In this radical re-imagination of architectural history, Edward Hollis tells the stories of 13 legendary buildings, covering why they were built, and how they were changed out of all recognition by those who came after.

In this work of imaginative re-construction, Edward Hollis takes us to the sites of five great spaces now lost to history and pieces together the fragments he finds there to re-create their vanished chambers. From Rome's Palatine to the old Palace of Westminster and the Petit Trianon at Versailles, and from the sets of the MGM Studios in Hollywood to the pavilions of the Crystal Palace and his own grandmother's sitting room, 'The Memory Palace' is a glittering treasure trove of luminous forgotten places and the people who, for a short time, made them their home.