Sir Edwin Lutyens: The Arts & Crafts Houses Hardcover – December 12, 2017 by David Cole (The Images Publishing Group (:Images Publishing Dist Ac))

In the world of popular architectural culture it seems that having an unusual name is a solid step up in the ladder of popularity. Witness Inigo Jones. Had he merely been John Jones he might have been passed over long ago as a footnote to the famous Christopher Wren. Lutyens is a curious name. unlike (Philip) Webb. Thus, Lutyens has achieved on-going fame and popularity.

This particular book is as good as they come. It is massive in every sense of the word. It places a particular period of Luyens' design life under the microscope for a complete and detailed examination. The color photography is lush and quite excellent. Unfortunately, the coverage of the various houses is not completely evenhanded probably, because of owner restrictions. Thus, although many have lovely interior, as well as exterior, photographs, some lack significant interior photographs. Schematic floor plans are supplied but, oddly, at the end of the book as an appendix rather than with the discussion of the houses, which makes for unnecessary flipping back and forth.

If your coffee table needs a new book, there is none better than this. Even better is the fact that it is not just pretty pictures, but has a fine, scholarly text.

Chronicles a suite of 45 great country houses by Sir Edwin Lutyens, one of Britain's most renowned and prolific Arts and Crafts master architects

Celebrates Lutyens's originality by capturing how Lutyens ingeniously blended the style of the Arts and Crafts movement with his own inventive interpretation of the Classical language of architecture

Provides a fresh interpretation of Lutyens's enduring architectural genius through rigorous research, insightful overviews, valuable narrative details, and comprehensive references

Brings together a rich, full-color showcase of 575 all-new current photographs of the houses, inside and outside, along with a superb selection of drawings and floor plans

Expertly researched and written by architectural writer and practitioner, David Cole, who also authored IMAGES' successful book The Art and Architecture of C.F.A. Voysey

Sir Edwin Lutyens is widely regarded as one of Britain's greatest architects. In a career of over 50 years, spanning the Victorian, Edwardian and modern eras of architecture, Lutyens was prolific. His work ranged from great country houses, city commercial office buildings, his famous World War I memorials across Europe and Britain, and his magnum opus designs for New Delhi built during the 1920s and 1930s. Despite such diversity of building types across his long career, Lutyens's most celebrated works remain his country houses, which first established his reputation during the 1890s. As Lutyens's practice flourished his work became widely promoted in publications such as Country Life magazine, and his houses, particularly those designed in the vernacular manner, would subsequently give rise to an entire genre of the English country house that became known, as it is to this day, as a ‘Lutyens-style' house.

Sir Edwin Lutyens: The Arts and Crafts Houses brings together in new, wide-format, full-color photography a definitive collection of 45 of Lutyens's great Arts and Crafts houses, in which he ingeniously blended the style of the Arts and Crafts movement with his own inventive interpretation of the Classical language of architecture. The book features 575 all-new current photographs of the houses, inside and outside, together with a selection of floor plans of the houses, and a fresh interpretation of Lutyens's enduring architectural genius.