Making of an Architectural Encyclopedia

February 4^th , 2016

A History of Architecture by Sir Banister Fletcher

Lecture by Riyaz Tayyibji

The Enlightenment period also referred to as the Age of Reason was a European intellectual movement in the 17^th and 18^th century where ideas of God, reason, nature and human civilization were synthesized to instigate revolutionary developments in science, art, philosophy and politics. The Enlightenment thinkers believed that the progress of science and industry would proclaim a new age of equality and progress for mankind, thus significantly improving the quality of life. It was a celebration of ideas- ideas about what a human mind is capable of and what could be achieved through deliberate action and scientific methodology.  As pronounced by the French philosopher Rene Descartes – “I think therefore I am”- I am nothing unless I am thinking- the focus was on one’s thoughts.

The idea of “public,” an informed collection of citizens invested in the common good and preservation of the state, reached fruition during the Enlightenment. Peculiarly, the coffee shop became the unofficial center of this new entity. Citizens would gather to read whatever literature was available, to engage in heated conversation with neighbors, or to ponder the affairs of state. The coffee houses became stomping grounds of some of the greatest thinkers of the age. One of the beneficial effects of the Industrial Revolution was a surge in the amount of reading material available to the general public. Consequently, the cost of such material decreased to the point that literature was no longer the sole purview of aristocrats and wealthy merchants.

Documentation was a significant phase for recording history. Sir Banister Fletcher and his father attempted to record the architectural history over the times in their book ‘A History of Architecture by Comparative Analysis’, the first edition of which was published in the year 1896. As the title implies, all that was listed in that book was compared to European architecture as a center. Whatever didn’t feature was not. The first edition principally focused on Greek, Roman and Romanesque architecture as being the chief styles in the evolution of world architecture rendering architecture of Eastern Europe, Latin America and the Indian subcontinent as “other styles”. This comparative history attracted a lot of flak from historians and architects.  This predisposition was modified in the sixth edition in 1921 by Alice Maud Mary, the wife of Sir Banister Fletcher who recognized the merits and complexities of the “other styles” in the architectural history, through the works of James Fergusson who had extensively studied Indian architecture.  

History was born out of enlightenment and it needed to be structured. Cultural and political perspectives of the author were bound to influence a historical narrative. Rational and subjective were constantly at play in Fletcher’s book. The authors’ tremendous effort of exploring and compiling knowledge reflects in the details of their documentation. The book has undergone multiple editors and editions and has grown to be more accommodating in its newer versions. Today, ‘A History of Architecture’ remains the most cited encyclopedic work that enlists, explains and illustrates world architecture from prehistoric period to the modern styles.

(Word count: 502)