Pistols in St Paul's: Science, Music, and Architecture in the Twentieth Century

by Fiona Smyth

A ground-breaking account of the scientists and architects who pioneered acoustics in twentieth-century Britain.

On a winter's night in 1951, shortly after Evensong, the interior of St Paul's Cathedral echoed with gunfire. This was no act of violence but a scientific demonstration of new techniques in acoustic measurement. It aimed to address a surprising question: could a building be a musical instrument?

Pistols in St Paul's tells...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 152616874X
• ISBN13: 9781526168740
• Release Date: March 2026
• Publisher: Manchester University Press
• Length: 328 Pages