House

Book excerpt: This richly illustrated and valuable resource reaches back five centuries to document the evolution and ingenuity of house design in the British Isles. The architecture of Britain's houses displays a dizzying variety of styles and details. Brimming with 600 full-colour photographs, House annotates hundreds of examples from every conceivable angle: from gables and pediments to chimneys and roofs; from bow windows and casements to fanlights and door furniture. Armed with a career's worth of experience and research, Philippa Lewis takes readers up and down the country to feature examples of typically British building, including cottages, manor houses, castles, bungalows, and flats. She also looks at houses built from a wide variety of materials, including stone, glass, wood, brick, and even corrugated iron, in different settings such as rural, suburban, seaside, and urban. Lively texts help identify specific details and place them in their historical context, as well as offering compelling examples of how innovative conversions of structures such as watermills, gatehouses, and churches reflect and sustain their environment. Readers interested in architectural history and design, and anyone looking to understand the nooks and crannies of their own home, will find this unique guide the most eye-opening and comprehensive of its kind. AUTHOR: Philippa Lewis is the author of Everything You Can Do in the Garden without Actually Gardening and co-author of A Dictionary of Ornament. She lives in Somerset, England. 650 colour images REDUCED FROM $70.00