ART OF CLASSICAL DETAILS: Theory, Design and Craftsmanship

John Ruskin once said 'When we build, let us think that we build forever', and this book is a superb gallery of the timeless beauty of classicism. There are essays from writers and scholars such as Creating the Private Arcadia by Jeremy Musson, Music and Architecture by David Watkin and On Mathematics and Symmetry by Robert Chitham. Also the language of classical architecture and classical ornament. From the architects are essays including Swimming Against the Tide, Tradition and Invention, the Arabesque in Classical Architecture and Design, Development and the Analytique. From the craftsmen and artisans is The Importance of Joinery in the Classical Home, Metalwork: The Jewellery on a House, The Centrepiece of a Room, Decorative Painting and Gilding: Classical Origins and Exotic Influences, The Permanence of Stone, Ornamental Plasterwork and The Beauty of Handmade Bricks. By then we have reached page 129 and The Projects themselves including Robert Adams A New Country House, Henbury Hall, A Park Avenue Apartment, A Classical Pool Pavilion by Curtis & Windham Architects, Farmlands, Hollywood Regency, A Cotswold Manor House, A Georgian Country House, A Regency Villa, A Georgian Manor, A Colonial House, A Greek Revival Country House, A Neo-Classical Penthouse and one of John Simpson's earliest commissions, Ashfold House in Sussex whose inspiration can easily be found in the work of Sir John Soane. There are four distinct façades on a symmetrical Palladian square plan with a triumphal arch entrance, a glazed bow window and stucco with stencilled classical decoration reflecting that of Soane's own house at Lincoln's Inn Fields, London. With each there are details and scale, and composite order, the name of the architects and the location, together with quotes, hundreds of colour images of the 25 classically-inspired homes in the US and Great Britain. 256 large pages, 24.3 x 24cm. Sheer luxury, we can ask ourselves time and again ?Who lives in a house like this?? and dream on.
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