George Devey: Architect 1820-1886

Little has hitherto been written about George Devey, yet his contribution to the vernacular revival which took place in the 1860s was important and innovative. He was the first architect to apply the Wealden style to cottages and small estate buildings, and to use the Flemish manner found in east Kent and East Anglia in combination with the Jacobean for his mansions, whether in town or country, anticipating architects such as Richard Norman Shaw and William Eden Nesfield by at least ten years. His interest in the use of local materials directly contributed to the emergence of the Arts and Crafts Movement and thereby to the model for British middle-class housing up to the Second World War. This, Dr Allibone’s second major study of a Victorian architect for The Lutterworth Press, includes over 100 illustrations as well as comprehensive catalogue of all Devey’s works, both executed and projected.