Tower Bridge, in London, conceived and built during the 1870s, 80s and 90s, encapsulates the struggle between the artist architect and the engineer, between a concern for history (the new bridge had to sit happily beside the ancient Tower of London) and the application of modern building technology. Tower Bridge is - in a very idiosyncratic way - a happy marriage of these potentially conflicting concerns, and perfectly encapsulates the topsy-turvy artistic tastes and values of late Victorian Britain.
Blenheim Palace, in Oxfordshire, whose construction was started in 1705, is an extraordinary monument to both national and personal glory, and the story of its design and development reveals much about the national and international political struggles of the early 18th century. It also tells of the different tastes in classical architecture that divided artistic opinion in the years between 1700 and 1730. It is a palace built, almost literally, on blood. The palace - and the estate in which it stands - was the gift of a grateful monarch and nation to a general - the Duke of Marlborough - for an epoch-making victory in 1704 over the French armies of Louis XIV. So it can hardly be said to be a typical English country house, especially since its massive and theatrical Baroque architecture - the work of Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor - is packed with military references and unsubtle triumphal symbolism. The process through which Blenheim Palace was created is not only a story of high drama - of collapsing finances and political in-fighting and betrayal - but also throws light on the way in which a great work of art, a complex and corporate enterprise, is achieved.
Durham Cathedral was the most daring structure of its age - the first structure of the modern age. With its astonishing grasp of engineering - thrust and counter-thrust - it was a century ahead of any other building in Britain. Dan Cruickshank also reveals a building that is as puzzling as the pyramids but which, with the right key, he is determined will give up its ancient secrets. "Nothing is constructed by chance - every piece of the puzzle has a meaning - even the things that look like mistakes. Each has a secret message to impart", says Cruickshank. Meanwhile monks' skulls reveal a luxury lifestyle, while records of tightrope walking and sexual incontinence cast an altogether different light on monastic life. And what is the explanation behind the cathedral's modern invention?
Dan Cruickshank travels to Snowdonia where his exploration of famous buildings continues. He visits Harlech Castle, a fortress on the Welsh coast built by Edward I, which was the focus for a number of bitter conflicts between the English and their neighbours.
It was the main residence of English royalty from the middle of the 11th Century until a fire in 1512 caused Henry VIII to relocate. From 1547 the Commons met in what had been the Royal Chapel of St Stephen - all private chapels were abolished at that time. In 1834 the Palace was burned down; only Westminster Hall, the Jewel Tower and the crypt of St Stephen's Chapel and its cloisters were spared. Work on the current Houses of Parliament was started in 1840 by Sir Charles Barry and Augustus Welby Pugin was completed in 18.
Dan Cruickshank explores the history of Derbyshire's Hardwick Hall, the unspoilt Elizabethan manor built in the late 16th century by Bess, Countess of Shrewsbury, who amassed fabulous riches in a series of judicious marriages and survived one of the messiest and most public divorce cases ever seen in Britain.
Dan Cruickshank visits the Georgian city of Bath to explore the Circus, a perfect circle of palatial terraced houses covered in strange symbols and ornamentation. Designed by architect John Wood and admired by Jane Austen, the properties soon ranked among the most fashionable addresses in the country.
Dan Cruickshank explores the Forth Road Bridge, which was opened in September 1964, and at that time was the largest suspension bridge in Europe with a main span of 1005m. It connects north and south Queensferry in Scotland and traffic has risen steadily from 4 million vehicles in 1964 to over 23 million in 2002.