Architecture & Artifice reveals the material practices and craftsmanship that defined eighteenth-century architecture across Britain and Ireland. This scholarly work examines the facing materials—stone, plaster, and wood—that shaped the distinctive character of cities and regions, from the façades of iconic structures like Chatsworth and Dublin's Parliament House to lesser-known buildings. Combining archival research with architectural conservation insights, the book uncovers the hidden techniques, unwritten standards, and lives of craftsmen whose work remains largely overlooked. It argues for the agency of materials and craft in shaping the meanings of these enduring structures, introducing previously unpublished archival material and new perspectives on how buildings were actually made. Distributed for the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art.