About the Book:

A celebration of London’s vast and varied garden legacy, but with an unexpected focus on those gardens that have either vanished or changed beyond recognition over the centuries  Lost Gardens of London pays tribute to the evanescence of London’s vast and varied garden legacy. Todd Longstaffe-Gowan explores gardens that range in date from the sixteenth to the twenty-first century, and from the capital’s humble allotments and gardens behind terraced houses to defunct squares, amateur botanical gardens and aviaries, princely pleasure grounds, royal-palace gardens, artists’ gardens and private menageries—gardens that either no longer exist or are unrecognisable today.   Our fascination with lost gardens is often fuelled by our interest in reconstructing worlds that supply us with a powerful means of making sense of the past, and a way of reading history.

In this beautiful and evocative book, illustrated with a variety of images including watercolours, coloured engravings, and photographs, Longstaffe-Gowan reminds us of what a precious asset gardened green space is, and how it has contributed over the centuries to the quality of life and well-being of generations of inhabitants of the Metropolis. 

About the Author:

Todd lectures widely on landscape history and design both in Britain and abroad, is a lecturer on the MA course in Historical and Sustainable Architecture at New York University (London). He contributes regularly to a range of publications including Country Life, The Times, Apollo, Art Review, Garden History, The Journal of Garden History, The Art Newspaper, The Burlington Magazine and World of Interiors. He is founder and editor of The London Gardener, annual journal of the London Parks and Gardens Trust, and is the author of The London Square: Gardens in the Midst of Town, winner of the 2013 John Brinckerhoff Jackson Book Prize, given by the Foundation for Landscape Studies. His most recent book, English Garden Eccentrics was winner of the Apollo Magazine ‘Book of Year’ prize for 2022.