Want to know what books Dan Cruickshank recommends on their reading list? We've researched interviews, social media posts, podcasts, and articles to build a comprehensive list of Dan Cruickshank's favorite book recommendations of all time.
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This best-selling book is a beautifully illustrated history of the English country house from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. In it, renowned architectural historian Mark Girouard presents a rare and revealing glimpse of the English upper classes—their public and personal lives, their servants, and their homes.
"A deeply important book, one of the most interesting contributions to architectural history."—J. H. Plumb, The New York Review of Books
"A survey of country houses through the past five centuries, from a broad range of materials: family archives,... more This best-selling book is a beautifully illustrated history of the English country house from the Middle Ages to the twentieth century. In it, renowned architectural historian Mark Girouard presents a rare and revealing glimpse of the English upper classes—their public and personal lives, their servants, and their homes.
"A deeply important book, one of the most interesting contributions to architectural history."—J. H. Plumb, The New York Review of Books
"A survey of country houses through the past five centuries, from a broad range of materials: family archives, literature, plans and photographs.... The book itself is a physical artifact of surpassing beauty which could fit on the grandest table in the houses it describes."—David Hackett Fischer, The New Republic
"Informative, balanced, knowledgeable, and witty."—The New Yorker
"This enthralling and immensely informative book...tells with wit, scholarship, and lucidity how the country house evolved to meet the needs and reflect the social attitudes of the times."—Philip Ziegler, The Times
"One of those very useful and very enjoyable books that the learned can seldom write, and the entertaining seldom achieve—clear, detailed, and witty."—Angus Wilson, The Observer
Winner of the 1978 Duff Cooper Memorial Prize and the W. H. Smith & Son Annual Literary Award for 1979. less 
Dan CruickshankIt was a very, very new idea in the 1970s to paint the much-loved English country house as social and architectural histories. (Source)
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2
William J.R. Curtis | 4.29
Since its first publication in 1982, Modern Architecture Since 1900 has become established as a contemporary classic. Worldwide in scope, it combines a clear historical outline with masterly analysis and interpretation. Technical, economic, social and intellectual developments are brought together in a comprehensive narrative which provides a setting for the detailed examination of buildings. Throughout the book the author's focus is on the individual architect, and on the qualities that give outstanding buildings their lasting value.
For the third edition, the text has been... more Since its first publication in 1982, Modern Architecture Since 1900 has become established as a contemporary classic. Worldwide in scope, it combines a clear historical outline with masterly analysis and interpretation. Technical, economic, social and intellectual developments are brought together in a comprehensive narrative which provides a setting for the detailed examination of buildings. Throughout the book the author's focus is on the individual architect, and on the qualities that give outstanding buildings their lasting value.
For the third edition, the text has been radically revised and expanded, incorporating much new material and a fresh appreciation of regional identity and variety. Seven chapters are entirely new, including expanded coverage of recent world architecture.
Described by James Ackerman of Harvard University as "immeasurably the finest work covering this field in existence", this book presents a penetrating analysis of the modern tradition and its origins, tracing the creative interaction between old and new that has generated such an astonishing richness of architectural forms across the world and throughout the century. less Dan CruickshankThis book’s interesting if you want to try and understand the artistic forces, the technical forces and the debates that took place from the 1900s to now. (Source)
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3
A fascinating look at how architects and engineers work together, from medieval times to the present day.
How architects and engineers relate to one another has long been debated but never before addressed over a broad span of history. There are many controversial issues: about professional demarcation, about credit for design, about the value we attach to art in buildings, and about how that connects with advances in technique and efficiency.
This pioneering and handsomely illustrated book enquires for the first time into the pattern of these relationships since... more A fascinating look at how architects and engineers work together, from medieval times to the present day.
How architects and engineers relate to one another has long been debated but never before addressed over a broad span of history. There are many controversial issues: about professional demarcation, about credit for design, about the value we attach to art in buildings, and about how that connects with advances in technique and efficiency.
This pioneering and handsomely illustrated book enquires for the first time into the pattern of these relationships since the Renaissance. Concentrating particularly on Britain, France and the United States, Architect and Engineer looks at what has actually taken place when architecture and engineering have interlocked. It examines projects ranging from the building of Waterloo Bridge to the evolution of the Chicago skyscraper, and personalities from Vauban to Brunel and Wright.
The results of this impartial investigation may often surprise and provoke the reader. It is a study that has radical implications for the compartmentalized ways in which the history of architecture and construction has conventionally been addressed. less Dan CruickshankSo many books are about the theoretical side, the symbolic, but Andrew’s is very much about engineering, about how things were made, about concrete, steel, wrought iron. (Source)
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4
A brief examination of the theory and practice of Renaissance architecture that draws attention to the values underlying this style more A brief examination of the theory and practice of Renaissance architecture that draws attention to the values underlying this style less Dan CruickshankIt takes some of the most well-known buildings one sees in Italy, in Venice or Rome, and it explains the architectural theory behind them. (Source)
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Andrea Palladio and Adolf K. Placzek | 4.47
Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) was one of the most celebrated architects of the Renaissance, so important that the term Palladian has been applied to a particular style of architecture that adheres to classical concepts. The wide spread of Palladianism was due partly to the private and public buildings he constructed in Italy, the designs of which were copied throughout Europe. But of even greater consequence was his remarkable magnum opus, "I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura"; translated into every major Western European language in the two centuries following its publication in 1570, it has... more Andrea Palladio (1508–1580) was one of the most celebrated architects of the Renaissance, so important that the term Palladian has been applied to a particular style of architecture that adheres to classical concepts. The wide spread of Palladianism was due partly to the private and public buildings he constructed in Italy, the designs of which were copied throughout Europe. But of even greater consequence was his remarkable magnum opus, "I Quattro Libri dell'Architettura"; translated into every major Western European language in the two centuries following its publication in 1570, it has been one of the most influential books in the history of architecture.
The Four Books of Architecture offers a compendium of Palladio's art and of the ancient Roman structures that inspired him. The First Book is devoted to building materials and techniques and the five orders of architecture: Tuscan, Doric, Ionic, Corinthian, and Composite. Palladio indicates the characteristic features of each order and supplies illustrations of various architectural details. The Second Book deals with private houses and mansions, almost all of Palladio's own design. Shown and described are many of his villas in and near Venice and Vicenza (including the famous Villa Capra, or "The Rotunda," the Thiene Palace, and the Valmarana Palace). Each plate gives a front view drawing of the building and the general floor plan. The Third Book is concerned with streets, bridges, piazzas, and basilicas, most of which are of ancient Roman origin. In the Fourth Book, Palladio reproduces the designs of a number of ancient Roman temples. Plates 51 to 60 are plans and architectural sketches of the Pantheon.
In all, the text is illustrated by over 200 magnificently engraved plates, showing edifices, either of Palladio's own design or reconstructed (in these drawings) by him from classical ruins and contemporary accounts.
All the original plates are reproduced in this new single-volume edition in full size and in clear, sharp detail. This is a republication of the Isaac Ware English edition of 1738. Faithful and accurate in the translation and in its reproduction of the exquisite original engravings, it has long been a rare, sought-after work. This edition makes The Four Books available for the first time in more than 200 years to the English-speaking public. less See more recommendations for this book...
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