travelling to Palladio david murray
learning history drawing books a career
Sir Bannister Fletcher, A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method .
Seventeenth edition, revised by R A Cordingley. University of London: Athlone Press, 1961 frontispiece: St Paul’s Cathedral (1675-1710)
David Murray
Travelling often starts with reading, which generates a compulsion to visit the places one learns and reads about. A favourite memory of books is how they smell, something referred to as bibliosmia . It evokes memories over a lifetime. Smell is, perhaps, one of our most potent senses for it guides us without sight. I love the scent of the pages of my long-term favourite book, A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method by Sir Bannister Fletcher, 17th Edition, published in 1961. It is unusually comforting. The architectural drawings are captivating. I was an architecture student at the University of Toronto in the 1960s. The history of architecture was a requisite multi-year course. Our primary text was A History of Architecture on the Comparative Method , first published in 1896 and updated and re-published ever since, the latest version being the 2019 twenty-first edition. The 1961 edition has been a constant companion in my library all these years and it is full of wonderfully informative architectural drawings, photos and narratives describing the evolution of architecture from ancient to modern. Travelling in my imagination to these historic buildings has been sustained over the years by the distinct aroma and provocative contents of Sir Bannister Fletcher. But travelling to some of these buildings, to see and experience them in the round, in their own environment, was the highlight of a three week tour of Italy in 1980.
opposite, from top right:
cover image of Tom Cruickshank and John de Visser, photographer, Port Hope,A Treasury of Early Homes . Port Hope Ontario: Bluestone House Publishing, 1987 Eric Arthur (born 1898), third from left, and the faculty of the School of Architecture at the University of Toronto circa 1942. He taught at the University of Toronto from 1923-1966. Drawings by David Murray while at University of Toronto Haliburton sketch camp in 1967 Echo Villa, Colborne Street, Brantford. Measured drawings by David Murray while at the University of Toronto under the direction of Professor Eric Arthur, 1965. Library and Archives Canada.
First, how do I account for my long-term interest in exploring historical architecture?
16 on site review 46 :: travel
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