Institute of Historic Building Conservation No 123 March 2012 Conserving historic interiors
T i m e l e s s Picture shows original artwork for Crittall poster and advertising material circa 1930 Crittall Windows Ltd, Francis House, Freebournes Road, Witham, Essex CM8 3UN Tel: +44 (0)1376 530800 Fax: +44 (0)1376 530801 Email: hq@crittall-windows.co.uk www. crittall-windows.com O u r h e r i t a g e i s o u r s t r e n g t h New Brochure now available
C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 1 A watercolour vision of the Regency scheme for the Octagon Room at Attingham Park, painted by Peter Brears in 2007. See p15. Editorial Death by wallpaper www.ihbc.org.uk Registered as a charity in England andWales number 1061593 and in Scotland number SC041945. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England number 3333780. Registered Office: 3 Stafford Road,TunbridgeWells, Kent TN2 4QZ. Officers President Trefor Thorpe email president@ihbc.org.uk Chair Jo Evans email chair@ihbc.org.uk Vice Chair Sheila Stones email vchair@ihbc.org.uk Secretary Eddie Booth email secretary@ihbc.org.uk Treasurer Richard Morrice email treasurer@ihbc.org.uk Membership Secretary Paul Butler email membership@ihbc.org.uk Education Secretary John Preston email education@ihbc.org.uk Publicity Secretary Doug Black email publicity@ihbc.org.uk Law & Practice Coordinator vacant email law@ihbc.org.uk Director Seán O’Reilly email director@ihbc.org.uk Projects Officer Fiona Newton email projects@ihbc.org.uk Consultant Consultations Coordinator James Caird email consultations@ihbc.org.uk Membership Services Officer Carmen Moran email membershipservices@ihbc.org.uk Administration Officer Lydia Porter email admin@ihbc.org.uk Committee Chairs Policy Mike Brown email policy@ihbc.org.uk Membership & Ethics Paul Butler email membership@ihbc.org.uk Finance & Resources Richard Morrice email resources@ihbc.org.uk Education John Preston email education@ihbc.org.uk Communications & Outreach Charles Strang email communications@ihbc.org.uk Branch Officers North Geoff UnderwoodTel 0191 433 3435 NorthWest Crispin Edwards Tel 0161 474 2620 Yorkshire Keith Knight Tel 01904 658482 West Midlands Charles Shapcott Tel 0121 7044312 East Midlands Roy Lewis Tel 01636 619335 South Julia Foster Tel 01296 585888 SouthWest JamesWebbTel 01202 732849 East Anglia Phil Godwin Tel 01263 516131 South East Sean Rix Tel 01483 523379 London David McDonald Tel 020 8881 6724 Scotland Stuart Eydmann Tel 01506 775279 Wales Nathan Blanchard Tel 01492 583443 Northern Ireland Colin Hatrick Tel 028 9064 1126 Republic of Ireland Cormac O’Sullivan Tel 00353 5677 62907 Business Office Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA England Tel 01747 873133 Fax 01747 871718 email admin@ihbc.org.uk Briefing 2 Out of Context 4 The writer’s voice 5 Letters 5 Periodically 6 Supporting columns 9 From halls to dining rooms Eleanor John 12 The Octagon Room at Attingham Park Sarah Kay 15 Investigating the Theatre Royal, Bristol Peter Carey 19 Wallpapers in historic buildings Allyson McDermott 22 Protecting and managing the military heritage of Scotland David Fleetwood and Andrew Fulton 25 When in Rome Graham Tite 27 Conference report: IHBC London branch annual conference David McDonald 30 Conference report: Berlin, Germany Dennis Rodwell 32 Conference report: BEFS conference, Edinburgh Dennis Rodwell 33 Architecturally speaking 35 Notes from the chair 38 Director’s cut 40 Vox pop 42 Book reviews 43 Products and services 49 Advertisers index 52 ‘My wallpaper and I are fighting a duel to the death,’ said Oscar Wilde in 1900 on his deathbed in the Hotel d’Alsace pension house. ‘One or the other of us has to go.’ This may be no more than a myth. In any case, the wallpaper is no longer there to offend anyone, having finally been replaced on the occasion of the centenary of Wilde’s death in 2000, when the hotel was upgraded to a much grander four stars. The death of Napoleon Bonaparte – in captivity on St Helena in 1821 – may have been even more directly caused by his wallpaper. His autopsy attributed it to stomach cancer, but later analysis of his hair found high levels of arsenic. This raised the possibility that Napoleon had been poisoned by his enemies. But an alternative has been suggested: that Napoleon’s death could have been caused, or at least hastened, by breathing in arsenic vapour produced by the wallpaper. This seemed to be confirmed when a supposed scrap of green wallpaper from Napoleon’s house on St Helena was found to contain copper arsenite, a constituent of the then-common colouring pigment Scheele’s green. If wallpaper containing Scheele’s green became damp (and Napoleon’s house on St Helena was notably damp), the glue was likely to become mouldy, converting the arsenic to a form of poisonous vapour, causing Gosio’s disease. So wallpaper can be a matter of life and death.We need no more justification for the focus of this issue of Context on a theme (for which Lisa Oestreicher has been the guest commissioning editor) of conserving historic interiors. Eleanor John (p12) reports on insights into the organisation of domestic space mid-17th-century London. Sarah Kay (p15) tells of the re-creation of the Octagon Room at Attingham Park after more than five years of investigation and analysis. Conserving historic interiors is so often a story of layers, with abundant information about the past to be found if anyone has the patience to peel, scrape and dismantle. Peter Carey (p19) explains how investigations beneath the layers at Britain’s earliest surviving theatre auditorium reveal aspects of history that had been assumed to have been lost. And Allyson McDermott (p22) writes about the role of wallpaper in both understanding and presenting our cultural heritage. As Oscar Wilde or Napoleon Bonaparte might have said: very nice if it doesn’t kill you.
2 C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 Briefing Context Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Fiona Newton 21 George Street, Louth, Lincolnshire LN11 9JU Tel 01507 602567 email editorial@ihbc.org.uk Editorial Board Fiona Newton (chair) Nigel Crowe (main features) Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Michael Taylor (main features) Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2012 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Published for the Institute of Historic Building Conservation by Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA Tel 01747 871717 Fax 01747 871718 email context@cathcomm.co.uk www.buildingconservation.com Non-member subscriptions to Context Context is available to corporate bodies at an annual subscription rate, including postage, of: United Kingdom £60.00 Elsewhere £90.00 Subscription orders, together with remittances payable to Institute of Historic Building Conservation, should be sent to the IHBC Business Office at Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA. The views expressed in Context are not necessarily held by the IHBC or the publisher. Neither the publisher nor the IHBC shall be under any liability whatsoever in respect of contributed articles. We gratefully acknowledge the support of firms whose advertisements appear throughout this publication.While every effort has been made to ensure that the information contained in this issue of Context is current and correct, neither the IHBC nor the publisher can be held responsible for any errors or omissions which may occur. Copy deadlines Context is published five times a year, in March, May, July, September and November.The remaining copy deadlines in 2012 are: May, Issue 124 19 March July, