This book focuses on a series of important London churches designed by the architect Nicholas Hawksmoor (c. 1661–1736), during the early part of the eighteenth century. Although Hawksmoor is recognized as one of the major contributors to the traditions of British and European architectural culture, there is insufficient visual documentation and analysis of his work. This book, featuring the work of architectural photographer Hélène Binet, reconsiders Hawksmoor's architecture in relation to urbanism.

Mohsen Mostafavi, an architect and educator, is dean of the Harvard Graduate School of Design and the Alexander and Victoria Wiley Professor of Design. He was formerly the Gale and Ira Drukier Dean of the College of Architecture, Art, and Planning at Cornell University. Previously, he was the chairman of the Architectural Association School of Architecture in London. He is author and editor of many books, including Structure as Space (2006); Ecological Urbanism (2010 and 2016); Implicate and Explicate (2011); Instigations (2012); In the Life of Cities (2012); and the Ethics of the Urban: The City and Spaces of the Political (2016).