Eight films on eight centuries of British architecture.
Written and narrated by Sir John Summerson

The architect of the Bank of England, Sir John Soane, was born in the middle of the 18th century and died in 1837, the year Queen Victoria came to the throne. In this film, Sir John Summerson, curator of Soane's Museum in London, looks at architecture and society as it was in Soane's lifetime. He discusses the brilliance of the Adam brothers, the versatility of John Nash and the role played by writers, painters and poets in creating a new relationship between landscape and buildings.