''Nairn's London'' is a 1966 book about the

architecture of London London's architectural heritage consists of buildings from a wide variety of styles and historical periods. London's distinctive architectural eclecticism stems from its long history, continual redevelopment, destruction by the Great Fire of Lon ...

. It is authored by British writer

Ian Nairn Ian Douglas Nairn (24 August 1930 – 14 August 1983) was a British architectural critic who coined the word "Subtopia" to indicate drab suburbs that look identical through unimaginative town-planning. He published two strongly personalised cr ...

and this is the work for which he is the best known. Architecture critic

Jonathan Meades Jonathan Turner Meades (born 21 January 1947) is an English writer and film-maker. His work spans journalism, fiction, essays, memoir and over fifty television films, many for the BBC. He has described himself as a "cardinal of atheism" and i ...

has praised the work as an "imperious mongrel: part vade-mecum, part polemic, part poetic contemplation, part deflected autobiography and part conversation with himself – wholly original" and "the testament of a man steeped in London". Nairn himself described it as a "personal list of the best things in London" and a "record of what has moved me between

Uxbridge Uxbridge () is a suburban town in west London, England, and the administrative headquarters of the London Borough of Hillingdon, northwest of Charing Cross. Uxbridge formed part of the parish of Hillingdon in the county of Middlesex. As part ...

and

Dagenham Dagenham () is a town in East London, England, within the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham. Dagenham is centred east of Charing Cross. It was historically a rural parish in the Becontree Hundred of Essex, stretching from Hainault Fo ...

." ''Nairn's London'' drifted in and out of print in the decades following its publication but became a cult classic. It was regularly recommended by American film critic

Roger Ebert Roger Joseph Ebert ( ; June 18, 1942 – April 4, 2013) was an American Film criticism, film critic, film historian, journalist, essayist, screenwriter and author. He wrote for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' from 1967 until his death in 2013. Eber ...

to students seeking to improve their prose, and he wrote an introduction for the book in a 2002 printing. Ebert, however, had to caveat his recommendation with an acknowledgement that it was, at that time, difficult to obtain a copy. That relative scarcity continued until the 2010s, with high prices for second-hand copies. Since 2013, there has been a major revival of interest in Nairn and his work, leading to a 2014 reprinting of ''Nairn's London'' by the book's publisher,

Penguin Books Penguin Books Limited is a Germany, German-owned English publishing, publishing house. It was co-founded in 1935 by Allen Lane with his brothers Richard and John, as a line of the publishers the Bodley Head, only becoming a separate company the ...

Background

Ian Nairn was born in 1930 in

Bedford Bedford is a market town in Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population was 106,940. Bedford is the county town of Bedfordshire and seat of the Borough of Bedford local government district. Bedford was founded at a ford (crossin ...

, a town he would later claim to be the "most characterless

county town In Great Britain and Ireland, a county town is usually the location of administrative or judicial functions within a county, and the place where public representatives are elected to parliament. Following the establishment of county councils in ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

". On his deathbed, at

Cromwell Hospital The Cromwell Hospital is a private sector hospital located in the South Kensington area of London. It is operated by international healthcare company Bupa. History The hospital, which was designed by Holder Mathias, was established by Bank of ...

in London, he told the doctors that he had been born in

Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...

. He served in the RAF as a pilot and studied

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

Birmingham University The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. He later moved into architectural criticism, coining the influential term "subtopia" in the

Architectural Review ''The Architectural Review'' is a monthly international architectural magazine. It has been published in London since 1896. Its articles cover the built environment – which includes landscape, building design, interior design and urbanism � ...

in 1955 to describe the drab failures of British town planning in the postwar period. That earned him considerable attention in the press. He also co-authored the magisterial

Pevsner Architectural Guides The ''Pevsner Architectural Guides'' are four series of guide books to the architecture of the British Isles. ''The Buildings of England'' series was begun in 1945 by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, with its forty-six original volumes pu ...

for

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and

Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...

. He worked with his second wife, Judy Perry, on the writing of the ''Surrey'' guide, and its dust cover noted that the "only way she could ensure the volume's appearance on time was to marry him." When ''Nairn's London'' was published, he had lived in London for less than ten years. Nairn would also go on to host a series of BBC travel programmes around the UK. He wrote extensively on

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

as well, publishing a sequel to ''London'' in 1968. Before writing his ''London'', Nairn had earlier written a book about the modern architecture of the capital, ''Modern Buildings In London'' (1964). He was originally quite optimistic about the prospects of postwar modernism to positively reshape Britain's cities, but though the 1960s, his attitude became much more negative. He dismissed much recent architecture in a fiery 1966 article in ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. In 1993 it was acquired by Guardian Media Group Limited, and operated as a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' ...

'' as "a soggy, shoddy mass of half-digested clichés", leading to Lord Esher, then President of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three suppl ...

, to (unsuccessfully) call for his dismissal from that newspaper. He died less than two decades after the publication of ''Nairn's London'' of

alcoholism Alcoholism is the continued drinking of alcohol despite it causing problems. Some definitions require evidence of dependence and withdrawal. Problematic use of alcohol has been mentioned in the earliest historical records. The World He ...

at the age of 53. The book contains almost 30 entries for pubs and a postscript on London's breweries. His favorite was Fuller's London Pride then sold primarily in West London.

The book is composed of 450 descriptions of various London buildings, including parish churches,

pubs A pub (short for public house) is in several countries a drinking establishment licensed to serve alcoholic drinks for consumption Licensing laws of the United Kingdom#On-licence, on the premises. The term first appeared in England in the ...

, office buildings, bridges, monuments, markets, monuments, homes, as well as traditional tourist draws. ''Nairn's London'' extends far beyond the urban core and stretches from

, roughly corresponding to the borders of

Greater London Greater London is an administrative area in England, coterminous with the London region, containing most of the continuous urban area of London. It contains 33 local government districts: the 32 London boroughs, which form a Ceremonial count ...

. The book is divided into eleven sections: #

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

Westminster Westminster is the main settlement of the City of Westminster in Central London, Central London, England. It extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street and has many famous landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, ...

# The Northern Ring:

Paddington Paddington is an area in the City of Westminster, in central London, England. A medieval parish then a metropolitan borough of the County of London, it was integrated with Westminster and Greater London in 1965. Paddington station, designed b ...

Finsbury Finsbury is a district of Central London, forming the southeastern part of the London Borough of Islington. It borders the City of London. The Manorialism, Manor of Finsbury is first recorded as ''Vinisbir'' (1231) and means "manor of a man c ...

South Bank The South Bank is an entertainment and commercial area on the south bank of the River Thames, in the London Borough of Lambeth, central London, England. The South Bank is not formally defined, but is generally understood to be situated betwe ...

# Kensington and Chelsea # Thames-Side West:

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

to Staines # East End and East London:

Whitechapel Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

# Thames-Side East:

Deptford Deptford is an area on the south bank of the River Thames in southeast London, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich and London Borough of Lewisham. It is named after a Ford (crossing), ford of the River Ravensbourne. From the mid 16th century ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

Bromley Bromley is a large town in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Bromley. It is southeast of Charing Cross, and had an estimated population of 88,000 as of 2023. Originally part of Kent, Bromley became a market town, charte ...

North London North London is the northern part of London, England, north of the River Thames and the City of London. It extends from Clerkenwell and Finsbury, on the edge of the City of London financial district, to Greater London's boundary with Hertfordshi ...

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, England, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, located mainly in the London Borough of Camden, with a small part in the London Borough of Barnet. It borders Highgate and Golders Green to the north, Belsiz ...

Watford Watford () is a town and non-metropolitan district with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of Central London, on the banks of the River Colne, Hertfordshire, River Colne. Initially a smal ...

West London West London is the western part of London, England, north of the River Thames, west of the City of London, and extending to the Greater London boundary. The term is used to differentiate the area from the other parts of London: Central London, N ...

Kensal Green Kensal Green, also known as Kensal Rise, is an area in north-west London, and along with Kensal Town, it forms part of the northern section of North Kensington, London, North Kensington. It lies north of the canal in the London Borough of Brent ...

to London Airport There are 89 black-and-white illustrations in the book, of which 82 were photographs taken by the author. The book was edited by David Thomson at

. Entries are typically between a third to half of a page long, with the notable exception of the one on

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

that covers twelve pages. The style is idiosyncratic. His entry on

St George's, Bloomsbury St George's, Bloomsbury, is a parish church in Bloomsbury, London Borough of Camden, United Kingdom. It was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and consecrated in 1730. The church crypt houses the #Museum of Comedy, Museum of Comedy. History The C ...

, for example, does not actually focus on the Georgian church designed by

Nicholas Hawksmoor Nicholas Hawksmoor ( – 25 March 1736) was an English architect. He was a leading figure of the English Baroque style of architecture in the late-seventeenth and early-eighteenth centuries. Hawksmoor worked alongside the principal architects ...

. Instead it follows the course of the alleyway next to it that he argues, with six steps and a sharp corner, "has the drama of a full symphonic movement, charged up by the stupendous classical detail that bores a hole in your right flank". He noted that an elephant on the

Albert Memorial The Albert Memorial is a Gothic Revival Ciborium (architecture), ciborium in Kensington Gardens, London, designed and dedicated to the memory of Albert, Prince Consort, Prince Albert of Great Britain. Located directly north of the Royal Albert Ha ...

has "a backside just like a businessman scrambling under a restaurant table for his cheque-book." He particularly enjoys

Sir John Soane's Museum Sir John Soane's Museum is a Historic house museum, house museum, located next to Lincoln's Inn Fields in Holborn, London, which was formerly the home of Neoclassical architecture, neo-classical architect John Soane. It holds many drawings and ...

which he terms "an experience to be had in London and nowhere else, worth travelling across a continent to see in the same way as the

Sistine Chapel The Sistine Chapel ( ; ; ) is a chapel in the Apostolic Palace, the pope's official residence in Vatican City. Originally known as the ''Cappella Magna'' ('Great Chapel'), it takes its name from Pope Sixtus IV, who had it built between 1473 and ...

or the

Isenheim altarpiece The ''Isenheim Altarpiece'' is an altarpiece sculpted and painted by, respectively, the Germans Nikolaus Hagenauer, Nikolaus of Haguenau and Matthias Grünewald in 1512–1516. It is on display at the Unterlinden Museum at Colmar, Alsace, in Fra ...

". The book is dedicated to Sir John Nash, as well as to his publisher, and he contends that the "generalized sense of the capital" is "almost entirely due to the genius of John Nash", singling out

Regent's Park Regent's Park (officially The Regent's Park) is one of the Royal Parks of London. It occupies in north-west Inner London, administratively split between the City of Westminster and the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden (and historical ...

and

Carlton House Terrace Carlton House Terrace is a street in the St James's district of the City of Westminster in London. Its principal architectural feature is a pair of terraces, the Western and Eastern terraces, of white stucco-faced houses on the south side of ...

for particular praise. The book is more mixed on postwar modernism. He writes appreciatively about the work of

Denys Lasdun Sir Denys Louis Lasdun, CH, CBE, RA (8 September 1914, Kensington, London – 11 January 2001, Fulham, London) was an eminent English architect, the son of Nathan Lasdun (1879–1920) and Julie (''née'' Abrahams; 1884–1963). Probably his b ...

but is dismissive of the Loughborough Estate as an "arid geometrical exercise" and the

Alton Estate The Alton Estate is a very large council estate situated in Roehampton, southwest London. One of the largest council estates in the UK, it occupies an extensive area of land west of Roehampton village and runs between the Roehampton Lane throug ...

