San Antonio College Library

When Londoners celebrated the Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, the city the royal carriage rode through did not look like the capital of the largest empire in the world. London was still the "foggy, dark, complex and huge city which so impressed and frightened Frenchmen", in the words of British architect Gavin Stamp. Its medieval street plan and unassuming town houses contrasted sharply with Paris or Berlin. In less than fifteen years, however,...

In 1986 fire destroyed one wing of the royal palace of Hampton Court. The programme shows how modern architecture and engineering techniques, coupled with individual craftsmanship have been used to restore it to its former glory. The work has also provided an invaluable opportunity for archaeologists to discover more about 18th century building techniques and materials.

"In this revelatory study of one of the great architects in British history, Vaughan Hart considers Christopher Wren's (1632-1723) interest in Eastern antiquity and Ottoman architecture, an interest that would animate much of his theory and practice. As the early modern understanding of antiquity broadened to include new discoveries at Palmyra and Persepolis, Wren disputed common assumptions about the European origins of Classical and Gothic architecture,...