This fully updated fourth edition of the book 'A History of Interior Design' tells the story of 6000 years of domestic and public space. It includes a completely new chapter on 21st century interior design and a heavily revised chapter on the late 20th century.

Interior design is a field that includes construction, architecture, furniture, decoration, technology and product design. This one-volume history weaves together these topics in a fascinating narrative that runs from cave dwellings and temple architecture, through Gothic cathedrals and Renaissance palaces, to the grand civic spaces of the nineteenth century and the sleek interiors of modern skyscrapers.

Embedded in a social and political context, detailed discussions of famous buildings, from cathedrals to Koolhaas, are interspersed with investigations of the domestic vernacular – the cottages, farmhouses, apartments and city terraces inhabited by ordinary people.

This fully updated fourth edition of the book 'A History of Interior Design' tells the story of 6000 years of domestic and public space. It includes a completely new chapter on 21st century interior design and a heavily revised chapter on the late 20th century.

Interior design is a field that includes construction, architecture, furniture, decoration, technology and product design. This one-volume history weaves together these topics in a fascinating narrative that runs from cave dwellings and temple architecture, through Gothic cathedrals and Renaissance palaces, to the grand civic spaces of the nineteenth century and the sleek interiors of modern skyscrapers.

Embedded in a social and political context, detailed discussions of famous buildings, from cathedrals to Koolhaas, are interspersed with investigations of the domestic vernacular – the cottages, farmhouses, apartments and city terraces inhabited by ordinary people.

The new edition of this bestselling history includes over 50 new images and many previously black and white images updated to colour.


John Pile was Professor of Design at the renowned Pratt Institute, Brooklyn, for most of his teaching career. He is the author of 12 books on furniture, colour, draughtsmanship, office planning and other aspects of interior design.