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Oxford is a feast of hundreds of delightful watercolour illustrations and an informed and witty text. More than any other city, Oxford offers a living history of English architecture.
List of contents
Introduction
Monastic Oxford (Early days to 1536)
Parish Churches
Reformation and Restoration (1536–1700)
Hotels, Pubs and Pavilions
Georgian Oxford (1700–1830)
Streets and Houses
The Battle of the Styles (1835–1918)
Civic Pride
Modern Oxford (1945–Today)
Index
Acknowledgements
About the author
Matthew Rice is a painter and designer who has written six books on architecture. He lives in a medieval house Oxfordshire and has four grown-up children.
Summary
Discover Oxford, one of the jewels of European architecture. Much loved and much visited, the city offers an unparalleled collection of the best of English building through the centuries.
Matthew Rice's Oxford is a feast of delightful watercolour illustrations and an informed and witty text, explaining how the city came into being and what to look out for today.
While the focus is on architectural detail, Rice describes how the city has been shaped by its history, topography and geology, but most of all by generations of patrons who had the education and the resources to commission work from the greatest architects and builders of their day, an astonishing range of which still stands.
Ranging from the medieval to the contemporary, the book covers all the iconic buildings, such as the Radcliffe Camera, the Sheldonian Theatre and the college quads, as well as the distinctive details that you might otherwise miss.
More than anywhere else in England, it is possible in Oxford to take in the history of English architecture simply by walking today's streets, lanes, parks and meadows. This book is the perfect guide.
