The Shaping of London

In focussing on fairly discrete periods of history, the book examines chronologically the likely impact of wars, dynastic struggles, demographic change and economic growth on the physical fabric of London, and although its findings are by no means scientific but implied, it should be fairly clear to the reader that the development of great buildings of London such as castles and palaces, major ecclesiastical buildings, imposing public and commercial buildings, and sumptuous town houses, as well as public open spaces such as squares and parks did not take place as if by accident, but coincided with prevailing periods of peace (or anticipated peace) and economic opportunity. It is thus within the context of politics and economics, and with a wide range of examples, that the book traces the evolution of architectural style in London from Romanesque to Gothic, from Tudor to Jacobean, from Classical to Baroque, and from Palladian to Neo-Classical culminating in the Victorian battle between the Neo-Baroque and Neo-Classical.

It is argued by Paul Balchin that, over the whole period covered by this book, kings, governments, bankers, merchants and industrialists invested heavily in developing London to create a sense of majesty, awe, economic power and national pride; and aristocratic dynasties and the landed gentry - often from elsewhere in England - commissioned sumptuous properties in the capital as a means of expressing their wealth and position in society; while the church (often with royal assistance) built imposing edifices to extend their influence. Thus as an outcome of numerous motives, the more notable buildings and public places of London and their spatial dispersal helped determine the shape and areal extent of the metropolis enabling it to become the world's largest city by the end of the nineteenth century and the capital of an empire without equal...

Dr Paul Balchin is former Reader in Urban Economics at the University of Greenwich. Published widely, he is author and co-author of several books on different aspects of the built environment, most recently Urban Development in Renaissance Italy (John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2008).