New Book | The Idea of the Cottage in English Architecture, 1760–1860
From Taylor & Francis:
Daniel Maudlin, The Idea of the Cottage in English Architecture, 1760–1860 (New York: Routledge, 2015), 212 pages, ISBN: 978-1138793873, $160.
The Idea of the Cottage in English Architecture is a history of the late Georgian phenomenon of the architect-designed cottage and the architectural discourse that articulated it. It is a study of small buildings built on country estates, and not so small buildings built in picturesque rural settings, resort towns and suburban developments.
At the heart of the English idea of the cottage is the Classical notion of retreat from the city to the countryside. This idea was adopted and adapted by the Augustan-infused culture of eighteenth-century England where it gained popularity with writers, artists, architects and their wealthy patrons who from the later eighteenth century commissioned retreats, gate-lodges, estate workers’ housing and seaside villas designed to ‘appear as cottages’.
The enthusiasm for cottages within polite society did not last. By the mid-nineteenth century, cottage-related building and book publishing had slowed and the idea of the cottage itself was eventually lost beneath the Tudor barge-boards and decorative chimneystacks of the Historic Revival. And yet while both designer and consumer have changed over time, the idea of the cottage as the ideal rural retreat continues to resonate through English architecture and English culture.
Daniel Maudlin is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Plymouth. He has previously held positions at Plymouth School of Architecture, Design and Environment, Dalhousie University, the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Glasgow. From farmhouses in Nova Scotia to aristocratic retreats on English country estates, his work focuses on the social meanings of design and the consumption of domestic architecture in the early modern British Atlantic world. He also writes on architectural theory, modern vernaculars and the everyday.
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C O N T E N T S
1 The Cottage, Rural Retreat and the Simple Life
2 The Cottage in English Architecture
3 The Architect-Designed Cottage
4 The Cottage in Arcadia
5 Architects, Patrons and Connoisseurs
6 Habitations of the Labourer
7 The Appreciation of Cottages
8 Re-Imagining the Vernacular
9 The Cottage Ornée
10 The Cottages of Old England
Fellowships | Bard Graduate Center Research Fellowships
From BGC:
Bard Graduate Center Research Fellowship for 2016–17
Bard Graduate Center invites scholars from university, museum, and independent backgrounds with a PhD or equivalent professional experience to apply for funded research fellowships, to be held during the 2016–2017 academic year. The fellowships are intended to fund collections-based research at Bard Graduate Center or elsewhere in New York, as well as writing or reading projects in which being part of Bard Graduate Center’s dynamic research environment is intellectually valuable. Eligible disciplines and fields of study include—but are not limited to—art history, architecture and design history, economic and cultural history, history of technology, philosophy, anthropology, and archaeology.
The stipend rate is $3,500 per month, and housing is available. Both long- and short-term fellowships are available (for example, 6, 4 and 2 months). The timing of dates will be negotiated with individual awardees. Fellows will be given a workspace in the Bard Graduate Center Research Center at 38 West 86th Street, between Columbus Avenue and Central Park West, in New York City.
Bard Graduate Center is a graduate research institute devoted to the study of the decorative arts, design history, and material culture, drawing on methodologies and approaches from art history, economic and cultural history, history of technology, philosophy, anthropology, and archaeology. It offers MA and PhD degrees, possesses a specialized library of 60,000 volumes exclusive of serials, and publishes West 86th: A Journal of Decorative Arts, Design History and Material Culture and Cultural Histories of the Material World (both with The University of Chicago Press), and the catalogues that accompany the four exhibitions it presents every year in its Gallery space (with Yale University Press). Over 50 research seminars, lectures and symposia are scheduled annually and are live-streamed around the world on Bard Graduate Center’s YouTube channel.
To apply, please submit the following materials electronically, via email to fellowships@bgc.bard.edu, in a single PDF file: (1) cover letter explaining why Bard Graduate Center is an appropriate research affiliation and indicating the preferred length and dates of the fellowship; (2) detailed project description; (3) CV; (4) publication or academic writing sample of approximately 20-30 pages. In addition, please arrange for two letters of reference to be submitted either via email (to fellowships@bgc.bard.edu) or post (to Bard Graduate Center, Research Fellowship Committee, c/o Dean Elena Pinto Simon, 38 West 86th Street, New York, NY, 10024). All materials must be received by November 15, 2015. Incomplete or late applications will not be considered. Please direct questions to the Research Fellowship Committee via email (fellowships@bgc.bard.edu).
Bard Graduate Center does not reimburse fellows for travel, relocation, or visa-related costs in connection with this fellowship award. Also, please note that the fellowship stipend and the value of the provided housing may be subject to taxes for both US citizens and non-US citizens in accordance with US tax code. Fellowships are awarded without regard to race, color, gender, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, age, or disability. Please also see our Frequently Asked Questions page.
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