Wellington in Ostend and Vienna's Fraudenau Racecourse) and also those that long since have been demolished (such as Hippodrome du Tremblay) Two hundred and fifty years ago, a young architect by the name of John Carr began a glittering career by designing a grandstand at York Racecourse in England. This was not merely York's first grandstand, nor was it only the first grandstand of any thoroughbred racecourse, but in the modern sense of the building type it was the first grandstand of any sports discipline anywhere in the world. The architecture of thoroughbred racecourses has seldom been featured in the chronicles of sporting architecture or in the plentiful literature about racing. Racecourse Architecture sets out to redress this neglect. Racecourses are the stage upon which the drama of the thoroughbred is played out, and their buildings are the scenery. The book charts the hitherto untold story of the grandstands, clubhouses, saddling sheds, totalisators and other associated structures that evoke in bricks and mortar the rich history of thoroughbred racing from across the world. Contents: Part 1 - Racing Begins; York: The First Grandstand; The Nineteenth Century: Britain and Europe; The Nineteenth Century: America; The Nineteenth Century: Australia; The Gilded Age; Modernity; Post-War; To the Present. Part 2 - Ascot Racecourse; Goodwood Racecourse; Hippodrome de Chantilly; Saratoga Race Course; Club Hipico de Santiago; Santa Anita Park; Keeneland Race Course; Singapore Turf Club. AUTHOR: Paul Roberts is a director of Turnberry Consulting, a London-based development strategy consultancy created to assist landowners to develop real estate projects driven by quality and functionality. Roberts has extensive experience acting as strategic consultant to racecourses, including Ascot and York Racecourses in the UK, Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne, Leopardstown Racecourse in Ireland, and Saratoga Race Course and Belmont Park in New York. Isabelle Taylor read for a BA in the History of Art at the University of Cambridge, followed by an MA in the History of Art at the Courtauld Institute of Art. The pair has previously jointly Authored The Spa: Saratoga's Legendary Race Course (2011), an architectural history of Saratoga Race Course, and University Planning and Architecture: The Search For Perfection (2010), a historical study of the architecture of universities from the Middle Ages to the twenty-first century. SELLING POINTS: ?The first book focusing on the architecture of the racecourses around the world ?A comprehensive history of the racecourse building design including 8 case studies ?Features less-known but architecturaly important courses that have been omitted from other publications on the subject (such as Hipprodrome ILLUSTRATIONS: 95 colour 85 b/w
