Registered Charity
No 504364
Books
Direct from the Chester Civic Trust: '2000 Years of Building', a unique book and chronological guide to Chester's unique Architectural Heritage, from Roman times to the present.
Click 2000 Years of Building for details.
READING LIST
Chester, with its unique and historic city centre, has excited masses of visitors to the city over a period of two centuries. Noted provincial architects such as Thomas Harrison, and later John Douglas made a distinctive contribution to the townscape which is still visible today. Over the years historians and commentators have reported on these topics.
You will find these books to be a good
introduction to the art and architecture of Chester. Some may be out
of print although local residents should have no problems in borrowing a copy
from Cheshire County Council Library Services.
Picturesque Chester: The City in Art
Boughton, Peter
(Phillimore 1997: ISBN 1 86007 039 8)
The author has selected the cream of the Chester City Grosvenor Museum’s comprehensive collection of Chester topography in order to effectively comment on the development of the City’s distinctive townscape. When so many books of this kind are biased towards the antiquarian, it is especially stimulating to find here much contemporary illustration (Jenny Rye on the St Werburgh Cathedral Bell Tower, Richard Hore on St Paul’s Parish Church by John Douglas, Julia Midgeley on the Eastgate Row development, Frances Seba Smith on Chester Library, Bernard Howard on the Odeon Cinema, etc.)
The Rows of Chester: The Chester Rows Research
Project
Brown, Andrew
(English Heritage, Archaeological Report 16, 1999: ISBN
1 85074 629 X)
Established in 1984, the Chester Rows Research Project set out to survey all the Rows buildings using an interdisciplinary approach in which architectural and social influences have been combined with archaeological investigation and historical research. The result is an indispensable volume that concludes with a most accessible building-by-building gazetteer. Peter de Figuerado’s chapters on the ‘Vernacular Revival’ and ‘Renewal Conservation’ will be of particular interest to members of the Chester Civic Trust and any person with an interest for the continued health of the historical centre of Chester.
Book of Chester
Carrington,
Peter
(Batsford/English Heritage
1994; ISBN 0 7134 7247 2)
Described as the first book to look at the whole of Chester’s heritage from an archaeological and architectural viewpoint, this very approachable volume makes an excellent introduction to the City. The project was managed by Peter Carrington and Simon Ward for the City Council’s Archaeological Service. Eileen Willshaw contributes marvelous snapshots of Restoration, Georgian and Regency, Victorian, and Twentieth Century Chester.
Chester
Harris, Brian
(Bartholomew City Guides, 1979; ISBN 0 7028 8070 1)
The first in a series of city guides which was sadly not sustained by the publisher. The compact work of the late Brian Harris (editor of the “Victorian History of Cheshire” at the time) is still the most sensible and useful background guide to contemporary Chester. Arranged in the form of nine short walks, the book is (bafflingly) out of print.
The Work of John Douglas
Hubbard, Edward
The Victorian Society, 1991; ISBN 0 901657 16 6)
Unquestionably one of the best studies ever made of a provincial architect, this was edited for publication by Peter Howell after its author’s untimely death. John Douglas (1830-1911) practiced in Chester for some 50 years, most of the work being in the North-West of England and North Wales. Borrow this book to see how genius walked amongst us! Would that there was a comparable volume to celebrate the Chester architect from the 18th Century: Thomas Harrison.
The Buildings of Chester
Morriss, Richard
(Alan Sutton, 1993; ISBN 0 7509 0255 8)
This is one of a useful town series, its generous ration of photographs (by Ken Hoverd) making it a good comparison for a detailed architectural tour of the City.
The Buildings of England: Cheshire
Pevsner, Nikolaus
& Hubbard, Edward
(Penguin 1971: ISBN 14 071042 6)
Now over thirty years old, “Cheshire” needs its update that many counties are gradually getting for Pevsner’s groundbreaking surveys. It remains the indispensable architectural study, not without controversial judgment. (the black and white jingles away too insistently in Chester’s central streets”) and with the benefit of Edward Hubbard on the Grosvenor family Eaton Hall Estate, Port Sunlight, and Birkenhead (then in Cheshire).
Graham Fisher
Thomas Brassey: The Greatest Railway
Builder in the World
Tom Stacey
Stacey International 2005: ISBN:
1-905299-09-05)
Tom
Stacey, great-great-grandson of this unsung hero of entrepreneurial building
contracting, has written a short memoir combining personal family reminiscences
with succinct summaries of the great man’s achievements in building so many of
the World’s Railways. Written in
celebration of the 200 anniversary of the great man’s birth on November 7,
1805, the book is a strong reminder of Brassey’s local connections in building
so much of the railway network and railway buildings that we still enjoy today.
Peter Boughton
Catalogue of Silver in the Grosvenor Museum, Chester
(Phillimore & Co Ltd 2000:
ISBN : 1 86077 153 X)
By member Peter Boughton. Peter is keeper of Art and Architecture at the Grosvenor Museum. He has played a leading role in assembling 'one of the country's finest collections of provincially made silver' (Country Life). His book is an essential work of reference for all collectors of English silver and a rich source of information for students of the decorative art and social history: price £19.95.
John
Champness
Thomas
Harrison, Georgian Architect of Chester and Lancaster, 177-1829
Centre for North-West
Regional Studies
Lancaster University:
ISBN No. 1-86220-169-2
The
book traces the life and work of Thomas Harrison, an architect who was born in
Yorkshire, trained in Rome, and
practiced
for much of his
life in Chester. Arguably the greatest
architect of his day in the North West of England, Harrison left a legacy of
fine Georgian architecture, especially public buildings and bridges.
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