The word ‘Regency’ has long been associated with elegance. Period dramas focus upon fashionably-dressed ladies and gentlemen promenading along streets lined with refined terraced housing. Hotels and businesses in old spa towns and seaside resorts use the word because of its strong appeal to tourists, whilst companies adopt it to convey that their products or services are of a certain quality.
The late Georgian period when the Prince Regent governed in the absence of his ailing father was a time of industrial revolution, rapid developments in transport, global expansion of commerce and trade, and ground breaking legislation, including the abolition of slavery. These changes created an unprecedented demand for new houses and offered a multitude of choices as to how to decorate them. The Regency era was far more than just elegant though: it was exotic, historic, technological, innovative and, at times, quite bizarre. This is reflected in the variety of distinctive forms and styles which characterise buildings from this period.
Underlying this variety, however, were certain styles and materials which are typical of the thousands of terraces and villas erected by builders in this period. This book sets out to put these early 19th-century fashions into context, explaining their background, describing the features and introducing the most notable architects involved. It illustrates the details from these houses to help the reader recognise them and gives clues to appropriate fixtures and fittings for those considering renovating a Regency home. This is all done with the aid of my own drawings, photographs and clearly-labelled elevations.
For anyone who simply wants to recognise the style, understand the contribution of key characters and appreciate what makes Regency houses special, this book is a colourful and an easy-to-follow introduction to the subject.
Trevor Yorke
www.trevoryorke.co.uk