Architecture

Robert Thorne on London's architects and their work.

'Compare the wealth and refinement of cities such as Mexico... in the middle of the eighteenth century, with the austere simplicity, verging on poverty, of... Philadelphia, a misleading splendour; what was dawn for the United States was twilight for Latin America...' Octavio Paz

The buildings the British built in India tell us much about how the British shaped India's conception of the past, explains Thomas R. Metcalf, and how they turned India's architectural heritage to the service of the Raj.

'London is rich in historic buildings and monuments, but behind most familiar landmarks lurk the ghosts of abandoned designs and rejected projects.' In this extract from their book London as it might have been, Felix Barker and Ralph Hyde consider bridges which were planned for the Thames.

Montagu House was built by the first Duke of Montagu, who 'made money like a rogue and spent it like a gentleman' on his patronage of the arts, the finest examples of which were to be found in this London house which was to become the first home of the British Museum.

Michael Crowder looks at a 19th century Haitian jewel.

'A kind of apotheosis of terracotta', the Natural History Museum has been open for a hundred years as a scientific institution to serve the huge lay audience who are knowledgeable about nature and eager to learn more. Robert Thorne reflects on how, in its centenary year, the museum's architectural perfection is under threat.

Renee and Raj Isar look at this Mughal site at Agra, India.

British imperial architecture as epitomised by the work of Sir Herbert Baker was not tied to any geographic setting. Its elements could be re-ordered to fit any tropical dependency. As Thomas R. Metcalf explains, what had been hammered out in Pretoria, and redefined in Delhi, could be carried to such places as Kenya. But Baker, who designed the imperial acropolis of New Delhi with Lutyens, differed from his colleague, "the most original and creative architect of his age." For Baker architecture always served a political purpose: for Lutyens, Empire was incidental.

The beautiful summer palaces of Yuan Ming Yuan outside Peking, designed by Europeans for the Emperor of China in the middle of the eighteenth century, have now been recognised as a curiosity of their country's heritage.