Bardwell, William — Temples Ancient And Modern, Or Notes On Church Architecture

Printed for the author, and sold by James Fraser, Regebt Street; and John Williams, Charles Street, Soho Square 1937 1st edition. Orginal cloth, VG. xvi+234pp. engraved frontis, engraved title, letterpress title, 13 engraved plates, 1 chromo plate and numerous woodcut illustrations, The cloth is a little rubbed at the edges & there is some spotting & foxing to the plates. Spine expertly rebacked. Overall a nice copy of a scarce book. William Bardwell [ 1795 - 1890 ] was an architect & sanitary engineer who seems to have devoted much of his carreer to the Victorian Passion for 'improving' existing buildings. In this book, which he published at his own expense, he displays, after a historical survey of Church Architecture several ideas & designs for enlarging & improving London's City churches. He dislikes Wren 'notwithstanding his errors of detail' and states that it is the Classical Italian which befits the Protestant Church Building. He designed Glenstal Abbey School in a mock medieval style, and many other minor public buildings.