The Cottage in Interwar England - (Architectural History of the British Isles) by George Entwistle (Hardcover)

Book Synopsis

The 20 years between First and Second World Wars were a time of dramatic development for English people and their homes. By the end of the 1930s, one family in three was living in an interwar house. But one thing that did not change was the sentimental affection of the English for the idea of the cottage picturesque - a problematic continuity, with class and cultural dimensions, that inflected English domestic architecture long after the theorisation of the Picturesque in the 1790s.

This book explores the powerful hold on the national imagination of cottage architecture in the interwar period and its hitherto under-examined influence on the politics and aesthetics of class, council housing, conservation, and on the 1920s and 1930s boom in speculative house-building. The book examines the relationships between working-class council houses specifically steered away from looking like the cottage picturesque; traditional cottages appropriated by middle-class weekenders, adopted by conservationists, and mythologised by politicians in the 1920s; new-build speculative housing that the public bought (in the 1920s and 1930s) and architects deprecated because it was designed to evoke the cottage; and early modernist houses, celebrated by architects but treated with suspicion by the public because their aesthetics were at odds with the Picturesque tradition.

Review Quotes

'an excellent tome ... [which] fills a very large hole in the literature... [and] gains much by the number of illustrations showing drawings with plans' - James Stevens Curl, The Critic

'Lavishly illustrated and profoundly researched, George Entwistle's brilliant new book will transform our understanding of something so commonplace that it would be easy to overlook. The interwar cottage is ubiquitous in Britain. Neglected by scholars and long sneered at by the cognoscenti, it becomes in his hands a fascinating way of thinking about architectural, social, and cultural history.' - The Revd Professor William Whyte, Professor of Social and Architectural History, Fellow and Tutor in History, St John's College, University of Oxford

'This is a fascinating exploration of the English passion for the cottage and the part it plays in our social history, a microcosm of complex class structures. George Entwistle's subtle and comprehensive analysis is enhanced throughout by entertaining illustrations and cartoons.' - Martha Kearney, journalist and broadcaster

About the Author

George Entwistle worked at the BBC for 23 years, including stints as editor of Newsnight, launch editor of The Culture Show, head of TV Current Affairs, controller of Factual TV, and Director of Television. Since leaving the BBC, he has worked as a freelance TV executive producer and in the charity sector as a trustee for the Georgian Group and the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain. He is currently Vice-Chair of the online visual art charity Art UK. He completed a DPhil (2016-22) in architectural history at Worcester College, University of Oxford.