Context 153 - March 2018

6 C O N T E X T 1 5 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 8 Letter FromNeo-Tudor and its Enemies (the 2005 annual lecture of the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain) by Gavin Stamp, who died in December 2017 Tudor remains popular today and I want to suggest that its modern revival and its suburban expressions deserve to be taken far more seriously than they usually have been. It is the task of the historian to cut through elitist and snobbish prejudices and regard buildings — any buildings — as a significant cultural manifestation, however laughable or mediocre they may be. And sometimes, I would argue, neo-Tudor was handled with quite as much wit and invention as other styles, such as Modern or Georgian, which tend to be regarded with a greater seriousness verging upon uncritical reverence. The reasons for the enduring popularity of what can loosely be termed neo-Tudor right through the 19th and 20th centuries in England are very much to do with nostalgia, but then a great deal of architecture is associational and has to be explained by cultural resonances and fashion. For particular cultural reasons, Tudor has been consistently popular for over two centuries, despite being dismissed or ignored by avant-garde architects and prejudiced historians. Indeed, it can be argued that it is the English national style, and an expression of nationalism in architecture — our own national Romanticism — that precedes any equivalents in continental Europe. Nostalgia began early in England: a consciousness of the ‘Olden Time’ seems to have begun immediately after the Reformation, never to go away, and was sustained by antiquarians. But a later, parallel development which started in the 18th century was an interest in the age of Shakespeare, in the reigns of Henry VIII and Elizabeth, when England grew powerful as an independent seafaring nation and, crucially, a Protestant one. The significant event here was the Shakespeare Festival in Stratford-upon-Avon, organised by David Garrick in 1769. This nostalgia soon had an architectural manifestation as, encouraged by the cult of the Picturesque, cottages ornees and lodges began to be designed and built in a rustic style which, when not Gothick, we might best describe as Tudor. Examples by James Malton, Humphrey and George Repton, and John Nash might be mentioned. The supreme example is, of course, Blaise Hamlet, where, by designing asymmetrical cottages with thatched roofs, weatherboarding, half- timbering and prominent brick chimneys, Nash brilliantly anticipated the vernacular revivals of the Victorians. ‘THE COMPLETE demolition of the Tudno Castle Hotel was entirely avoidable, and the plans could have been revised and reconsidered at various stages in the assessment process. All those responsible, particularly developer and local authority, should take a good hard look at themselves. How has this been allowed to happen?’ Anna Shelley, conservation adviser to theVictorian Society, quoted in the Daily Post after it was decided that the Grade II-listed Tudno Castle Hotel in Llandudno would have to be completely demolished. It had been proposed to retain the facade, but when work began it was discovered that the facade was not solid masonry but poorly bonded, random masonry infilled with rubble. Evidence underfoot From David Andrews Your issue on floors ( Context 152, November 2017) covered an important but generally overlooked topic. I was surprised to search in vain for any reference to Historic floors: their care and conservation by Jane Fawcett (1998), which offers comprehensive coverage of materials, their conservation and, importantly, their management. In the glossary, I looked for clinker , a very small paving brick imported from the Low Countries in the 17th and 18th centuries, and used typically for stables and outbuildings; and for pamment/pammet, which to many would be understood as a quarry tile. The latter, in sizes of 9–15 ins square, make some of the loveliest flooring found in eastern England. They are still made by Bulmer Brick and Tile, and others. Works to floors in old buildings have archaeological potential which often seems to elude any monitoring. In the former halls of medieval buildings there should be evidence for an open hearth. There could well also be evidence for earlier settlement, important for assessing the origins of our small towns and villages. David Andrews ‘MOST PEOPLE will not realise that these windows are not made of wood without actually going up to them, touching them and feeling them. I do have experience of this, and I have used them very recently in a medieval farmhouse my wife and I renovated. Visitors regularly did not realise what we had done by way of using this material. ‘The advantage it gives us in St Peter Street is that these windows will look good for decades to come as opposed to the two or three years that wood would look good once it’s been painted.We’ve all seen it in St Peter Street over the years; buildings get painted and decorated, and it’s a difficult site to keep maintained because of the road and narrow pavement. That means it’s expensive and is a deterrent to doing the maintenance that perhaps one should. These windows will carry on looking good, virtually indefinitely.’ Tim Burridge, a property owner in Tiverton, Devon, quoted in Devon Live putting the case for replacing timber window frames with uPVC in a conservation area ‘LONDON’S conservation areas have collapsed into absurdity. Those who live in these areas are barely allowed to repaint a front door without pernickety permission. If they try to overlook their neighbours with a new bathroom window, forget it. But if they want to overlook them with a 20-storey tower for Hong Kong investors they will have no problem.’ Simon Jenkins writing in the Evening Standard