In this classic of English architectural history (first published more than half a century ago), John Summerson provides a perceptive and highly readable account of a major building period in the history of London. Encompassing the architecture of the capital from the Great Fire of 1666 through the city's early nineteenth-century expansion, the book remains an indispensable guide to the genesis and development of Georgian London. Summerson examines the way in which building was conditioned by social, economic, and financial circumstances and discusses some of Britain's most important buildings and their architects.

While Summerson's text is essentially unchanged in this edition, it has been corrected in the light of new research, expanded to include a few significant buildings that were originally overlooked, and enhanced with new illustrations. The Appendix of surviving Georgian buildings has also been carefully updated.