History vs Heritage
As I was sharing my plans to focus my undergraduate dissertation on Elizabethan architecture, a friend suggested I write a "Beginner's Guide to Architecture" for HeritageXplore. However, after reviewing some of the most esteemed sources on British architectural history, my research revealed a tension between traditional historical narratives and the true spirit of heritage.
Heritage isn’t just a catalogue of cold, historical facts; it embodies memory, belonging, and identity — these buildings hold meaning to people today, not just significance in the past. Historians, like John Summerson (whose book remains a staple on the bookshelf of any architectural enthusiast in Britain), may offer a valuable perspective, but their approach can be restrictive, focusing heavily on technical details and subjective judgments that don't always resonate with how people experience heritage. Summerson's critical, fact-driven approach often strips heritage of its warmth and humanity, reducing it to a set of standards that may feel out of touch with public sentiment.
Summerson’s Architecture in Britain has, no doubt, played a huge role in defining the British architectural canon. Yet when I compared his views to some of the buildings presented on the platform as heritage, I discovered a striking divide. According to Summerson, some of these buildings don’t even qualify as heritage.
Doddington Hall in Lincolnshire may seem like an excellent example of Late Tudor Gothic, but for Summerson, this entire period, with its "extreme taste for the flat, the square, the shallow," marks "the final withdrawal from the poetry of Gothic"—a view that discourages considering such buildings as true heritage.
One might think that Lamport Hall, in Northamptonshire, is a great illustration of the final emergence of Renaissance architecture in Britain, but Summerson does not consider it—or any other house designed by John Webb—as "intrinsically great," even though he notes that Webb, thanks to his training under Inigo Jones, stood "head and shoulders above all other designers practising at the date of the Restoration."
Summerson is particularly dismissive of late Georgian and Victorian revivalist architecture. For instance, citing Eastnor Castle, in Herefordshire, as an example of the 'castellated' style, he warns against viewing such buildings as significant: "one seeks almost in vain either for scholarship or for originalities more captivating than superficially new arrangements of the round and octagon towers of the Downton school."
Summerson began his career as an architectural critic, and his evaluations of these buildings are not only subjective but also ahistorical. Even if there were a way to objectively disqualify these buildings from appreciation – of which I’m sceptical – can history afford to focus solely on buildings and events we like? When we treat history as a nation’s résumé, it ceases to be history and becomes propaganda. Moreover, when we introduce considerations of heritage, additional factors emerge, such as the interests of local communities, tourism and other economic implications of preservation.
While it might seem unimportant which buildings Summerson favoured and which he dismissed, Summerson's influence extended beyond history and critique. He famously advocated for demolishing 16 houses along Dublin’s Georgian Mile and supported replacing a Victorian building with a modernist design by Mies van der Rohe in London.
It’s important to remember that Summerson’s Architecture in Britain was written more than 70 years ago, and while modern scholarship has moved towards inclusivity and a more balanced view, there remains a cautionary lesson here: historians’ judgments, even influential ones, don’t always capture the essence of heritage. Heritage isn’t only about expert opinion or architectural critique; it’s a living connection to our shared past, a blend of memory, identity, and meaning that should be explored personally.
The importance of heritage lies in its power to evoke a sense of belonging and continuity. Heritage invites us to appreciate and engage with the stories, cultures, and memories embedded in the spaces around us. So while history offers valuable context, heritage encourages us to find our own place in that story and embrace the connections that bring our past into the present
