5 ‘Two English Towns 1441 and 1841’ 178 5.6 St John’s College, Cambridge by Thomas Rickman, 1821–1827 180 5.7 Haddon Hall, Derbyshire 181 5.8 Kirby Hall, Northamptonshire 182 5.9 Visitors admiring Wanstead, Essex. Eighteenth-century engraving 186 5.10 View of Whitehall by William Marlow, late eighteenth century 187 Downloaded by [Central Uni Library Bucharest] at 06:16 27 September 2013 Acknowledgements The process of constructing a discourse around the discipline of architectural history has been complex and rewarding. The purpose of this book is to place the architectural history of Britain c. 1600–1840 centre stage to reveal its pivotal role for any exploration of the social and cultural map of both the past and the present. This aim is founded on the belief that if we treat architecture as a text with a range of readings we can learn ever-expanding amounts about a given point in time, and about ourselves. The writing of this book has been a huge undertaking. Looking back it seems more daunting than when I began and there are many to thank for their help and encouragement. My colleagues in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Southampton have been unfailingly supportive and helpful of this project. I am also particularly grateful to Professor Andrew Ballantyne and Professor Adrian Rifkin who talked through some of my ideas with me and commented on the draft of my text. Any omissions and oversights are my own. Collaborative work and interdisciplinarity are important aspects of present-day academic research. To this end I have included a selection of texts to provide a variety readings of the architecture and its histories of the period under review together with writings on social and cultural theory. The collation of these texts and the securing of copyright permission has been a major undertaking in its own right and I would like to thank Mark Westgarth for his invaluable assistance and for the preparation of the index.