Architects at Corsham Court : A Study in Revival Style Architecture and Landscaping, 1749-1849,

Moonraker Press, Bradford-on-Avon, first edition, 1978. Cloth, 4to,. xv, 184 pp, 56 pp of maps, plans, ports, plates. In their solutions to the problems posed in the alterations and remodelling carried out on the Elizabethan house the successive Revival architects -among them Lancelot Brown, Humphry Repton and John Nash - who worked at Corsham Court made a significant contribution to English architectural history. This detailed and scholarly study of the complex period from 1749 to 1849 describes and discusses both the actual construction and the theories that governed the designs, and in so doing throws considerable light upon the inter-action of patronage and taste. In this valuable book Dr Ladd considers the increasing importance attached to Gothic Revival architectural theory and the effect on it of the dual nature of the Elizabethan-Renaissance style, and discusses the reasons for the growing eclecticism of the period under review. He then goes on to analyse the implications of Nash's experimental work in cast iron at Corsham Court, the eclecticism inherent in the architectural theory of the Elizabethan Revival, and finally, the social and cultural reasons leading to changes in national taste in architecture indicated by the patronage of the Methuen family in their improvements at Corsham." - from the blurb. Very Good in Very Good dustwrapper.