Anthony Salvin: Pioneer of Gothic Revival Architecture

One of the most important architects practising in Britain during the years 1820-1880, Anthony Salvin had a long and successful career as a builder of country houses and churches and as a restorer of some of the most important castles in England, including Windsor Castle and the Tower of London. In the first book-length study of this important architect, Dr Allibone has incorporated previously unpublished material concerning Salvin’s life and buildings, including contemporary letters, building accounts, diaries, and reproductions of Salvin’s architectural drawings, in order to shed new light on artistic, political, economic and religious developments in nineteenth-century England. Concerned through his career with finding authentic medieval examples for new buildings in the Gothic style, Salvin led the way to return to the ‘real’ Gothic architecture that cumulated later in the nineteenth century with the works of men like Alfred Waterhouse, William Burges and George Edmund Street. Knowledge of his career will further an appreciation of the works of these later, more widely studied architects. Including 181 illustrations as well as a comprehensive catalogue listing all the known data for 366 of Salvin’s projected and executed works, this study should find a large audience among those interested in the history of architecture and in Victorian England in general.