GAVIN Stamp is an angry man, and in the introduction to this book he gives his reasons.
As a member of the Victorian Society, he is dedicated to preserving and promoting buildings and structures from the Victorian and Edwardian ages. It has been a struggle.
And before this society came into existence, many such buildings were lost.
According to this book, there were a variety of culprits ranging from unscrupulous building contractors, to heartless town planners and university dons to whom the past was anathema. But, with the drive and persistence of such men as Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, John Betjeman and Hugh Casson, such barbarity was, for the most part, ended.
This is an important book. It tells a story of the loss of so much grace and beauty in the English architectural landscape.
It should be on the desk of every architect and every town planner. It is well written, full of passion and illustrations of all the lost buildings.
Stamp has every right to be angry.
Read this book. Get angry too.
David McLoughlin
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