Reconstruction - Architecture, Society and the Aftermath of the First World War

Reconstruction explores the impact of the First World War on the built environment - examining the immediate and longer term aftermath of the Great War on the architecture of Britain and the British Empire during the interwar years.

While much attention has been paid by historians to post-war architectural reconstruction after 1945, the earlier developments of the interwar period (1919-1939) have been comparatively overlooked. This volume reveals how the architectural developments of this period not only provided important foundations for what happened after 1945 - they are also of real significance in their own right.

Sixteen essays written by leading and emerging scholars bring together new and diverse approaches to the period - a period of reconstruction, fraught with the challenges of modernity and democratisation. The collection considers the complex effects of reconstruction on design, discourse, practice, and professionalism, and deals with the full spectrum of architectural styles and approaches, privileging neither Modernism nor traditional styles like the neo-Georgian. It brings to the fore social and political histories of the built environment, and makes important postcolonial interventions into the architectural history of British Imperialism at home and in its far reaches; in Cairo, South Africa, Australia, and India.

List of contents

List of figures
List of contributors
Foreword: Towards Narratives of Modernity After Reconstruction – Elizabeth Darling
Acknowledgements

Introduction - Neal Shasore and Jessica Kelly

Section I: Promoting the Business of Architecture
Introduction - Neal Shasore and Jessica Kelly
I: Criticism: The Architectural Press and the Public - Jessica Kelly
II: Professionalism: The American Influence on British Architectural Practice - H Horatio Joyce
III: Regulation: The New London - Eileen Chanin
IV: Development: Speculative Office Development and Public Sector Tenants - Jonathan Clarke

Section II: Designing Community Infrastructure
Introduction - Neal Shasore and Jessica Kelly
V: Community Centre: New Housing Estates in Scotland - Alistair Fair
VI: Public House: The Carlisle Experiment and the Improved Public House - Julian Holder
VII: Parish: Democratic Participation in Suburban Parish Churches - Clare Price

Section III: Building a Rural Citizenry
Introduction - Neal Shasore and Jessica Kelly
VIII: Yeoman: Land Settlement and Cottage Small Holdings - Rebecca Preston and Joanna Smith
IX: Veteran: Annabel Dott and Colonial, Metropolitan and Rural Communities - Elizabeth McKellar
X: Student: Henry Morris and the First Village Colleges - Kieran Mahon

Section IV: Binding Subjects through Statecraft
Introduction - Neal Shasore
XI: Citizenship: Welfare and the Democratic State in Percy Thomas’s Civic Architecture - Robert Proctor
XII: Memory: Sir Herbert Baker, Rhodes House and the Architecture of Memory - Geoffrey Tyack
XIII: Diocese: Cairo Cathedral and the Politics of Liberal Anglican Church Design - David Lewis

Section V: Wedding Peace with Well-Being
XIV: Sickness: Advances in British Hospital Design after the First World War - Harriet Richardson Blakeman
XV: Health: Democracy, Diversity, Dispersal - Barry Doyle

Index

About the author

Neal Shasore is Chief Executive and Head of School at the London School of Architecture. An architectural historian, his work has focussed on British architectural culture between the wars. He was previously Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at Liverpool School of Architecture.Jessica Kelly is Senior Lecturer in Contextual and Theoretical Studies and Research Degrees Leader at University for the Creative Arts. Her research explores the mediation of architecture in the twentieth century.

Summary

Commendation, the Colvin Prize 2023 (Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain)

Reconstruction explores the impact of the First World War on the built environment – examining the immediate and longer term aftermath of the Great War on the architecture of Britain and the British Empire during the interwar years.

While much attention has been paid by historians to post-war architectural reconstruction after 1945, the earlier developments of the interwar period (1919-1939) have been comparatively overlooked. This volume reveals how the architectural developments of this period not only provided important foundations for what happened after 1945 – they are also of real significance in their own right.

Sixteen essays written by leading and emerging scholars bring together new and diverse approaches to the period – a period of reconstruction, fraught with the challenges of modernity and democratisation. The collection considers the complex effects of reconstruction on design, discourse, practice, and professionalism, and deals with the full spectrum of architectural styles and approaches, privileging neither Modernism nor traditional styles like the neo-Georgian. It brings to the fore social and political histories of the built environment, and makes important postcolonial interventions into the architectural history of British Imperialism at home and in its far reaches; in Cairo, South Africa, Australia, and India.

Foreword

Examining the architecture of Britain and the British Empire in the period of reconstruction following the First World War.

Additional text

Looking beyond the well-known architectural icons of the 20s and 30s, this detailed examination of many previously overlooked buildings of a key period, gives a broader understanding of architectural practice and richly demonstrates the ways in which the study of architecture can reveal and tell complex stories about a rapidly changing society.

Product details

• Authors: Jessica Kelly, Neal Shasore, SHASORE NEAL
• Assisted by: Kelly Jessica Kelly (Editor), Jessica Kelly (Editor), Shasore Neal Shasore (Editor), Neal Shasore (Editor)
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 28.02.2022
• EAN: 9781350152946
• ISBN: 978-1-350-15294-6
• No. of pages: 408
• Subjects: Humanities, art, music > Art > Architecture; British Empire, ARCHITECTURE / History / Modern (late 19th Century to 1945), United Kingdom, Great Britain, History of Architecture, c 1919 to c 1939 (Inter-war period)