England’s Architecture

The author creates a chronological presentation of what brought about England’s contribution to architectural theory. The author believed that England’s architecture started only in the beginnings of the eighteenth century since before that, architectures are mainly adaptation of Italian and other foreign works. English architecture is presented as something that moves towards practicality rather than aesthetics. The passage tries to undermine the connections that eighteenth century architects tried to establish and express in their works, between nature and architecture. Primarily, the author mentioned, that the home is seldom compared to natural things such as the human body. Although there has been a disagreement on the use of ornaments and decors, Gothic architecture was slowly rejected. It was replaced by emphasis on geometrical configurations that stress on harmony and proportion. Architects tried to re-establish the works of the past by reconstructing and understanding how history significantly affects the designs and taste that were popular during their time. While architects tried to compare themselves with others especially those before them, they also assert themselves by trying to change something and incorporate another idea creating their own style. The way that England develops their own architecture is a vivid and long process that tries to extend personal ideas to others work, and then analyze what works best. All in all, England’s architecture seems to fit roughly as simple and practical since emphasis is given to ‘naturalness and symmetry’. Towards the end of the passage, the author mentioned that architects turned to study other culture’s architecture such as Chinese and Gothic styles that both uses decorations and ornaments. In the end of eighteenth century focus on ‘convenience’ identifying space and practicality while incorporating necessary decorations to produce symmetry and regularity are the basic standards of England’s architecture.