At Home in London: The Mansion Block is the first in a landmark survey series that reframes the purpose-built flat block as a defining — and underexamined — force in London's urban identity, tracing its evolution across twenty-seven examples from the 1850s to the present day.
About This Book
London's housing conversation is dominated by terraced houses and garden squares, yet it is the mansion block — large, purpose-built, and ubiquitous across entire swathes of the city — that has quietly shaped its density and character for over 170 years. Commissioned by The Architecture Foundation, this survey by architectural and urban designer Karin Templin moves through twenty-seven examples, from the Victorian consolidation of Westminster and South Kensington to twenty-first-century Kilburn and Stratford. Richly illustrated with newly commissioned drawings and photographs by Matthew Blunderfield, the book holds the architectural ambitions of these buildings against their lived realities, situating the mansion block within London's ongoing housing crisis and broader debates around urban planning and residential typology.
Key Features
- 180 pages of newly commissioned architectural drawings and documentary photography
- Photographs by Matthew Blunderfield
- Twenty-seven mansion block case studies spanning the 1850s to the present day
- Published by MACK x The Architecture Foundation, ISBN: 9781915743022
What You'll Discover
- How the mansion block emerged and expanded from high Victorian Westminster and South Kensington to contemporary outer-London suburbs including Kilburn and Stratford
- The tension between the architectural ambitions embedded in these buildings and the everyday realities of those who inhabit them
- The mansion block's role as both a response to and a reflection of London's recurring housing crisis, from the metropolitan consolidation of the nineteenth century to present-day pressures
- Why residential typology — not landmark buildings — is the primary determinant of a city's scale, character, and structure
About the Author
Karin Templin is an architectural and urban designer whose work engages with the relationship between building typology and city form. In this volume, she examines how the mansion block came to define large areas of London across more than a century and a half of urban development.
Specifications
- Format: Hardcover
- Pages: 180
- Dimensions: 290 x 280 mm
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781915743022
- Publisher: MACK x The Architecture Foundation
- Publication Date: [Details available upon request]
Perfect For: Architects, urban designers, and housing researchers with an interest in residential typology, London urbanism, and the relationship between building form and city character.