What do you think?
Rate this book
A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
788 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1896
216 people are currently reading
2989 people want to read
About the author
Banister Flight Fletcher
20 books1 followerSir Banister Flight Fletcher (15 February 1866, London – 17 August 1953, London) was an English architect and architectural historian, as was his father, also named Banister Fletcher. They wrote the standard textbook A History of Architecture, which is also often referred to just as Banister Fletcher.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
August 31, 2013
Bannister Fletcher's achievement was to create a copious reference to thousands of the major architectural works of Western Europe, in scaled drawings, photographs and summary text, thus furnishing a means of comparison - that is the key word - of building with building, style with style, period with period. This is what gives the book its uniqueness.
The book is immense yet, for the sake of avoiding an ever heavier tome, the author focused his lens on the architectural inheritance of the West. Even with this limitation the book is astonishing in its range and detail. Its exhaustive and periodic approach, though on the face of it simplistic and by today's standards unsophisticated, has nevertheless served generations of architects and architectural students well.
If we turn a for a moment to the earlier editions, such as the 11th, we get a clearer picture of the author’s intentions. The "Tree of Architecture' gives a snap-shot then, in Part 1 'Historical Styles', we have the mainstream of Western Architecture, from Early Christian to the Architecture of the United States, 871 pages. Part 2, 'Non-Historical', deals with the East – just 46 pages. 'Modern English', which includes the 19th century, has a mere 20. In 1943 one does not expect much on the modern movement but the fact that the whole Victorian inheritance is despatched in less than 13 pages is remarkable. Yet this is not a failure to accord due weight but rather a deliberate decision to leave the task of selection to future generations. The period was deemed too close to the present. Modern editors do well to take note!
Now with regard to the latest edition of BF, edited by the TV celeb Dan Cruikshank .... To take this venerable work and plunder its contents at will, adding whole new sections at the expense of the original, investing it with a new and inappropriate ethos, is an act of barbarism of monstrous proportions. In the words of our Royal Arbiter of Taste, placing a monstrous carbuncle ....
These days there are more than enough 'coffee-table' books, with lavish photographs and dumbed-down text. There are also academic treatises a-plenty, pedalling esoteric viewpoints of an ephemeral and obsolescent kind. I regret that Bannister Fletcher's great work is now finally in danger of joining them, at the end of a long process of the progressive dilution of its contents. This is sad indeed. The book deserves more than that. Like Pevsner's great 'Buildings of England' series, it is a work which stands out of time.
The book is immense yet, for the sake of avoiding an ever heavier tome, the author focused his lens on the architectural inheritance of the West. Even with this limitation the book is astonishing in its range and detail. Its exhaustive and periodic approach, though on the face of it simplistic and by today's standards unsophisticated, has nevertheless served generations of architects and architectural students well.
If we turn a for a moment to the earlier editions, such as the 11th, we get a clearer picture of the author’s intentions. The "Tree of Architecture' gives a snap-shot then, in Part 1 'Historical Styles', we have the mainstream of Western Architecture, from Early Christian to the Architecture of the United States, 871 pages. Part 2, 'Non-Historical', deals with the East – just 46 pages. 'Modern English', which includes the 19th century, has a mere 20. In 1943 one does not expect much on the modern movement but the fact that the whole Victorian inheritance is despatched in less than 13 pages is remarkable. Yet this is not a failure to accord due weight but rather a deliberate decision to leave the task of selection to future generations. The period was deemed too close to the present. Modern editors do well to take note!
Now with regard to the latest edition of BF, edited by the TV celeb Dan Cruikshank .... To take this venerable work and plunder its contents at will, adding whole new sections at the expense of the original, investing it with a new and inappropriate ethos, is an act of barbarism of monstrous proportions. In the words of our Royal Arbiter of Taste, placing a monstrous carbuncle ....
These days there are more than enough 'coffee-table' books, with lavish photographs and dumbed-down text. There are also academic treatises a-plenty, pedalling esoteric viewpoints of an ephemeral and obsolescent kind. I regret that Bannister Fletcher's great work is now finally in danger of joining them, at the end of a long process of the progressive dilution of its contents. This is sad indeed. The book deserves more than that. Like Pevsner's great 'Buildings of England' series, it is a work which stands out of time.
January 22, 2011
The Bible for students of architecture - even if it is a bit dated.
