The Castles on the Ground

The Anatomy of Suburbia

'There is the puzzle which it is the purpose of this book to try to elucidate. On the one hand, we have the alleged deficiencies of suburban taste; on the other we have the appeal it holds for ninety out of a hundred Englishmen, an appeal which cannot be explained away as some strange instance of mass aberration...'

Sir James Richards (1907-1992), editor of the Architectural Review for 34 years, was arguably the leading advocate in Britain for the modern movement in architecture. The Castles on the Ground (1946) constitutes Richards' argument for and appreciation of the virtues of the built environment and the architectural aesthetic of suburbia. Concise and elegantly phrased, the volume is further blessed with superb illustrations by John Piper.