The Architecture of the British Museum By Steven Brindle
The development of the British Museum, our greatest Greek Revival monument, spans the late Georgian, Victorian and Edwardian ages. Smirke’s quadrangular design arose from the restricted site, but also reflected a specific ideological outlook: if either of his colleagues John Nash and John Soane had been in charge, the museum would have turned out very differently. The result was a compromised masterpiece, that was heavily altered within a few years of its completion. Steven Brindle, who has published widely on the history of architecture, considers Smirke’s design, the ideology that produced it, and its strange later history up to the Great Court project, which triumphantly recovered the essence of his plan.
Image: The British Museum entrance. Photo By Ham – Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0.
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Institution or Organization name - The Victorian Society
