Format:
Hardback
Publication Date:
8 October 2024
ISBN:
978-1-7384878-0-6
Dimensions:
272 pages: 240 x 170mm
Illustrations:
190 colour and b/w images

• Overview
• Reviews
• The Author

• ‘Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, as a much a lover of London as Pepys or Dr Johnson, conjures up for us with a sorcerer’s skill green places and Thameside views now lost to history. A superb read, and illustrated throughout with beguiling and unexpected images.’ – Flora Fraser

  Our fascination with the gardens of yesteryear, particularly those that have vanished or have changed beyond recognition, is often fuelled by our interest in reconstructing worlds that offer a powerful means of making sense of the past and a way of reading history. Lost Gardens of London celebrates the evanescence of London’s vast and varied garden legacy. Todd Longstaffe‑Gowan explores gardens dating from the sixteenth to the twenty‑first century. They range from gardens behind terraced houses and the capital’s humble allotments to defunct squares, amateur botanical gardens and aviaries, princely pleasure grounds, the gardens of royal palaces, artists’ gardens and private menageries – verdant sites that either no longer exist or are unrecognisable today.

  In this evocative book, Longstaffe‑Gowan reminds us of what a precious asset gardened green space is, and how it has contributed over the centuries to the quality of life and well‑being of generations of inhabitants of the Metropolis.

  The book accompanies the exhibition Lost Gardens of London, curated by Todd Longstaffe-Gowan, at the Garden Museum, London, 23 October 2024–2 March 2025.

   

  To purchase Lost Gardens of London via Yale University Press, please click here. 

   

   

• “This appreciation of gardens lost and the vital role they played is a rallying call to protect what might otherwise be lost in the future.”— Jodie Jones, House & Gardens

  “This examination of London’s lost gardens is both fascinating and moving. Superb image research . . . supports this new work from gardening’s answer to Peter Ackroyd.”— English Garden

  “In this exceptionally well-illustrated book . . . [Longstaffe-Gowan] reprises the role of connoisseur of garden curiosities.”— Tim Richardson, Literary Review

  “It is the Longstaffe-Gowan’s skill at weaving in a multiplicity of contemporary references and the rich collection of rarely-seen images which make this book an essential addition to the shelf of anyone with an interest in the topography of London.”—​ The London Topographical Society Newsletter

• Todd Longstaffe-Gowan is a landscape architect with an international practice based in London. He is gardens adviser to Historic Royal Palaces, a lecturer at New York University (London), president of the London Gardens Trust, editor of The London Gardener and the author of several books, including The London Town Garden (2001), The London Square (2012) and English Garden Eccentrics (2022).