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 Photo books  |   Architecture

Liverpool was European Capital of Culture in 2008

Anyone interested in its architectural history could do no better than locate a copy of 'Seaport', a justly famous book by the late Quentin Hughes.  Go for the 1993 reprint rather than the first edition as it contains important revisions & additions by Hughes before he died.   Abebooks is a good place to start...

Any number of books published by the Bluecoat Press (on an almost daily basis, it sometimes seems...) are also worth looking at.

And if you want to see a gorilla using a compact mirror to apply lipstick, then you'll have to track down a wonderfully informative book known as WINNT - still available (2016...) direct from the author, Andrew Richardson, in Liverpool.  (OK - it's in Cavern Walks and you have to do what too few people do these days: look up...)

 Buildings of Liverpool 
Before we leave Liverpool I should point out that I am in the process (still, in 2020) of creating an online version of 'Buildings of Liverpool' by the long defunct Liverpool Heritage Bureau.  More effort is now expended chasing EU handouts to build yet more premium office & retail space.  Looking after heritage assets is, well, old now...

And why shouldn't I stir it a bit?  I am (almost) a Scouser after all...
Ian Nairn created a bit of a stir way back in 1955, the waves of which are still, if not actually felt, often referred to.  He wandered across Britain raging against what he termed 'Subtopia', like an angry version of Betjeman with a pint of beer in hand rather than a sherry glass.  This book - really little more than a bound copy of a 1955 issue of Architectural Review - sets out his forthright views.  If you want a copy now you might have to shell out some serious money.

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 © Andy Hibbert 2021