C O N T E X T 1 2 5 : J U LY 2 0 1 2 17 John Cobb in the 24-litre Napier-Railton taking the ‘bump’ on the Members’ Banking at Brooklands in 1935 (Photo: courtesy of Brooklands Museum Archive) cricket ground, for example, possesses a sequence of notable buildings from differing epochs, which make it one of the most important complexes of sporting architecture in the country. The oldest and most prominent structure is the Grade II* Pavilion (1890, byThomas and FrankVerity) with its famous Long Room, twin pavilion towers and ornate terracotta facings. A sculpture there, created in 1934 by Gilbert Bayes RA, is listed at Grade II. A bas-relief procession of 13 tennis players, golfers, cricketers, swimmers, oarsmen and footballers, it is inscribed (after Sir Henry Newboult) PLAY UP PLAY UP AND PLAYTHE GAME. Less famous is the National Recreation Centre in Crystal Palace, designed by the London County Council Architects Department in 1960-64 and listed at Grade II* in 1997. Constructed around a concrete A-frame, the swimming pool forms a dramatic open glazed space, recognised in its designation. The first multi-purpose hall designed in Britain, it was widely influential.The Royal Norfolk and SuffolkYacht Club in Lowestoft erected a striking and imposing waterfront building in 1902, designed by the notable local architects G and F Skipper. It has a glazed observation room under a copper dome, a moulded brick panel with a sailing ship in high relief, and high-quality interior fixtures and fittings, set out in the list entry. At the other end of the spectrum from the shooting box at RoseburyTopping, noted above, is the University Sports Pavilion in Liverpool. This two-storey bar and café, with adjoining changing rooms, was listed at Grade II in 1997. Designed by Gerald Beech in 1962–3, its airy transparency, courtesy of continuous, full-height glazing around a light steel frame, offers clear views of the adjacent sports grounds. In some instances the interest of sporting structures does not necessarily lie in their designed use. The need in drill halls and riding schools, for example, for unencumbered spaces, stimulated experiments with steel and laminated timber trusses in the 19th century, and German lamella trusses in the 1930s. Indoor swimming pools have a similar requirement and can be technologically interesting.The Empire Pool,Wembley, designed by OwenWilliams in 1934, is a tour de force of cantilevered, reinforced-concrete engineering, listed at Grade II. In these instances, for designation assessment, their sporting use might well be of secondary interest. The 2012 Olympics has generated notable new architectural designs and some interest in our existing sports buildings.The fascinating Played in Britain series of books for English Heritage has thrown a new light on our sporting infrastructure. English Heritage’s Listing Selection Guide for Sport and Recreation Buildings (April 2011, available on the English Heritage website) has attempted to encapsulate what the requirements are for selection for national listing. An equivalent for scheduling will be published soon. For researchers in this field, the new online National Heritage List for England allows analytical searches which can draw out sporting designations.Together these offer a window to the monuments of sport. National designation is not the only means of recognising significance; local designation has a role to play and can perhaps reflect the cultural value of very altered venues more easily than national designation can. Much has already been protected that is of enormous interest, but our understanding of what is significant has been enhanced immeasurably in recent years. Hopefully this will come to be reflected in the list and in the further conservation of the most significant examples. Tony Calladine is a designation team leader for English Heritage, and the activity lead for the sports and the industry programmes of the English Heritage National Heritage Protection Plan.
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