English Victorian Churches

Professor JAMES STEVENS CURL has an international reputation as an architectural historian whose publications span Classical, Georgian and Victorian architecture, and with Susan Wilson he wrote the Oxford Dictionary of Architecture, published by Oxford University Press in 2016. His Making Dystopia; The Strange Rise and Survival of Architectural Barbarism (OUP, 2018) is a combative critique of the Modernist movement and, while controversial, asks questions about our urban landscapes to which answers are long overdue.

Roger Bowdler:
This is an enriching read, replete with a full glossary (including pocket essays on "Gothic" and "Gothic Revival") and excellent illustrations. It's worth singling out the physical qualities of this book, too. In an age in which limp and drear print-on-demand books become ever more common, this carefully designed and well-made volume is a pleasure.

Bernard Richards:
Curl is as expert in dealing with the doctrinal traditions......
Curl's knowledge is breath-taking....
Curl has strong views and doesn't pull punches....

Kenneth Powell:
Curl has produced the best study to date of Victorian church architecture and has been well served by his publisher: the book is a model of clear and elegant design, well served by a high standard of production.

Michael Hodges:
We should be grateful that Professor Curl and John Hudson Publishing have produced such an attractive book between them.

John Goodall:
Illustrated with large numbers of excellent colour images, it sets churches of the period in historical context and crosses the denominational divides that so often obscure an overall understanding of what was going on. It is a timely reminder of the extraordinary riches of English church buildings.

Selby Whittingham:
A very full and eloquent guide ... The architectural theories are clearly set in the developing ideas-aesthetic and ecclesiastical-of the time.

Graham Cunningham:
[The book] can be read as a work of scholarship; one that spans two distinct but related disciplines, namely Victorian church architecture and nineteenth-century ecclesiology. As an authoritative survey and critique of the finest examples of nineteenth-century English church building, it would be difficult to better.

Elena Curti:
Beautifully illustrated study that makes a valuable contribution to the recognition of Catholic churches.