Victorian Architecture in London and Southwestern Ontario

Joan McGrath is a Toronto Board of Education library consultant.

Victorian Architecture in London and Southwestern Ontario is a masterful exposition of the spirit of an empire-building, self-confident age as exemplified in its handsome, often exuberant architecture.

On a site selected in 1793 by Lieutenant-Governor Colonel John Graves Simcoe, London evolved first as an administrative centre, with a stately stone and brick courthouse at its heart, then as a thriving city that grew in durable stone and concrete after a disastrous fire destroyed most of the city’s wooden buildings in 1845.

Magnificent architectural drawings conjure up the ghosts of some of the vanished treasures of the city, many of which remain, and black-and-white photographs accompany the artists’ conceptions. The work of the most prominent architectural firm in Victorian London, that of Robinson, Tracy, Durand and Moore, is explored in some depth. The authors provide the historical and artistic background for the theories that shaped architectural design of the period, and the witty text is a worthy accompaniment to the exquisite drawings and photographs.

This handsomely designed work features churches, stores, private homes, indeed every form of architecture up to and including a fanciful mausoleum. Additional material includes a glossary, abbreviations, sources for attribution and dating of featured buildings, notes, and an index.