Interwar: British Architecture 1919–39
Gavin Stamp (Profile Books, £40)
IN the grand narrative of architectural history, it has long been conventional to think of the period between the two World Wars as being chiefly remarkable as the moment at which a conservative Britain—unwillingly thrown by the trauma of global conflict in 1914–18 into break-neck social, economic and political change—engaged for the first time with Modernism. This magnificent new book, post-humously prepared for publication, demonstrates how hopelessly inadequate—even inaccurate—this view is.
‘Stamp’s ability to present clearly for a general audience was as unusual as it is remarkable’
It also shows what an extraordinary diversity, richness and quality of architecture this period has to offer. Merely in terms of building types, the catalogue of creations includes government buildings (at home and across the Empire), offices, schools, banks churches, factories, embassies, urban estates, stations, hospitals, country houses, garden cities, war memorials, cinemas, shops, power stations, corporate
