Nicholas Hawksmoor (1662ndash;1736) is considered one of Britainrsquo;s greatest architects. He was involved in the grandest architectural projects of his age and today is best known for his London churches ndash; six idiosyncratic edifices of white Portland stone that remain standing today; proud and tall in the otherwise radically changed cityscape. Until comparatively recently; however; Hawksmoor was thought to be; at best; a second-rate talent: merely Sir Christopher Wrenrsquo;s slightly odd apprentice; or the practically minded assistant to Sir John Vanbrugh. This book brings to life the dramatic story of Hawksmoorrsquo;s resurrection from the margins of history.Charting Hawksmoorrsquo;s career and the decline of his reputation; Owen Hopkins offers fresh interpretations of many of his famous works ndash; notably his three East End churches ndash; and shows how over their history Hawksmoorrsquo;s buildings have been ignored; abused; altered; recovered and celebrated. Hopkins also charts how; as Hawksmoor returned to prominence during the twentieth century; his work caught the eye of observers as diverse as T. S. Eliot; James Stirling; Robert Venturi and; most famously; Peter Ackroyd; whose novel Hawksmoor (1985) popularized 12 the mythical association of his work with the occult. Meanwhile; passionate campaigns were mounted to save and restore Hawksmoorrsquo;s churches; reflecting the strange hold his architecture can have over observers. There is surely no other body of work in British architectural history with the same capacity to intrigue and inspire; perplex and provoke as Hawksmoorrsquo;s has done for nearly three centuries.
#3032890 in eBooks 2005-08-23 2016-06-17File Name: B01H73744M
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