We all consume architecture – it’s the one artform we can’t avoid. So it’s hardly surprising that the finest writers have applied their minds to it. Most of them aren’t architects, but their powers of perception are such that what they say gets under the skin of a building – and gives us a lesson in how to look at architecture. You’ll be entertained and enlightened as you find out why Goethe went from being dismissive of Strasbourg Cathedral to being an awed admirer; why Ruskin was offended by decorated shopfronts; why D.H. Lawrence loved Etruscan temples; why Tom Wolfe ridiculed the Seagram Building; why Vita Sackville-West saw Chatsworth as an alien interloper; why Rose Macaulay was passionate about ruins; And what Evelyn Waugh thought of Gaudí. The answers, and plenty more, are all here. Knowing them will transform the way you see buildings and deepen your understanding of architecture.
