Survey of London


The Survey of London is a research project to produce a comprehensive architectural survey of central London and its suburbs, or the area formerly administered by the London County Council. It was founded in 1894 by Charles Robert Ashbee, an Arts-and-Crafts designer, architect and social reformer 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.
The London Survey Committee was initially a volunteer effort, but from 1910 published the surveys jointly with the London County Council. From 1952 the voluntary committee was disbanded, and all survey work was wholly council-run. Following the abolition of the GLC in 1986, responsibility for the survey was taken over by the Royal Commission on the Historical Monuments of England. Since 2013 it has been administered by The Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London.
The series borrows its title from John Stow's A Survay of 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. 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 2020, 53 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 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. Two volumes on the eastern part of Marylebone, south of Marylebone Road, were issued in late 2017. Work has begun on Whitechapel, the historically rich and complex area on the eastern fringe of the City of London.
The British History Online digital library project of the Institute of Historical Research has published all volumes, sponsored by English Heritage.

Volumes

  1. ' – C. R. Ashbee
  2. ' – Walter H. Godfrey
  3. ' – W. Edward Riley and Sir Laurence Gomme
  4. ' – Walter H. Godfrey
  5. ' – W. Edward Riley and Sir Laurence Gomme
  6. ' – James Bird and Philip Norman
  7. ' – Walter H. Godfrey
  8. ' – Sir James Bird
  9. ' – Minnie Reddan and Alfred W. Clapham
  10. ' – Montague H. Cox
  11. ' – Walter H. Godfrey
  12. ' – Lilian J. Redstone
  13. ' – Montagu H. Cox and Philip Norman
  14. ' – Montague H. Cox and G. Topham Forrest
  15. ' – G. H. Gater and Walter H. Godfrey
  16. ' – G. H. Gater and E. P. Wheeler
  17. ' – Percy Lovell and William McB. Marcham
  18. ' – G. H. Gater and E. P. Wheeler
  19. ' – Percy Lovell and William McB. Marcham
  20. ' – G. H. Gater and F. R. Hiorns
  21. ' – J. R. Howard Roberts and Walter H. Godfrey
  22. ' – Sir Howard Roberts and Walter H. Godfrey
  23. ' – Sir Howard Roberts and Walter H. Godfrey
  24. ' – Walter H. Godfrey and W. McB. Marcham
  25. ' – Ida Darlington
  26. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  27. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  28. ' – W. A. Eden, Marie P. G. Draper, W. F. Grimes and Audrey Williams
  29. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  30. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  31. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  32. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  33. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  34. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  35. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  36. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  37. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  38. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  39. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  40. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  41. ' – F. H. W. Sheppard
  42. ' – Hermione Hobhouse
  43. ' – Hermione Hobhouse
  44. ' – Hermione Hobhouse
  45. ' – John Greenacombe
  46. ' – Philip Temple
  47. ' – Philip Temple
  48. ' – Peter Guillery
  49. ' – Andrew Saint
  50. ' – Colin Thom
  51. ' – Andrew Saint
  52. ' – Andrew Saint
  53. – Andrew Saint

    Monographs

Monographs, focusing only on one structure, were published during the existence of the voluntary survey committee. The first monograph predated the first Survey volume, and work on the subsequent publications was always outside the auspices of the LCC. The original sequence ended with the disbanding of the voluntary committee; the sixteenth volume represented work which had started under the committee's governance.
Almost thirty years later, a further monograph was published, focusing on County Hall and written by Hermione Hobhouse. It was intended as a tribute to the LCC/GLC which, until its abolition in 1986, had responsibility for the Survey. Nearly twenty years after that an eighteenth volume was issued, describing the Charterhouse in Smithfield and written by Philip Temple.
  1. ' – C. R. Ashbee
  2. ' – Osborn C. Hills
  3. ' – Ernest Godman
  4. ' – Edwin Gunn
  5. ' – Ernest A. Mann
  6. ' – W. Pepys and Ernest Godman
  7. ' – no author listed
  8. ' – W. Arthur Webb
  9. ' – Philip Norman
  10. ' – Frank T. Green
  11. ' – Hubert Curtis
  12. ' – Philip Norman
  13. ' – Walter H. Godfrey
  14. ' – George H. Chettle
  15. ' – Walter H. Godfrey
  16. ' – Walter H. Godfrey and Anthony Wagner
  17. ' – Hermione Hobhouse
  18. ' – Philip Temple