How We Built Britain

by David Dimbleby (Author)

• Used

  Paperback
  2008

  $4.20

  How did we get from the fortified tower to the grand open mansion and back again to the gated communities of today? How did we lose the marketplace to the out-of-town shopping mall? When did the appearance of libraries and prisons become so important? What does the way we arrange our city centres say about us? Can architecture really make a difference to our quality of life? In this beautifully illustrated book, David Dimbleby tells the dramatic and heroic story of Britain's architecture - the extraordinary buildings that define a nation and which grew out of the experiences and beliefs of the British people. This fascinating account of a thousand years of change in Britain's buildings tackles these questions and many more, and is filled with specially commissioned photographs and historic art.

• Used

  Hardcover
  2007

  $3.25

  This is the story of Britain told through its buildings and the people who built them. Join David Dimbleby on his colourful chronological journey through the nation's architectural landscape: to towering fortresses, timber-framed barns, magnificent palaces, railway viaducts, music halls, suburban homes and tower blocks. He climbs to the top of the light-flooded Ely Cathedral, a looming vision of Norman conquest and domination; he explores Harvington Hall in Worcestershire, riddled with hidden passages to conceal Catholic priests; he delves into Manchester's network of sewers, constructed to flush away the polluted waters of disease; and he takes a quizzical look at the Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh, the symbol of devolution.Tying in with the hit BBC1 series and generously illustrated with specially commissioned colour photography and over 100 historic images, this book reveals how these structures originated in the experiences and beliefs of the British people, and how they hold the key to who we are.