Architectural renderings by HW Brewer
Jul 9, 2007
Birds-eye view of Birmingham in 1886.
Rome in 1890.
There’s little information online about HW Brewer, a Victorian illustrator who specialised in depictions of cities viewed from the air for magazines such as The Builder. He also imagined how cities might have looked in times past, as with these views of London in the sixteenth century. Always fascinating to see the lack of development south of the river in the days when there was only one bridge available for traffic over the Thames.
Update: bigger copy of the Birmingham picture here.
Elsewhere on { feuilleton }
• The etching and engraving archive
• The illustrators archive
9 comments or trackbacks
#1 posted by Big boy
Jul 9th, 2007
Bigger version of the Birmingham image here…
http://www.virtualbrum.co.uk/history/brum/images/1886.jpg
#2 posted by John
Jul 9th, 2007
Noted, thanks!
#3 posted by Nathalie
Jul 9th, 2007
Wonder how much of this is left in modern days Birmingham (I’ve never seen the place)…
#4 posted by John
Jul 9th, 2007
Very little is left since the place was heavily bombed during WW2 then rebuilt (rather badly) during the Sixties. The two big buildings in the centre remain but much of the centre was lost.
#5 posted by Martin Jones
Jul 9th, 2007
Yes, the central library in Birmingham (it would now be somewhere to the right of the picture, I think) has to be seen to be believed! (Excellent resources, though).
#6 posted by Josh
Sep 6th, 2007
Does anyone know which copies of the Builder show his drawings?
#7 posted by John
Sep 7th, 2007
No idea which copies these come from, Josh, there’s very little information about Brewer around.
#8 posted by malcolm thorman
Mar 29th, 2011
there is a plate in Sachaverell Sitwells ‘British Atrists and Craftmen’ of Nonesuch Palace.Can anyone tell me where the original is or where I can get a copy?
#9 posted by P N Mosley
Feb 14th, 2012
Looking for info on Brewer – specifically dates of birth/death, dates of publications &c. There are several of his architectural illustrations in a book ‘Pictorial architecture of the British Isles’ by Bishop, undated — have an undated early copy