The mother art is architecture. Without an architecture of our own we have no soul of our own civilization. Frank Lloyd Wright

The Book of Home Restoration
John McGowan & Roger DuBern
Ebury Press 1st 1985

The Book of Home Restoration is a practical DIY book - but with an important difference. Instead of describing yet more short cuts, more time-saving gadgets and more short-term solutions to problems, this book shows you step-by-step how to do jobs around the house and garden properly, as they used to be done - in time-honoured fashion and with materials that will ensure high quality, long-lasting results.
All the techniques described are those needed to maintain older houses, gardens and possessions. Mending leaded-light, stained-glass windows; veneering; re-upholstery; marbling and rag-rolling; repairing wooden furniture; hanging satin wallpapers; repairing thatched roofs; making tromps I'oeiI panels; dry stone walling; hedging; topiary; all this and much more is described and explained, using the methods and skills of our grandparents, passed down through the centuries and now known to fewer and fewer tradesmen. Specialist tools are carefully illustrated and described, and original recipes are provided so that you can make your own polishes, stains, glues, putties and plaster.
The Book of Home Restoration is not just for those who hanker after the higher standard of workmanship in the past - its practical, down-to-earth approach provides all the knowledge and expertise you need to achieve those standards yourself. Concentrating on tasks and jobs around the home and garden that remain relevant to the modern householder. The Book of Home Restoration will enable you to use the old skills before they are forgotten, and to enjoy a genuine sense of pride and craftsmanship in your work.

4to, minor indents to the boards and dustwrapper, otherwise the book is in VG++ condition in a VG++ wrapper. 1030 gms £6.50

Grand Designs
Kevin McCloud
Channel 4 1st 1999

During the 1990s, architects and designers have increasingly encouraged us to change our houses to reflect the way we live and what better way to accommodate your demands than by designing and building your own home. Kevin McCloud's Grand Designs shows you how to transform these architectural fantasies into solid reality.
Once you have made the decision to go ahead, how do you find a site and then choose the sort of house you want to build? To do this you should decide on a style of building that is suitable to the site and evaluate the different materials available. Can you buy an off-the-shelf home or will you need an architect? How can you design the house so it is eco-friendly?
With these decisions made you are ready to start putting your plan into action. Are there any tasks you can undertake yourself or will you require professional help? Grand Designs guides you through the management of your project to the finished building. Finally, Kevin McCloud looks at the finishing touches to the interior and exterior that make the building into your dream home.
First-hand accounts from the eight teams of people featured in the television series illustrate the benefits — and problems — of building your home. Varying in price, style and complexity, each of these new homes is built to complement the lifestyles of its inhabitants as well as the surrounding environment. They include an oak-framed barn in Oxfordshire, a kit house on the south coast, a converted chapel in Cornwall, a co-operative self-build project in Brighton and a house built partially of straw bales in Islington, London.
Illustrated throughout with photographs and drawings, Grand Designs is an inspiration for anyone considering building their own home.

4to. Bumps to bottom corners of boards, small tear to the bottom front corner of the dustwrapper plus very, very minor wrinkling to the edges, otherwise the book is in VG++ condition in a VG++ wrapper. 1020 gms £12.50

An Illustrated History of Interior Decoration
Mario Praz
Thames & Hudson 1st 1964

