Survey of London

For the 1598/1603 work Survey of London, see John Stow.

The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of the former County of London. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an Arts-and-Crafts architect and social thinker, and was motivated by a desire to record and preserve London's ancient monuments. The first volume was published in 1900, but the completion of the series remains far in the future. It was initially a volunteer effort, but later became a government sponsored project, administered since 2013 by The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.

Scope

The Survey consists of a series of volumes based mainly on the historical parish system. Each volume gives an account of the area, with sufficient general history to put the architecture in context, and then proceeds to describe the notable streets and individual buildings one by one. The accounts are exhaustive, reviewing all available primary sources in detail. The Survey devotes thousands of words to some buildings that receive the briefest of mentions in the Buildings of England series (itself a vast and detailed reference work by most standards). However the earlier volumes largely ignored buildings built after 1800.

Due to the scale of the existing endeavour there are no current plans to extend the project to take in the whole of Greater London. As of 2015, 50 volumes in the main series have been published. Separately, 18 monographs on individual buildings have been published. Most of the volumes have not been updated since publication, but those published online (up to Vol 47) have received a limited amount of updating.

Since 2008 the Survey of London has been published by Yale University Press. With the publication of the volumes on Clerkenwell in 2008, colour photography was used for the first time, and the images incorporated in the text – previously they had been grouped separately as plates. A further volume on Woolwich was published in 2012, and two on Battersea appeared in late 2013. Work is nearing completion on two volumes on the eastern part of Marylebone south of Marylebone Road, due for publication at the end of 2016. Work has begun on Whitechapel, the historically rich and complex area on the eastern fringe of the City of London.

Volumes

1. Bromley-by-Bow – C. R. Ashbee (editor) (1900)
2. Chelsea, pt I – Walter H. Godfrey (1909)
3. St Giles-in-the-Fields, pt I: Lincoln's Inn Fields – W. Edward Riley and Sir Laurence Gomme (editors) (1912)
4. Chelsea, pt II – Walter H. Godfrey (1913)
5. St Giles-in-the-Fields, pt II – W. Edward Riley and Sir Laurence Gomme (editors) (1914)
6. Hammersmith – James Bird and Philip Norman (general editors) (1915)
7. Chelsea, part III: The Old Church – Walter H. Godfrey (editor) (1921)
8. Shoreditch – Sir James Bird (editor) (1922)
9. The parish of St Helen, Bishopsgate, part I – Minnie Reddan and Alfred W. Clapham (1924)
10. St. Margaret, Westminster, part I: Queen Anne's Gate area – Montague H. Cox (editor) (1926)
11. Chelsea, part IV: The Royal Hospital – Walter H. Godfrey (editor) (1927)
12. The parish of All Hallows Barking, part I: The Church of All Hallows – Lilian J. Redstone (1929)
13. St Margaret, Westminster, part II: Whitehall I – Montagu H. Cox and Philip Norman (editors) (1930)
14. St Margaret, Westminster, part III: Whitehall II – Montague H. Cox and G. Topham Forrest (editors) (1931)
15. All Hallows, Barking-by-the-Tower, pt II – G. H. Gater and Walter H. Godfrey (general editors) (1934)
16. St Martin-in-the-Fields I: Charing Cross – G. H. Gater and E. P. Wheeler (editors) (1935)
17. The parish of St Pancras part 1: The village of Highgate – Percy Lovell and William McB. Marcham (editors) (1936)
18. St Martin-in-the-Fields II: The Strand – G. H. Gater and E. P. Wheeler (editors) (1937)
19. The parish of St Pancras part 2: Old St Pancras and Kentish Town – Percy Lovell and William McB. Marcham (editors) (1938)
20. St Martin-in-the-Fields, pt III: Trafalgar Square & Neighbourhood – G. H. Gater and F. R. Hiorns (editor) (1940)
21. The parish of St Pancras part 3: Tottenham Court Road & neighbourhood – J. R. Howard Roberts and Walter H. Godfrey (editors) (1949)
22. Bankside (the parishes of St. Saviour and Christchurch Southwark) – Sir Howard Roberts and Walter H. Godfrey (editors) (1950)
23. Lambeth: South Bank and Vauxhall – Sir Howard Roberts and Walter H. Godfrey (editors) (1951)
24. The parish of St Pancras part 4: King's Cross Neighbourhood – Walter H. Godfrey and W. McB. Marcham (editors) (1952)
25. St George's Fields (The parishes of St. George the Martyr Southwark and St. Mary Newington) – Ida Darlington (editor) (1955)
26. Lambeth: Southern area – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1956)
27. Spitalfields and Mile End New Town – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1957)
28. Brooke House, Hackney – W. A. Eden, Marie P. G. Draper, W. F. Grimes and Audrey Williams (1960)
29. St James Westminster, Part 1 (Vol I) – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1960)
30. St James Westminster, Part 1 (Vol II) – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1960)
31. St James Westminster, Part 2 (Vol I) – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1963)
32. St James Westminster, Part 2 (Vol II) – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1963)
33. St Anne Soho (Vol I) – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1966)
34. St Anne Soho (Vol II) – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1966)
35. The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1970) ISBN 0485482355
36. The Parish of St. Paul Covent Garden – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1970) ISBN 9780485482362
37. Northern Kensington – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1973) ISBN 9780485482379
38. The Museums Area of South Kensington and Westminster – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1975) ISBN 048548238X
39. The Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 1 (General History) – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1977) ISBN 9780485482393
40. The Grosvenor Estate in Mayfair, Part 2 (The Buildings) – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1980) ISBN 9780485482409
41. Brompton – F. H. W. Sheppard (General Editor) (1983) ISBN 048548241X
42. Kensington Square to Earl's Court – Hermione Hobhouse (General Editor) (1986) ISBN 0485482428
43. Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (Vol I) – Hermione Hobhouse (General Editor) (1994) ISBN 0485482444
44. Poplar, Blackwall and Isle of Dogs (Vol II) – Hermione Hobhouse (General Editor) (1994) ISBN 0485482444
45. Knightsbridge – John Greenacombe (General Editor) (2000) ISBN 0485482452
46. South and East Clerkenwell – Philip Temple (Editor) (2008) ISBN 9780300137279
47. Northern Clerkenwell and Pentonville – Philip Temple (Editor) (2008) ISBN 978-0-300-13937-2
48. Woolwich – Peter Guillery (Editor) (2012) ISBN 9780300187229
49. Battersea: Public, Commercial and Cultural - Andrew Saint (Editor) (2013) ISBN 9780300196160
50. Battersea: Houses and Housing - Colin Thom (Editor) (2013) ISBN 9780300196177

See also

• Victoria County History

External links

• Official website
• pdf map showing areas covered by the Survey of London
• The first 47 main sequence volumes online at British History Online
• 'Cinematic Geographies' Battersea film project