There’s plenty of tomes on the market describing our city’s buildings. A search on Amazon for the term ‘London architecture’ yields 1070 results. Into this crowded marketplace - one of the few not designed by Horace Jones - steps the London Atlas of Architecture.
It’s a highly visual guide with up to eight photographs per page and plenty of maps. Section one is a chronology of architecture, spanning 1800 years from the Roman wall to the Gherkin. True megastars, such as St Pauls, the Palace of Westminster and, yes, that Gherkin again, get there own special pull out sections where the design is covered in more depth.
The second section takes Greater London by borough, and highlights some of the regional buildings not covered in the general chronology.
The final chunk of the book arranges buildings by theme, such as stations, churches and museums. Best-in-class are again given pull out pages where the reader can find out more.
As a visual and structured introduction to the bricks and mortar we call London, this book impresses, and would make the perfect present for someone new to the city. For the more familiar citizen, it adds little other than slick presentation to a well-trodden subject.
London Atlas of Architecture By Alejandro Bahamon is published by Anova Books and is currently £14 on Amazon.co.uk
