BREMNER, G.A.
Victorian Architecture presents a new and refreshing overview of nineteenth- and early twentieth-century architecture in Britain and the wider British world. The Victorian period witnessed the beginnings of what today would be described as the global architectural practice. Architects inhabiting this world, or designing for it, were creating new and hybrid forms of Victorian architecture, continuously, in multiple locations. New efficiencies brought by technological advancements such as steam-powered locomotion enabled the Victorian building industry to revolutionise in terms of scale, precision, and variety. As many of the buildings examined here reveal, at the foundation of this revolution was a significant transformation in the supply and conversion of energy. Materials used in construction often come from far away and were procured under increasingly mechanised conditions, entailing the consumption of fossil-fuels in huge, unprecedented quantities. Markets for these materials also multiplied during the period, with companies producing and exporting products as diverse as cast-iron, encaustic tiles,
