Edwin Lutyens. Country Houses (Country Life) [Hardcover]

Gavin Stamp (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 22, 2001

Presenting a stunning collection of the architectural designs of Edward Lutyens throughout the many phases of his acclaimed career, this beautifully presented study includes examples of his Surrey-vernacular style, early arts-and-crafts houses, and his carefully composed classical houses.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A monograph that is the finest type of book one might imagine."
—The  Huffington Post --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Gavin Stamp, born in Bromley four years after Lutyens’s death, is an architectural historian and writer. He taught at the Mackintosh School of Architecture, Glasgow School of Art from 1990 until 2003 and is now an independent scholar. He was one of the organizers of the Lutyens Exhibition held at the Hayward Gallery in 1981–82, and served as Chairman of the Twentieth Century Society, where he is now a trustee. Among other writings, his books include The Changing Metropolis: Earliest Photographs of London 1839–1879, The English House 1860–1914, Alexander ‘Greek’ Thomson, and Telephone Boxes. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Aurum Press (May 22, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1854107631
• ISBN-13: 978-1854107633
• Product Dimensions: 12 x 9.8 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #874,916 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE GREAT LUTYENS, November 11, 2006

By 

Shannon Deason (Houston) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Edwin Lutyens. Country Houses (Country Life) (Hardcover)

Lutyens excelled in the creation of great country homes. He designed in the best English tradition and his estates on the exterior often looked like they had been there for decades or a century or more. Of course he is most famous for his Vicroy's House in New Delhi and his work with Baker on the master plan for imperial Delhi of the British Raj. Lutyen's was a British treasure, one of the great traditional English architects. This book has enlightening text and wonderful images, it really shows off his work in its best light. Highly recommended indeed.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Big Talent, Big Book, Big Dreams, April 24, 2011

By 

James Ellsworth (Caldwell, TX) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Edwin Lutyens: Country Houses (Hardcover)

Also Big Houses! Those looking for country cottages might get a detail or ten from Lutyens but his architecture is wholely in the service of large commissions and persons of taste with big budgets. Gavin Stamp, aided by the photographers working for England's 'Country Life Magazine', have put together a breathtaking book. Stamp's prose is well crafted, his content informative about the period and about Luytens' major country houses. Some of them are little-known in America but Heathcote (gardens by his collaborator Gertrude Jekyll), Castle Drogo and Folly Farm are better known here. Deanery Garden is a wonderful showplace that Luytens designed for Edward Hudson, the founder of 'Country Life.' In all, twenty-two of Luytens' projects are given special attention in this volume. All photography seems to have been done 'back in the day' when the houses were recently completed and the landscaping well-established. Both furnished interior and exterior images are presented in crisply clear black and white photos, each of which is of a generous size. The Monacelli Press (Random House) offers a superb production in this printing.

The book provides a record of the work of a major turn-of-the-nineteenth century architect whose work built on the ideas of Norman Shaw and Phillip Webb, proponents of a return to vernacular 'Home County' elements in built forms. Luytens' designs for exterior elevations are considered to be both referential to traditional forms and creative and fresh. He was not wedded to a particular 'look'; rather he was interested in volumes and presence in his structures. In keeping with the spirit of the times, he also planned to fit the built form to its landscape.

Had this book included plan views showing how spaces worked together or had each project been presented more completely in photographs of the exteriors, I would have given the book 5 stars. Of course, 'Country Life' would not have intruded so comprehensively on the privacy of the residents of these mansions and Stamp has had to be content to work within the limitations of his sources.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dreamy, October 26, 2011

By 

Architecture buff (Blue State) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Edwin Lutyens: Country Houses (Hardcover)

There are many books on Lutyens and I have several of them. For pure visuals I turn to this one (earlier edition). Beautiful production, which I believe is one of the Aurum Press numbers from England relabeled here by a US publisher. Buy it for the pictures, and buy the three volume set for the works.