With a masterly blend of erudition, insight and wit Mario Praz, noted scholar, art critic and author, has written a lively and informative history of interior decoration from Roman times onwards. Not only is this a book of reference and up-to-date knowledge on the styles of furnishing and decorating, it is also a sophisticated work about the oddities and domestic environment of the human race, an historical-sociological study of man in relation to his furnishings. The author believes that a man's home is a physical extension of himself, a retreat and an indication of his personality and life.
Unlike other publications on furniture and decoration this scholarly work allows us to penetrate intimately the homes of the past. Its authority is based not only on the vast knowledge of the author, but also upon the particular kind of material chosen for illustration. Praz has not used period rooms photographed as they exist today, altered and emptied of the life which once filled them, but he has illustrated his book with 401 paintings, drawings and prints, by artists from Pompeii to Art Nouveau who have faithfully recorded the studies and salons, boudoirs and banqueting halls, kitchens and baths of their contemporaries.
Some of these illustrations of interiors are famous works of art, such as the paintings of Vermeer and Hogarth, or the engravings of Durer. Many, however, are lesser known, charming and precise watercolours or oil paintings of interiors, which families commissioned from artists in order to record: their homes and the life within these homes. No other book has ever recreated so clearly and warmly the homes of earlier epochs with such a wealth of authentic material, and no other book will prove such a valuable reference work for all who are interested in period styles of furnishing and the art of decoration generally.

Large 4to. Very minor wear to the boards, very minor wear to dustwrapper, otherwise the book is in VG+ condition in a VG+ wrapper. Over 2kgs £125.00

European Architecture
Frank Hoar
Evans Bros 1st 1967

The author, who lectures at London University, traces the development of architecture in Europe from the beginning of Greek civilisation to the present day.
This is a highly comprehensive work which includes detailed sections on Byzantine, Roman and Gothic architecture. The effect of the Renaissance on Italian architecture and building in the rest of Europe is carefully examined and finally the author explains the latest architectural trends and suggests possible styles that may be used in the future.

Of Dr. Hoar's earlier book, An Introduction to English Architecture, 'The Times' said, 'Dr. Hoar writes as effortlessly as he draws'.

4to. Cloth covered boards with silver titling to spine, minor creasing and very slight wear to the dustwrapper, otherwise the book is in Fine condition in a VG++ wrapper. 1080 gms £12.00

Victorian Gothic House Style
Linda Osband
David & Charles 1st 2000

Victorian Gothic style, inspired by medieval ecclesiastical buildings in northern Europe, was pioneered in the 1840s and 1850s by those who yearned to return to the purity of design and skilled craftsmanship prevalent in the Middle Ages. Unlike the frivolous style of eighteenth-century Gothick, the Victorian Gothic movement combined architecture with Christian principles and, in the writings of its two most influential protagonists, Augustus Welby Pugin and John Ruskin, called for the reintroduction of good, `honest' design.
Although at first regarded as a style best suited to public buildings and churches, Gothic Revival architects were soon being commissioned to design individual domestic buildings, especially large country houses, and by the 1860s Gothic features were appearing even on small, suburban terraced houses.
Reacting against the symmetrical Classical forms which predominated at the start of the Victorian era, the Gothic Revivalists believed that the function of a building should dictate its plan and that architectural ornament should merely enrich the essential construction of the building. Their houses therefore featured asymmetrical plans; steeply pitched roofs with turrets, towers, campaniles and prominent chimney-stacks; natural, unadorned materials like brick, stone and wood, which were then intricately carved; lancet, oriel and bay windows; pointed Gothic arches and ornamental gables.
Interiors were designed to reflect the exterior. Stylised floral patterns, geometric shapes and heraldic motifs were soon being applied to encaustic tiles, wallpapers, textiles, ceramics, stained glass and furniture, and with improvements in technology, the rediscovery of medieval crafts, and the wide publication of pattern books in England and America, by the 1870s Gothic Revival forms of architecture and decoration could be afforded by all.
Victorian Gothic House Style, which is beautifully illustrated with specially commissioned photographs, as well as pictures from original Victorian catalogues, is an invaluable reference book which not only concentrates on the main features and design elements of these Gothic Revival homes, but also describes the influence of the most important architects of the movement.

Square format 4to. Glazed pictorial boards in a similar dustwrapper; very, very minor wear to the corners of the boards; very, very minor creasing to the dustwrapper edges, otherwise the book is in VG++ condition in a VG++ wrapper. 985 gms £15.00