This is the story of the superbly elegant early eighteenth-century Pallant House in Chichester.
It’s the story of 19 Princelet Street in Spitalfields, built for a Huguenot silk-weaver and later transformed into a synagogue. It’s also the story of a row of modest two-up, two-down houses in Toxteth, a block of flats in London’s East End, and what Ideal Home magazine in 1926 called Britain’s “first modern house” — in Northampton.
Together, these buildings reveal how English homes have evolved and adapted over the past few centuries. At the same time, as historian Dan Cruickshank shows, they offer intimate glimpses into the lives of their first occupants — their ambitions, hardships, and place within their communities.
The English House masterfully intertwines architectural and social history, creating a vivid and deeply human portrait of the spaces that have shaped English life.
Editorial Reviews
Review
Cruickshank’s enthusiasm for England’s vernacular architecture shines through every infectious sentence of this glorious book. His great skill is to dig down into details so that no building’s hidden corner, crooked window or clever keystone goes unremarked. At the same time, he situates these idiosyncratic details in a wider reading of the social and economic conditions which gave rise to every brick, strut and gurning gargoyle. A triumph ― The TimesA mine of information presented in an effortlessly accessible style. Unlike many books that merely convey stories attached to buildings, this is social and architectural history delivered with forensic insight ― Country LifeThe English House condenses the intriguing story of how English homes have developed. ― The Independent, Books of the MonthThe most delightfully reassuring of books. In The English House, Cruickshank lovingly and methodically dives into the history of eight different buildings. Fascinating. Cruickshank guides the reader through 19 Princelet St […] with great charm and a keen sense of the resonance of the building, which – like all the buildings in the book – he brings beautifully to life. ― Jewish Chronicle
Diverting and illuminating ―
Observer
About the Author
Dan Cruickshank is an architectural historian and television presenter. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, and has sat on the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group, and the Architectural Panel of the National Trust. His previous work includes the BBC television programs Civilization Under Attack (2015) and At Home with the British (2016), and the books A History of Architecture in 100 Buildings (2015) and Spitalfields (2016). He lives in London.
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