Although Cardiff features Queen Anne houses, Tudor cottages in the Robinson style, and rural Italian villas, the most common architectural style is Gothic Revival, which was influenced by Burges, the architect of Cardiff Castle and the neighboring Castell Coch. Publications were used for a variety of purposes, from middle-class thoughts and counsel to building industry required reading concerning building codes, construction methods, and cost estimates.
Pattern books would have been helpful to supplement the builders’ own experience, since many builders planned for themselves and, particularly at the lower end of the market, there was sometimes no architect involved.
Some builders might pay an architect or his assistant for “a plan or two.” Since builders would have continued to use their old books, like Nicholson, advice, designs, and other information gleaned from books were not always the most recent knowledge available. With Georgian being employed into the 1880s, this helps explain conservatism in design, especially at the lower end of the housebuilding market.
Books were undoubtedly meant to be used, either as sources of inspiration or as replicas, and they frequently promoted well-proven manufactured designs. Details like an Italianate campanile a Gothic gateway a Tudor, Elizabethan or Dutch gable, or a French-style roof, which may all be chosen from a pattern book and customized to fit the situation, can give builders an instant architectural impact. As stated by S.H. Brookes in the introduction of Designs for Villa and Cottage Architecture, his book published in 1839:
Historically, architects have mostly focused their efforts on public buildings and noblemen’s houses. Those who may be categorized as belonging to the middle classes have, for the most part, been allowed to become their own architects. This explains why the upgrades to the interior design, layout, and exterior splendor of the affluent mansions have trickled down to the middle class homes so slowly.
One of the main goals of this work is to demonstrate, via suitable design, how affluent people’s homes and more modestly constructed homes may be somewhat equivalent in terms of basic comfort, practicality, and aesthetic appeal. It is certain that a collection of published designs will be very helpful to both novice and professional architects.
The only way to achieve this goal in rural architecture, in particular, is to study published designs because it is impossible to assume that a local builder has the time or opportunity to observe the various advancements that have either suddenly or gradually occurred in his own nation or that may be the product of foreign talent. Without using a book of designs, the builder’s plans must be standardized and controlled; otherwise, his structures will simply be copies of one another.
In the case of early works, information about the names and occupations of subscribers as well as the specifics of copy ownership provide insight into readership. In some situations, there are very specific facts concerning the impact of books, such as Robert Kerr’s Bearwood, which was constructed for John Walter, the owner of The Times, who changed architects and hired Kerr after reading Kerr’s book, if evidence of the significance of publications was required.
The quantity and duration of numerous publications indicate that builders, architects, craftspeople, and the general public enjoyed and found value in the diverse written materials that were released for the varied audiences.