One of the great rewards of writing a book is the multitude of intriguing conversations one enters into along the way. A book like this one, ranging across different fields of inquiry through different periods and written over a number of years, affords many chances to meet, talk to, argue with, and listen to perceptive and intellectually generous people whose cumulative contribution to the final book has been very great indeed. In a variety of convivial settings—a unique farmhouse and archive in Somerset, classrooms in Toronto, restaurants in Manhattan and London, and even a cemetery in Stockholm—I have benefitted enormously from the insights of scholars and students at the Courtauld Institute of Art, the KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Oxford University, Columbia GSAAP, Princeton University, the University of Michigan, and the University of Toronto. Colleagues and audiences at meetings of the Society of Architectural Historians, the European Architectural History Network, Nordik, and the Architectural Humanities Research Association also provided helpful responses and criticism that guided me as I refined my arguments. I am indebted to all the people who invited me to speak about this research and all those who were willing to listen.
The materials for this book could not have been accessed, let alone assembled and interpreted, without the assistance of a number of archivists and librarians whose professionalism and enthusiasm, in equal measure, must be recognized and lauded. My sincere gratitude, therefore, to the staff at the London Metropolitan Archives, the National Archives in Kew, the Soane Museum, the RIBA Drawings and Archives Collection at the V&A Museum, and the Huntington Library. Additional thanks to the Diocese of London for permission to consult restricted materials in the London Metropolitan Archives. My work in these various settings, along with that most valuable commodity—time for writing—were made possible by funding generously provided by the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, the Huntington Library, the MacDowell Colony, and the Clarence H. Blackall Career Development Associate Professorship at MIT.
I have been very lucky to have been surrounded by inspiring colleagues in several different settings within which I work. The faculty and students in the Department of Architecture at MIT, and especially my colleagues in the History Theory Criticism group, should take credit for challenging me with the example of their own work, erudition, and curiosity. My colleagues in the Aggregate Architectural History Collaborative have also put forward a challenge, with their willingness to present their scholarship and to review my own, and to ask questions and offer critiques and advice on matters small and large. Students have been absolutely indispensable aides as well, in seminar discussions and in providing uncomplaining help with research tasks, some of them (I hope) rewarding but some of them (I admit) mundane. A wonderful editor, Michelle Komie, and her colleagues at Princeton University Press, Pamela Weidman, Karen Carter, and Steven Sears, have provided expertise, wisdom, and energy for the latter stages of the book’s realization. The efforts and contributions of all of these people and institutions are present throughout the book, though only its author is to be blamed for any of its shortcomings.
These professional settings are, of course, accompanied by a personal setting without which this book never could have been written, friends and family who have given me boosts of morale, cautions against tunnel vision, and gifts of patience. Thank you most of all to Sarah, Elias, and India, and to my late aunt and uncle, Patricia Squires and Jack Squires, who helped me see London in endlessly novel ways.