The Story Of Architecture In Oxford Stone (1912)
Not Oxford's buildings, but the science of architecture illustrated by them, is the subject of this essay.
As a rule, writers on English architecture draw their examples from buildings scattered broadcast over England ; the majority of students must, therefore, be content to make acquaintance with their details through the medium of photographic illustrations, drawings, and descriptions, which are at best a poor substitute for the real thing. Now Oxford, a unique city in so many respects, is unique in this, that all the great architectural types are represented in her buildings. It is true that our examples of Classic architecture are but poor imitations of the stately porticoes of Greece and Rome, but they will still serve to illustrate the mechanical principles and the ornamental details of the ancient building systems ; of every stage of mediaeval architecture Oxford possesses examples as representative of the best work as are to be found anywhere in England ; the buildings of the great Renaissance architects are not better represented in London itself than in the streets of our own city ; and finally, it was Oxford that saw both the last efforts of expiring Gothic and the first attempts at the revival of the mediaeval style.
Here, then, is an opportunity to approach the study of architecture with buildings of every period at hand for illustrations ; I have tried to show how they may be used to illustrate the development of the science from primitive to modern times.
My main purpose has been less to describe the characteristics of the work of different dates than to attempt to trace through the successive styles a continuous line of evolution. Therefore, minute descriptions of details that the reader may observe for himself are unnecessary ; the aim was rather to inquire into their origins and functions, and to follow the history of their development.
This book is, in its small way, an attempt to apply to the study of architecture the methods of modern biology : to trace the origin and development of architectural forms ; to explain their functions and their interrelations ; and to seek out the causes that modified them and controlled their development.
I have tried to apply the evolutionary method to the study of architecture, and to show that in the history of building, as in that of organic life, there is a single primitive type from which all later forms were evolved ; that all the varied styles belong to one or other of a few great branches ; that the line of progress is from simple to complex, from the lowly organism to the high ; from the undifferentiated form to the specialized, from the rudimentary to the highly developed ; and that the changes that mark that progress were the results, not of changing fashions or of the caprice of individual architects, but of the pressure of new circumstances." (Preface)
https://archive.org/details/storyarchitectu00lambgoog
https://archive.org/details/storyofarchitect00lambuoft/page/n3/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/storyofarchitect00lambrich/page/n3/mode/2up
The Rudiments Of Criticism (1916)
https://archive.org/details/cu31924027091804/page/n3/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/rudimentsofcriti00lamb/page/n3/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/rudimentsofcriti00lambrich/page/n3/mode/2up
Expression In Speech And Writing (1922)
https://archive.org/details/cu31924027198211/page/n3/mode/2up
Shakespeare: The Man And His Stage (1923) · With G. B. Harrison (1894–1991)
https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.239496/page/n5/mode/2up
https://archive.org/details/shakespearemanhi0000lamb/page/n7/mode/2up
Towns And Town-Planning: Ancient & Modern (1923) · With Thomas Harold Hughes (1887–1949)
https://books.google.gr/books/about/Towns_and_Town_planning_Ancient_Modern.html?id=g40FAAAAMAAJ&redir_esc=y
https://books.google.gr/books?id=99kgAAAAMAAJ&hl=el&source=gbs_book_other_versions
https://books.google.gr/books?id=aftCAQAAIAAJ&hl=el&source=gbs_book_other_versions
https://books.google.gr/books?id=avsjAAAAMAAJ&hl=el&source=gbs_book_other_versions