Overview

'A brilliant, offbeat celebration of the great hodgepodge of British buildings Thomas Marks, Sunday Telegraph From soaring Victorian railway stations to Edwardian terraces, from Perpendicular churches to Strawberry Hill, Britain has an architecture unrivalled in fertility, invention and heart-stopping beauty. And with some very strong feelings about window sills, Harry Mount could not be better qualified to survey it. Meandering through garden suburbs and cathedral closes, discovering Moghul palaces in Gloucestershire and Egyptian sphinxes in Islington, A Lust for Window Sills is rich with anecdote, allusion and such inspired digressions as where to find the ugliest gargoyles and a liquid history of watering holes from gin palaces to the Rovers Return.

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9780349121062

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Reviews

** 'Marvellous ... this book is going to do for architectural history what Lynne Truss's EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES did for punctuation ... Erudite, playful, witty and inspiring, it is destined to transform the way we look at old buildings ... Barely a sentence passes without some fascinating and often incredibly useful titbit revealing itself ... You'll wonder how you lived without it LITERARY REVIEW ** 'brilliant, offbeat celebration ... Harry Mount offers an uncluttered survey of British architectural history and clear, memorable explanations. It is packed with intelligent tips ... Mounts is an irreverent entertaining guide - Thomas Marks, DAILY ** 'I have been endeavouring to console myself with Harry Mount's rather brilliant book A LUST FOR WINDOW SILLS, reckoning that an ability to distinguish my Doric from my Ionic might distract from my festering pile. It is damn fine stuff' Hannah Betts, INDEPENDENT ** 'Mr Mount has produced an engaging text, amusingly written with a rich leaven of anecdote. There is too, a wealth of literary quotation and references to film and television, all refreshing departures in an introductory book on architecture. For all Mr John Goodhall, COUNTRY Life ** 'It's a stroll, a jaunt, possibly a meander, taking the reader through all the architectural periods, around most building types and down numerous strange-smelling alleys. In his previous book, AMO, AMAS, AMAT, Harry Mount succeeded in introducing Lati

** 'Marvellous ... this book is going to do for architectural history what Lynne Truss's EATS, SHOOTS AND LEAVES did for punctuation ... Erudite, playful, witty and inspiring, it is destined to transform the way we look at old buildings ... Barely a sentence passes without some fascinating and often incredibly useful titbit revealing itself ... You'll wonder how you lived without it' LITERARY REVIEW ** 'brilliant, offbeat celebration ... Harry Mount offers an uncluttered survey of British architectural history and clear, memorable explanations. It is packed with intelligent tips ... Mounts is an irreverent entertaining guide - Thomas Marks, DAILY TELEGRAPH ** 'I have been endeavouring to console myself with Harry Mount's rather brilliant book A LUST FOR WINDOW SILLS, reckoning that an ability to distinguish my Doric from my Ionic might distract from my festering pile. It is damn fine stuff' Hannah Betts, INDEPENDENT ** 'Mr Mount has produced an engaging text, amusingly written with a rich leaven of anecdote. There is too, a wealth of literary quotation and references to film and television, all refreshing departures in an introductory book on architecture. For all Mr Mount's lightness of touch, this is a book that also delivers information: facts, dates, and technical terms. On every page, curious details and intriguing facts abound. If you ever toyed with finding out about architecture or have simply never got round to following your embryonic interest up - this could be the book you have been waiting for. Your conversion to architectural enthusiasm may be at hand' - John Goodhall, COUNTRY LIFE ** 'It's a stroll, a jaunt, possibly a meander, taking the reader through all the architectural periods, around most building types and down numerous strange-smelling alleys. In his previous book, AMO, AMAS, AMAT, Harry Mount succeeded in introducing Latin to an audience that had not known that it was equal to the classics. Here he does the same for architecture. Clearly he is passionate about it; the enthusiasm rubs off' Clive Aslet, SUNDAY TELEGRAPH ** 'Harry Mount's new book, A LUST FOR WINDOW SILLS is a charming Betjemanesque ramble through Britain's architectural gems, large and small' EVENING STANDARD ** 'A bright-and-breezy guide to British architecture. It is well informed and impressively referenced' - Stephen McClarence, THE TIMES ** 'Charming and witty and full of diverting stories, some of them rare gems' - Rowan Moore,EVENING STANDARD ** 'The writing style is affectionate and the whole thing bounces along, complete with dating tips so the reader can start to identify styles' INDEPENDENT

Author Information

Born in 1971, Harry Mount has degrees in Ancient & Modern History from Oxford and Architectural History from the Courtauld Institute. He is a writer and journalist who regularly writes for a range of national newspapers including the Telegraph, Daily Mail and Guardian.

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