The persons who profess that art, are severally builders, ecclesiastical, naval, or of whatever other name their work may justify but building does not become architecture merely by the stability of what it erects and it is no more architecture which raises a church, or which fits it to receive and contain with comfort a required number of persons occupied in certain religious offices, than it is architecture which makes a carriage commodious or a ship swift. That one edifice stands, another floats, and another is suspended on iron springs, makes no difference in the nature of the art, if so it may be called, of building or edification. Thus we have church building, house building, ship building, and coach building.

To build, literally to confirm, is by common understanding to put together and adjust the several pieces of any edifice or receptacle of a considerable size. It is very necessary, in the outset of all inquiry, to distinguish carefully between Architecture and Building. Architecture is the art which so disposes and adorns the edifices raised by man for whatsoever uses, that the sight of them contributes to his mental health, power and pleasure. His opinions on certain newer designs of the industrial era, and the painstaking restoration of ancient artworks, may be summed up in a single word: desecration.I. We find within illustrations of structures and flourishes which Ruskin admires most. The Seven Lamps of the title describe principles which Ruskin viewed essential in building: Sacrifice, Truth, Power, Beauty, Life, Memory, and Obedience. Despite Ruskin's now-outdated views, this book acts as a detailed history of architecture as it stood in the mid-19th century. Even during his prime, Ruskin's opponents felt his staunch, traditionalist take on architecture confining.

A man of deep religiosity, Ruskin was convinced that Gothic architecture was at the very height of beauty and achievement in building design. Written and published in the 1840s, this book sees John Ruskin set out his architectural beliefs. Ruskin's respected treatise on architectural methods and style is presented here complete, with all of the original edition's images.

The seven lamps of architecture