July 4, 2023
Sir Bannister Fletcher's A History Of Architecture
In its initial conception during the late-1890s, Sir Bannister Fletcher's main goal was to create a textbook that would become the standard corpus for later generations to survey, learn, and understand the comparative works between the western and eastern realms of the architectural world. In other words, provide an unprecedented corpus of references to prominent architectural features and buildings for our own enlightenment. Today, this book is on its Twenty-first edition and newest revision, whilst I have read the Nineteenth edition; truly, it is an impactful survey and study on global architecture, from its pre-historical contexts, trials and errors, to its evolution as a full-blown profession. Not only does the book circulate through western and eastern architectural details and feats, but it also gives space to provide a historical background between nations and epochs such as the Palaeo-, Meso-, or Neo-lithic; Stone-, Iron-, and Bronze-Age settlements that can provide contexts as to the developments of technological character and prominence.
It is impossible to properly justify this colossal and sophisticated book within a short and limited review, but the corpus of copious notes furnished with references to exemplary architectural structures and refined close-up detailing of cornices and mouldings, to name a few, forces our respect at its depth of research and be as equally astonished as we quench our thirst of wanting to learn about the buildings we see and apply our newly-found knowledge. While this textbook is primarily targeted towards architects and architectural students, general readers and lovers of historical-buildings and tourist-cities, from a "coffee-book" perspective, will also glean from it interesting and potential places and landmarks to sightsee and explore.
The exhaustively rich text is filled to the brim of cross-continental historical and contemporary - or modern - examples of architectural characteristics, from the extremities of Africa in its climate, to the Americas and Western Europe, through to Russia and Eastern Asia. Chronologically, through pre-civilisation settlements to the first ancient civilisations, to the distinctive Classical Greco-Roman period, Byzantine and Islamic architecture. Stylistically, the book also covers those movements that were prevalent in certain times of the Medieval Age and further, such as beginning from the Classical to the "rebellious" Gothic; the emergence of the impressive Early & High Renaissance, breaking from that the Baroque and Mannerism movements, later showing appreciation for Classicism and those principles such as Order, Rationality, Harmony, Balance, and Rhythm, leaving way for the Neo-Classicism and Gothic Revival architectural movements to appear during the 18th century. But while all these movements were important and prominent in the fashioning of European architecture, and sometimes the extended colonial links, other movements that appeared elsewhere in Oceania or Africa or Japan, are also studied.
Aiding this architectural Library is a timeline and a few maps at the beginning to help understand the archaeological and geological conditions of the continents as part of background contexts, aligning with key buildings of the time that were from the Mesolithic time to the Iron Age time. This includes Europe and the Mediterranean, Persia and Greece, Egypt and the ancient Near East, China and Japan. Spread throughout this revered tome are also technical drawings and details for clarity, illustrations and photographs, complete with a Glossary at the back explaining the architectural vocabulary used to precisely describe certain feats worthy of note. While it is also organised into seven main Parts, it is divided into over thirty Chapters, and then also sub-divided into headings - usually these are for focussed deeper discussions of architectural and physical characteristics with examples to show.
From the sheer size and volume, the information contained, it is itself considered a Wonder of the architectural world. With a rich text, this grand token has earned the right to be part of any treasured Library. It began with the intent to cultivate and enlighten an era of architectural students just starting to have an understanding and impact on global architecture, and has continued and expanded on this to include general readership and those simply with an intense love and interest in architecture. It is no small wonder, then, that this revered tome has been, and continues to be, affectionately known as "The Architect's Bible".
In its initial conception during the late-1890s, Sir Bannister Fletcher's main goal was to create a textbook that would become the standard corpus for later generations to survey, learn, and understand the comparative works between the western and eastern realms of the architectural world. In other words, provide an unprecedented corpus of references to prominent architectural features and buildings for our own enlightenment. Today, this book is on its Twenty-first edition and newest revision, whilst I have read the Nineteenth edition; truly, it is an impactful survey and study on global architecture, from its pre-historical contexts, trials and errors, to its evolution as a full-blown profession. Not only does the book circulate through western and eastern architectural details and feats, but it also gives space to provide a historical background between nations and epochs such as the Palaeo-, Meso-, or Neo-lithic; Stone-, Iron-, and Bronze-Age settlements that can provide contexts as to the developments of technological character and prominence.
