This book uncovers the overlooked material practices that were crucial to architectural production in the eighteenth century. Centred on the architecture of England and Ireland, it examines the facing materials that define the distinctive character of cities and regions.

Focusing on the final stages of construction―the external façade and interior finishes in stone, plaster, and wood―Architecture and Artifice combines archival research with insights from architectural conservation to reveal the hidden techniques behind these structures. It explores the lives of craftsmen, uncovering the unwritten standards that guided their work and argues for the agency of materials and craft in shaping the meanings of eighteenth-century buildings.