The English House: A History in Eight Buildings

by Dan Cruickshank

This is the story of the superbly elegant early eighteenth-century Pallant House in Chichester. It’s the story of 19 Princelet Street in Spitalfields, built for a Huguenot silk-weaver and later transformed into a synagogue. It’s also the story of a row of modest two-up, two-down houses in Toxteth, a block of flats in London’s East End, and what Ideal Home magazine in 1926 called Britain’s “first modern house” — in Northampton. Together, these buildings reveal how English homes have evolved and adapted over the past few centuries. At the same time, as historian Dan Cruickshank shows, they offer intimate glimpses into the lives of their first occupants — their ambitions, hardships, and place within their communities. The English House masterfully intertwines architectural and social history, creating a vivid and deeply human portrait of the spaces that have shaped English life.

Genres: History, Architecture, Nonfiction, British Literature, Art

512 pages, Paperback

Published October 6, 2026

About the author

Dan Cruickshank (1949 - ) is a British art historian and BBC television presenter, with a special interest in the history of architecture.

He holds a BA in Art, Design and Architecture and was formerly a Visiting Professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Sheffield and a member of the London faculty of the University of Delaware. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects, a member of the Executive Committee of the Georgian Group and on the Architectural Panel of the National Trust.

Reviews

[Geevee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Enjoyable and informative. I lost interest in a couple of the houses and their backgrounds around the design and build but overall got a lot from the book.

My favourites were Cragside, Northumberland; The Boundary Estate in Shoreditch; and New Ways in Northampton. Of these three, all of which I am familiar with, the social aspects helped the Boundary estate standout as there was much detail on not just the design and build but those who loved there both before and after the development.

Dan Cruickshank is a welcome companion and his life involvement in building conservation and protection helps move the stories along nicely.

Recommended for those with an interest in English house design, social history and/or one of the houses featured:
1. Pallant House, Chichester
2. 19 Princelet Street, Spitalfields
3. Maister House, Hull
4. Heywoods House and Bank, Liverpool
5. Cragside, Northumberland
6. Toxteth Bye-Law Houses
7. The Boundary Estate, Shoreditch
8. New Ways, Northampton

My copy was the Heinemann Hutchinson hardback first edition published 2025. There are large number of B&W illustrations and 2 sets of colour plates. There is also a glossary and notes/sources section.

[Chris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Detailed, authoritative, hugely knowledgeable. But how I wish it had been a TV series, so that the reader could see the buildings that Cruikshank's describing. There are colour plates, and b&w photos scattered through the text, but they're necessarily too small to bring the architecture fully to life. Otherwise, splendid.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this historical non-fiction - it’s a book exploring the architecture of eight buildings from England’s history - but it combines this with an examination also of the historical residents of the places, the people who built them, and the historical context of each - and as each building explores a slightly different area and period of English history, the overall result is a really interesting examination of not just the development of architectural styles, but also the development of society running alongside this, and of the modern innovations which came to improve and change the concept of the home. I thought some of the grand houses might be the most interesting to read about given their potential complexity, but I surprised myself by enjoying most the chapters on the Two Up Two Down in Toxteth, and the Birth of the Council Flat - these chapters were really interesting for the aspirational desires that partially informed them as improvements for whole neighbourhoods, and I thought it was interesting reading about the way the streets were designed and oriented - for a mixture of profit and varietal interest; similarly in the way small pockets of the plan were parcelled out to different architects to maintain variety. Of the early chapters I really enjoyed reading about 19 Princelet Street in Spitalfields - a single building with a remarkably varied and interesting history, from its initial occupation by Hugenot French exiles to it’s conversion into a Jewish Synagogue. I also found the section within the chapter on Cragside explaining the ‘Battle of the Styles’ between Neo Gothic and Classical architecture - I felt for poor Scott who was forced to change his plan from Neo Gothic to Classical in order to keep his commission!

[Franco · Rating 3.5 out of 5]

This has taken me some time to complete. Something of a labour of love.

I like Dan Cruickshank who I find very erudite and a very good speaker. His T V programmes are fascinating and give a deep insight to his subject. If only this had been a T V programme!!

It is a quite densely packed book with extensive details and explanation and clearly links architectural housing development to social development. I did however find the chapters very long and some of the detail somewhat beyond me despite a glossary of terms at the back of the book and extensive footnotes. (These footnotes can be a distraction.)

There are black and white pictures and some colour plates but I longed for more detailed drawings and pictures as I found it very difficult to visualise some aspects, even when I had knowledge of the building from previous visits. e.g. Pallant House and Cragside.

A book for housing enthusiasts and fans of Dan Cruikshank - but for a casual reading a very demanding read.

[Cathy Tipple · Rating 3 out of 5]

Didn’t read all of it as I was only interested in the areas that I knew. Fascinating read and really goes into the history of the houses. Read about the houses in Chichester, Spitalfields and Shoreditch.

[Mark Reid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite Goodreads, this book has infact been published and was book of the month in Waterstones.

[Bob Green · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating history of architecture in England. Great to read of the people involved and the social impact of the different approaches.

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 ⭐️⭐️

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

An interesting series of portraits of the construction and life of eight English buildings and the people, stories, and architecture that made them. I'm not quite sure it adds up to a coherent history of the English house - for example, we have to wait for the sixth building (the Liverpool two-up-two-down) before we come to a house that wasn't built for the merchant or upper classes. The book is really a collection of separate essays, each of which discusses a building with an engaging story or architectural point-of-interest - there isn't a very clear thread through the book. But some of those stories are engaging - the experience of the Hugenot and Jewish immigrant communities in Spitalfields, for example, the struggle between neo-gothic and classical ideas told through the building of Cragside in Northumberland, or the coming of modernism exemplified by New Ways in Northampton. You do have to be prepared to wade through a fair bit of architectural description, but that does come with the territory and Cruickshank writes well, so this isn't a taxing read. All-in-all, worthwhile for anyone with some level of interest in both history and buildings.