It is impossible to properly justify this colossal and sophisticated book within a short and limited review, but the corpus of copious notes furnished with references to exemplary architectural structures and refined close-up detailing of cornices and mouldings, to name a few, forces our respect at its depth of research and be as equally astonished as we quench our thirst of wanting to learn about the buildings we see and apply our newly-found knowledge. While this textbook is primarily targeted towards architects and architectural students, general readers and lovers of historical-buildings and tourist-cities, from a "coffee-book" perspective, will also glean from it interesting and potential places and landmarks to sightsee and explore.
The exhaustively rich text is filled to the brim of cross-continental historical and contemporary - or modern - examples of architectural characteristics, from the extremities of Africa in its climate, to the Americas and Western Europe, through to Russia and Eastern Asia. Chronologically, through pre-civilisation settlements to the first ancient civilisations, to the distinctive Classical Greco-Roman period, Byzantine and Islamic architecture. Stylistically, the book also covers those movements that were prevalent in certain times of the Medieval Age and further, such as beginning from the Classical to the "rebellious" Gothic; the emergence of the impressive Early & High Renaissance, breaking from that the Baroque and Mannerism movements, later showing appreciation for Classicism and those principles such as Order, Rationality, Harmony, Balance, and Rhythm, leaving way for the Neo-Classicism and Gothic Revival architectural movements to appear during the 18th century. But while all these movements were important and prominent in the fashioning of European architecture, and sometimes the extended colonial links, other movements that appeared elsewhere in Oceania or Africa or Japan, are also studied.
Aiding this architectural Library is a timeline and a few maps at the beginning to help understand the archaeological and geological conditions of the continents as part of background contexts, aligning with key buildings of the time that were from the Mesolithic time to the Iron Age time. This includes Europe and the Mediterranean, Persia and Greece, Egypt and the ancient Near East, China and Japan. Spread throughout this revered tome are also technical drawings and details for clarity, illustrations and photographs, complete with a Glossary at the back explaining the architectural vocabulary used to precisely describe certain feats worthy of note. While it is also organised into seven main Parts, it is divided into over thirty Chapters, and then also sub-divided into headings - usually these are for focussed deeper discussions of architectural and physical characteristics with examples to show.
From the sheer size and volume, the information contained, it is itself considered a Wonder of the architectural world. With a rich text, this grand token has earned the right to be part of any treasured Library. It began with the intent to cultivate and enlighten an era of architectural students just starting to have an understanding and impact on global architecture, and has continued and expanded on this to include general readership and those simply with an intense love and interest in architecture. It is no small wonder, then, that this revered tome has been, and continues to be, affectionately known as "The Architect's Bible".
Currently reading
March 10, 2010This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
February 3, 2013
I did not read all of it
November 12, 2021
Excellent comparative approach to architecture. I gave this book 4 stars instead of 5, because it was focused mostly on the architecture and not the structural designs, which are of great interest to me.
January 31, 2025
I cannot vouch for whether the current edition is worth the extraordinary price, but the older editions I have seen have always been extremely well produced, full of reference material and copious illustrations/plans.
June 30, 2017
My favourite book, I keep it by my bedside table to browse at even after completion.
September 14, 2017
Must-have.
February 6, 2020
Absolutely crucial read
July 11, 2007
pertama kali belajar sejarah arsitektur selalu disodori buku ini: kumpulan tipologi stilistik yang coba dibikin fletcher untuk memahami arsitektur sebagai seni bangunan.
tapi,
usaha seperti ini rasanya tidak memadai lagi karena arsitektur tidak cukup dijelaskan secara stilistik, dan sejarah arsitektur tidak lengkap bila hanya diterangkan dari pandangan itu. saya lebih suka pada usaha tafuri atau spiro kostof.
tapi,
usaha seperti ini rasanya tidak memadai lagi karena arsitektur tidak cukup dijelaskan secara stilistik, dan sejarah arsitektur tidak lengkap bila hanya diterangkan dari pandangan itu. saya lebih suka pada usaha tafuri atau spiro kostof.
Read
December 28, 2010i want to read this
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Read
January 19, 2014What i truly need!
February 14, 2014
Sir Banister Fletcher's a History of Architecture
April 30, 2016
i am an architecture student and Bannister Fletcher is the only one option to understand history of architecture very well
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 9, 2015
awesome
November 24, 2015
Well illustrated.
Read
March 13, 2016good book
November 30, 2016
very knowledgable
Read
May 17, 2016prehistoric of architecture
February 27, 2017
sir banister fletcher's a history of architecture 18th edition Editor Palmes
Want to read
July 21, 2017how to read this book
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews