The Great Public Buildings of London: Historical and Descriptive Accounts of Each Edifice, with Illustrations

This two-volume work which was first published in 1825-8 presents London’s most important buildings at a time of rapid urban transformation. Aiming to project a vision of London as a dynamic city of integrated courtly and commercial power, the 70 entries span a historical range from the medieval (Westminster Hall) to the early nineteenth century (Soane’s Museum) and a diversity of building types from palaces and churches to banks, theatres, prisons and bridges. Edited by John Britton, a leading topographical authority of the period, and Auguste Charles Pugin, an Anglo-French architectural draughtsman, the volumes contain 146 engravings of the selected buildings, correctly scaled from different perspectives and including interior scenes as well as external plans. This was a landmark publication in its time and remains a vivid portrait of the London’s built environment immediately before the advent of the railway.

This new edition includes an extended introduction by Stephen Daniels, Professor Emeritus of Cultural Geography, University of Nottingham.