Book reviews

God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain by Rosemary Hill

"It was really well written and very readable. A full, but interesting, account of Pugin's life and times."

"I saw Auguste Pugin in a new light. Outstanding biography."

"Pugin is the architect who shaped us: we owe him the patterned floor tiles of our red brick Victorian houses, the pitched roofs of our municipal libraries, the high arched windows of our schools and railway stations – not to mention Big Ben. All bear the mark of his belief that the gothic style embodies a divine reality. In Pugin’s 1836 book Contrasts, he blames the evils of society on the Reformation. His argument owed more to passion than to knowledge – amazingly, he had never even heard of the Renaissance – but the book spelt the effective end of Georgian architecture. A new era had begun." John Carey

• Published August 2007 in hardback
• Published August 2008 in paperback