Barnwell, P.S. and Henderson, Paula, (ed), Architect, Patron and Craftsman in Tudor and Early Stuart England - Essays for Malcolm Airs

摘要

In his biographical introduction to this celebratory collection of essays, William Whyte twice refers to Malcolm Airs' footballing prowess and the possibility of his pursuing a career in the game before becoming an architectural historian. Happily, he does not disclose Malcolm's preferred position, so allowing for speculation. I would like to think of him as a creative midfielder, that most valuable of footballing specialists, alert to dangers, while seeing opportunities, opening channels and enabling others to flourish. This he did throughout his career as an architectural historian with a deep knowledge of the practicalities of the building trades, which he brought to bear as a specialist in the practical realm of historic buildings conservation -for the GLC Historic Buildings Division, for South Oxfordshire District Council and as Director of Studies at Rewley House, Oxford, where he taught for over thirty years, latterly as (Kellogg) Professor of Architectural History, running residential weekend events from 1990, designed, in the words of the editors of this volume, 'to bring scholarship to a public audience'. The essays here have evolved from a weekend school at Rewley House held in honour of Malcolm's 75th birthday in 2016. The themes relate to his original academic specialism, the subject of his PhD thesis and first book, the important and influential The Making of the English Country House 1500-1640 (London 1975), revised and republished as The Tudor and Jacobean Country House: A Building History (Stroud 1995).