A History of Western Architecture is a textbook by British architectural historian David Watkin, first published in 1986. The seventh edition (2023) was revised and expanded by Owen Hopkins.[1] The book is known for emphasising the classical tradition's importance for later architecture.
 Front cover of 1992 paperback version of 1st edition | |
| Author | David Watkin |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Subject | History of architecture |
| Genre | Textbook |
| Published | 1986 (original) 2023 (7th ed.) |
| Publisher | Thames & Hudson (original), Laurence King Publishing (7th ed.) |
| Pages | 591 (original) 752 (7th ed.) |
| ISBN | 978-1529420302 |
Contents
editAs of the fourth edition (2005), the book has 11 chapters:[2]
- Mesopotamia and Egypt
- The Classical Foundation: Greek, Hellenistic, Roman
- Early Christian and Byzantine
- Carolingian and Romanesque
- The Gothic Experiment
- Renaissance Harmony
- Baroque Expansion
- Eighteenth-Century Classicism
- The Nineteenth Century
- Art Nouveau
- The Twentieth Century and Beyond
Publication
editSeven editions have been published as of 2024[update]. The seventh was revised and expanded in 2023 following Watkin's death in 2018 by Owen Hopkins, another British architectural historian. By then, a chapter on 21st-century architecture had split off the 20th-century one.[1] Translations have been published in multiple languages such as Dutch.[3]
Reception
editBy the 2000s, Watkin's textbook became widely used in architectural schools in the Netherlands and Belgium for the standard introductory survey course on the history of Western architecture. In a 2002 article, architectural historians Hilde Heynen and Krista de Jonge noted that the textbook's use along with a few other standard ones promoted a standardization of the taught architectural canon of a small set of buildings that illustrated recognized periods of architectural history. At the same time, these schools were trying to move away from a standard canon.[3]
British art historian Deborah Howard recommended A History of Western Architecture as a survey reference textbook in 2002.[4]
Citations
edit- ^ a b "A History of Western Architecture Seventh Edition".
- ^ Watkin 2005, p. 5.
- ^ a b Heynen & de Jonge 2002, p. 337.
- ^ Howard 2002, p. 352.
Bibliography
edit- Clement, Russell T. (August 1, 2011). "Watkin, David. A History of Western Architecture". Library Journal. 136 (13): 92.
- Goss, Peter L. (1988). "Review: A History of Western Architecture by David Watkin". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 47 (1): 79–80. doi:10.2307/990261. JSTOR 990261. Retrieved 2024-05-13.
- Heynen, Hilde; de Jonge, Krista (September 2002). "The Teaching of Architectural History and Theory in Belgium and the Netherlands". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 61 (3): 335–345. doi:10.2307/991787. JSTOR 991787.
- Howard, Deborah (September 2002). "Teaching Architectural History in Great Britain and Australia: Local Conditions and Global Perspectives". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 61 (3): 346–354. doi:10.2307/991788. JSTOR 991788.
- Watkin, David (2005). A History of Western Architecture (4th ed.). London: Laurence King Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85669-459-9.