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, sharing its SW15 postcode with neighbouring Putney and Kingston Vale, and takes up a far western strip, running north to south, in the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large counc ...

as a place where the "eye of technique and elegance in individual buildings is wide open; the eye of understanding and feeling for a total place is firmly shut".

Reception and legacy

In the 1966 review of the book in

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

, Nairn is described as playing "the part of (yet another) enfant terrible of his profession" and being "of blood and, yes, guts, and beer, in full swing". That review goes on to say that the book was "necessary for all who love London, though they fall dead from apoplexy reading it", as Nairn attacks many of the capital's most respected buildings, including

Bedford Square Bedford Square is a garden square in the Bloomsbury district of the London Borough of Camden, Borough of Camden in London, England. History Built between 1775 and 1783 as an upper middle class residential area, the square has had many disti ...

and

Horse Guards Parade Horse Guards Parade is a large Military parade, parade ground off Whitehall in central London (at British national grid reference system, grid reference ). It is the site of the annual ceremonies of Trooping the Colour, which commemorates the K ...

David McKie David McKie (born 1935) is a British journalist and historian. He was deputy editor of ''The Guardian'' and continued to write a weekly column for that paper until 4 October 2007, called "Elsewhere". Until 10 September 2005, he also wrote a sec ...

wrote in 2014 that the book's relatively obscurity until recently had much to do with London's transformations since the 1960s. He contended that the decision to not print any more copies was "no doubt on the bleakly practical calculation that London today is no longer ''Nairn's London''" In 2014, it was republished with identical text and typeface by Penguin to glowing reviews, with

writing that it was a "Horatian monument in words more lasting than bronze" and a "funny and poetic, highly subjective and slightly mad" depiction of the metropolis.

Rachel Cooke Rachel Cooke (born 1969) is a British journalist and writer. Early life Cooke was born in Sheffield, England, and is the daughter of a university lecturer in botany and a biology teacher. She went to school in Jaffa, Israel, until she was 11 ...

said it was the book she most wanted for Christmas 2014, saying it was the "best short book about the capital ever written". A 2017 review in

The New Criterion ''The New Criterion'' is a New York–based monthly literary magazine and journal of artistic and cultural criticism, edited by Roger Kimball (editor and publisher) and James Panero (executive editor). It has sections for criticism of poetry ...

said that it was a "a sort of bleary-eyed love letter to the buildings that define the city" and that it offered an alternative future for London.

Owen Hatherley Owen Hatherley (born 24 July 1981) is a British writer and journalist based in London who writes primarily on architecture, politics and culture. Early life Hatherley was born on 24 July 1981, in Southampton, growing up in a 1930s suburban esta ...

has written that Nairn was "arguably the finest architectural writer of the twentieth century" and that Nairn's "masterpiece" was "a work of architectural criticism and architectural history of huge sophistication and erudition, a rum, bawdy, and drunken dance up a back alley, a hymn to those rare moments where the individual and the collective meet." The book is regularly cited in disputes over planning and

historic preservation Historic preservation (US), built heritage preservation or built heritage conservation (UK) is an endeavor that seeks to preserve, conserve and protect buildings, objects, landscapes or other artifacts of historical significance. It is a philos ...

in London, concerning everything from

New Zealand House New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 19 ...

, East London shops,

Canary Wharf Canary Wharf is a financial area of London, England, located in the Isle of Dogs in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The Greater London Authority defines it as part of London's central business district, alongside Central London. Alongside ...

, and

gasometers A gas holder or gasholder, also known as a gasometer, is a large container in which natural gas or town gas (coal gas or formerly also water gas) is stored near atmospheric pressure at ambient temperatures. The volume of the container follows t ...

