Thursday, January 11, 2007

The Very Greatest Building that Was Never Built



The fabled and long-forgotten model of British architect Edwin Lutyens' equally storied and equally neglected unbuilt design for Liverpool Cathedral is scheduled to go on display in an exhibit entitled The Cathedral that Never Was at the Walker Gallery in Liverpool later this month, with the show running into April.



The creation of the mammoth model, equal parts St. Peter's, St. Paul's, Hagia Sophia and perhaps Gibraltar, was almost as ambitious a project as the design of the cathedral itself, and the restoration project has proved nearly as complex. There's extensive coverage of the new exhibit in the Apollo arts and antiques magazine--though (free) registration is required to read it. It is, however, entirely worth the hassle.

Incidentally, if any of my U.K. readers are in the neighborhood, and could ascertain if any exhibition catalogues of the show are projected, I'd be much obliged for any and all information that could be relayed to me on the subject.

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