Exploring building history
THE GATEHOUSE THAT OUTLIVED THE HOUSE: Cothelstone Gatehouse, Somerset
There is a particular kind of building that survives not because anyone meant it to, but because it happened to be standing in the wrong place when everything around it fell down. Cothelstone Gatehouse, tucked at the foot of the Quantock Hills near Taunton, is one of…
THE VENETIAN WINDOW: Architecture’s Most Enduring Motif
Featured Image: Serliana or Venetian Window at Croome, Worcestershire Few architectural forms have proved so durable, so geographically wide-ranging, or so consistently associated with intellectual aspiration and refined taste as the Venetian window. Composed of a…
THE BEAUTY OF HOLINESS ON THE SOMERSET LEVELS: The Early-17th C Painted Ceiling in the Church of Sts Peter & Paul, Muchelney Somerset
The parish church of St Peter & St Paul at Muchelney in the Somerset levels lies adjacent to the remains of Muchelney Abbey. Whilst there was an earlier church, the one standing today is mainly a late 15th-century[i] construction of Blue Lias and Ham Hill stone….
PATTERN, PRINCIPLE & PLACE: William Morris & Co Wallpapers & Wall Hangings at Wightwick Manor
Introduction There are houses that preserve a moment, and then there are houses that embody one. Wightwick Manor, the Victorian house near Wolverhampton now in the care of the National Trust, belongs firmly to the second category. Built in two phases between 1887 and…
SAGRADA FAMILIA: The Passion Facade – Stone, Suffering & Sacred Art
If you visit Barcelona and only see one building, it will almost certainly be the Basilica de la Sagrada Familia.[1] Rising improbably from the Eixample grid, its spires seem to belong to a world between cathedral and coral reef. But for all its fantastical beauty,…
CHISWICK HOUSE: A Palladian Manifesto in Stone
Few buildings in England can claim to have fundamentally altered the course of the nation’s architectural history. Chiswick House, the compact neo-Palladian villa in west London designed and built by Richard Boyle, 3rd Earl of Burlington, between 1726 and 1729, is one…
Exploring Building History
Exploring Building History is a non-commercial site. It is my own personal musings on architectural history. There is wealth of built heritage in England, and as I explore and think about what I see, I post my reflections on this site.