“England’s Thousand Best Houses”, by Simon Jenkins

992 pages, Studio, ISBN-13: 978-0670033027

As with Simon Jenkins’ England’s Thousand Best Churches, which I reviewed on September 21^st, 2019, England’s Thousand Best Houses is as good as its title. As befits the Chairman of the National Trust, Jenkins’ list includes many National Trust castles, manor houses and grand palaces of the rich and well-born, as well as several you may not have heard of (I certainly hadn’t). From the Victorian villa in Bedford (Pg. 3) to the Jacobean house in Wakefield on (Pg. 1020), this cultural companion bears out on every erudite page the author’s contention that the domestic architecture of England is “a treasure trove, a glory of humanity”. The book is a travelogue coffee table guide rather than a useful reference guide to the serious student or researcher. It is incredibly heavy, so a comfortable bedtime read it ain’t – and it’s probably too hefty to refer to in the car, so I doubt you’d want to lug it around during a visit.

From cottages to colleges, palaces to terraces, Jenkins’s county-by-county gazetteer gives each entry a star rating and a stylish essay as he mixes sound history and criticism with the sort of personal flourish (for instance, his swipes at the “dead hand” of modern custodianship). For all that the author’s word pictures are wonderful, and he has quite a sense of humor, so it’s fun to read…which is a good thing, as one YUGE drawback is the dearth of actual photographs, a drawback seeing as this is a work that celebrates such a visual thing as a HOUSE. This pictorial abyss is particularly galling when he’s talking about specific architectural features and you have to Google the damn thing in order to learn just what in hell he’s talking ‘bout. Oh, there’s a glossary for some of these, but pictures would be better for those of us who are not as informed about these things as we should be.