Publication history

The original 1966 edition was published in London by Penguin Books in 1966. It was later reprinted once in 1967 and again in 2002 and 2014.

wrote an introduction to the 2002 printing and

Gavin Stamp Gavin Mark Stamp (15 March 194830 December 2017) was a British writer, television presenter and architectural historian. Education Stamp was educated at Dulwich College in South London from 1959 to 1967 as part of the "Dulwich Experiment", then ...

wrote an afterword for the 2014 printing but the text of the book for both was otherwise unchanged. In 1988, Peter Gasson edited a new edition of the book
''Nairn's London: Revisited''
for

Penguin Penguins are a group of aquatic flightless birds from the family Spheniscidae () of the order Sphenisciformes (). They live almost exclusively in the Southern Hemisphere. Only one species, the Galápagos penguin, is equatorial, with a sm ...

. That updated version contained more accurate locations for entries as well as updates on the buildings that had been renovated or demolished since 1966.

External links

''Nairn's London'' is available to borrow for free on the Internet Archive

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , last1=Lezard , first1=Nicholas , title=Nairn's London by Ian Nairn review – each entry is a masterpiece of construction , url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/oct/28/nairns-london-by-ian-nairn-review , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=The Guardian , date=28 October 2014 {{cite news , last1=Cooke , first1=Rachel , title=Nairn's London: a grand unflattering tour of the capital in the 50s , url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/feb/16/ian-nairns-london-buildings-funny-acerbic-50th-birthday-architecture-critic-shelflife , access-date=6 July 2021 , date=16 February 2016 {{cite book , last1=Nairn , first1=Ian , title=Nairn's London , date=2014, publisher=Penguin Books , location=London , isbn=978-0141396163 {{cite news , last1=Ebert , first1=Roger , title=Nairn's London: An Introduction , url=https://www.rogerebert.com/roger-ebert/nairns-london-an-introduction , access-date=6 July 2021 , date=16 September 2001 {{cite news , last1=Riley , first1=Benjamin , title=A better London , url=https://newcriterion.com/issues/2017/5/a-better-london , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=The New Criterion , date=2017 {{cite news , last1=Elgood , first1=Giles , title=Trip Tips: 50 years on, quirky guide to London still shows the way , url=https://www.reuters.com/article/travel-london-idUKL6N0UD1PI20150206 , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=Reuters , date=6 February 2015 {{cite news , last1=Piper , first1=David , title=Nairn's guide to London , url=https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/mar/31/ian-nairn-london-guide-architecture-book-archive-1966 , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=The Guardian , date=31 March 1966 {{cite news , last1=Bradley , first1=Simon , title=Architecture's friend and implacable foe , url=https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/books/architecture-s-friend-and-implacable-foe-9001004.html , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=Evening Standard , date=13 December 2013 {{cite news , last1=Meades , first1=Jonathan , title=The critical brilliance of Ian Nairn , url=https://www.theoldie.co.uk/article/jonathan-meades-the-critical-brilliance-of-ian-nairn , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=The Oldie , date=2020 {{cite news , last1=Engel , first1=Matthew , title=Ian Nairn: flight from Subtopia , url=https://www.ft.com/content/011b6942-5cf1-11e3-81bd-00144feabdc0 , access-date=6 July 2021 , work=The Financial Times , date=6 December 2013 {{cite journal , last1=Stamp , first1=Gavin , title=Ian Nairn , journal=Twentieth Century Architecture , date=2004 , issue=7 , pages=20–30 , jstor=41859671 , url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/41859671 {{cite news , last1=Beanland , first1=Christopher , title=Gasometers: Icons of energy architecture , url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/gasometers-icons-energy-architecture-9854779.html , archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220618/https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/architecture/gasometers-icons-energy-architecture-9854779.html , archive-date=2022-06-18 , url-access=subscription , url-status=live , access-date=7 July 2021 , work=The Independent , date=11 November 2014 {{cite news , last1=Birchenough , first1=Tom , title=The Brits Who Built the Modern World, BBC Four / The Man Who Fought the Planners, BBC Four , url=https://theartsdesk.com/tv/brits-who-built-modern-world-bbc-four-man-who-fought-planners-bbc-four , access-date=7 July 2021 , date=21 February 2014 English-language non-fiction books 1966_books Books_about_London Architecture books

Background

Contents

Reception and legacy

Publication history

External links

References