London's Houses

Shutting the door on the world outside and embarking on a journey through an historic house releases the magic of time travel. It's an opportunity to recreate imaginatively a specific era peopled by characters whose lives can only be guessed at, or to rerun incidents from a well-known biography in their setting. London has an amazing range of houses regularly open to the public, and this book covers them all. Architects from Robert Adam to Erno Goldfinger are represented. In social terms, the spectrum runs from the destitute who filled the workhouse now known as Vestry House in Walthamstow to aristocrats and royalty busily building and coupling in Kensington and Twickenham. With architectural and social history, biographies and practical information, this book provides everything visitors need to plan a trip back through the centuries.