Sign-In
Cart
New Towns Mark One: Architecture and Planning in Post-War Britain
Hardcover
Series: Historic England
ISBN13: 9781805968795
Publisher: Historic England
Published: Sep 11 2026
Pages: 352
Weight: 3.80
Height: 1.09 Width: 8.82 Depth: 10.91
Language: English
Britain's post-war new towns represent one of the most important programmes of modern planning globally. The most distinctive were the fourteen towns begun between 1946 and 1950: the so-called 'mark one' new towns. These places defined the image of the new towns in the popular imagination and attracted international attention.
This book sets out in detail the origins of the new towns programme and provides the first detailed architectural survey of the 'mark one' new towns, which included Stevenage, Harlow, East Kilbride, Crawley, Corby, Peterlee and Cwmbrân. The result is a new account of British architecture in the years immediately after the Second World War which uses the new towns to explore what it meant to be architecturally modern between the 1940s and the 1970s. The book charts the picturesque townscape and often Scandinavian-inspired design of the late 1940s, as well as the emergence of a harder-edged brutalism during the 1950s and new ways of planning towns that reflected the rapid rise of car ownership. It concludes with the emergence of a 'mark two' approach to new town design at Cumbernauld.
The book is extensively illustrated, with new photography as well as archival images. At a time when new towns are once again on the political agenda, the book is aimed at practitioners as well as historians and all with an interest in post-war architecture.
Also from
Harwood, Elain
England's Post-War Listed Buildings: Including Scheduled Monuments and Registered Landscapes
Harwood, Elain
Hardcover
Also in
Architecture History
The Power of Place: Rulers and Their Palaces, Landscapes, Cities, and Holy Places
Rollason, David
Hardcover
Rural Utopia and Water Urbanism: The Modern Village in Franco's Spain
LeJeune, Jean-François
Paperback
A Field Guide to American Houses (Revised): The Definitive Guide to Identifying and Understanding America's Domestic Architecture
McAlester, Virginia Savage
Paperback
Hopewell Ceremonial Earthworks: Landscape Monuments of the Ancient Ohio Valley
Hancock, John E.
Hardcover
The Black Family Who Built America: The McKissacks, Two Centuries of Daring Pioneers
McKissack Daniel, Cheryl
Hardcover
The Golden Age of Normandale: An Illustrated Remembrance of Montgomery's Legendary Shopping Center
Moseley, Willie G.
Paperback
Men at Work: The Empire State Building and the Untold Story of the Craftsmen Who Built It
Kurtz, Glenn
Hardcover
Frédéric Chaubin. Cccp. Cosmic Communist Constructions Photographed. 45th Ed.
Chaubin, Frédéric
Hardcover
Nineteen Reservoirs: On Their Creation and the Promise of Water for New York City
Sante, Lucy
Paperback
The Genius in the Design: Bernini, Borromini, and the Rivalry That Transformed Rome
Morrissey, Jake
Paperback
The Divine Blueprint: Temples, power places, and the global plan to shape the human soul.
Silva, Freddy
Paperback
Historic Homes of the Old West Side: The neighborhood at the heart of the planned city of Longview, Washington
Baxter a. I. a. Emeritus, Fred J.
Hardcover
September 2026 Revision: What to see in Palm Springs - Sights, History & Stories
Stark, John
Paperback
The One World Tartarians (Black and White): The Greatest Civilization Ever Erased From History
Lee, James W.
Paperback
Welcome to Paradox City: A Critical History of Dallas as Told Through Its Architecture
Lamster, Mark
Hardcover
New York 2020: Architecture and Urbanism at the Beginning of a New Century
Fishman, David
Tilove, Jacob
Stern, Robert A. M.
Hardcover
Antifascist Architecture: A Genealogy of Antifascist Architects, Buildings, History, and Theory
Roche, Daniel Jonas
Santa Lucia, Andrew
Paperback
Fausto & Felice Niccolini. Houses and Monuments of Pompeii. 45th Ed.
Schütze, Sebastian
Kockel, Valentin
Hardcover
The Great Miscalculation: The Race to Save New York City's Citicorp Tower
Greenburg, Michael M.
Hardcover
The Sea Ranch, Revised: Fifty Years of Architecture, Landscape, Place, and Community on the Northern California Coast
Lyndon, Donlyn
Alinder, Jim
Hardcover
The Stage of Time: Secrets of the Past, The Nature of Reality, and the Ancient Gods of History
LaCroix, Matthew R.
Paperback
Cathedrals: Masterpieces of Architecture, Feats of Engineering, Icons of Faith
Jenkins, Simon
Hardcover
Barragán Outside Barragán: A Journey Through Books, Trips, Exhibitions and Friends
Barragan, Luis
Canales, Fernanda
Paperback
Restoring Notre-Dame de Paris: Rebirth of the Legendary Gothic Cathedral
Zachmann, Patrick
de Chalus, Olivier
Hardcover
100 Turn-Of-The-Century Brick Bungalows with Floor Plans
Rogers & Manson
Manson
Manson, Rogers &.
Paperback
A Year at Highclere: Secrets and Stories from the Real Downton Abbey
The Countess of Carnarvon
Hardcover
Skyscrapers: A History of the World's Most Extraordinary Buildings -- Revised and Updated
Dupré, Judith
Hardcover
Historic Homes of the Old West Side: The neighborhood at the heart of the planned city of Longview, Washington
Baxter a. I. a. Emeritus, Fred J.
Paperback
Grand Avenues: The Story of Pierre Charles l'Enfant, the French Visionary Who Designed Washington, D.C.
Berg, Scott W.
Paperback