Victorian architecture

Abstract

"Victorian Architecture presents a new and refreshing overview of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century architecture in Britain and the wider British world. Thematically structured, it highlights concerns fundamental to how Victorians experienced their world, including urbanism, industry, government, faith, empire, modernity, social order, family, collecting, and consumerism. A key feature of the book is the way it situates British architecture in its extended global geographies, with the Victorian built environment seen as encompassing Britain's colonial expansion. As people and ideas were increasingly mobile during this period, themes such as speed and movement are brought to the fore. British architects were designing buildings not just in the British Isles, but much farther afield, in lands as far apart as Barbados and Bombay, Newfoundland and New South Wales"-- Provided by publisher.

Contents

Introduction : the world of Victorian architecture -- Steam and speed : industry, infrastructure, and the city -- Material abundance : energy and the new building ecology -- The quest for modernity : theory and style -- Building the state : architectures of power and pride -- New Jerusalems : fabricating faith in the Victorian world -- Correction, reform, discipline : shaping institutional architectures -- A world on show : exhibitions, museums, and cultures of display -- Habits and mores : domesticity and the Victorian house.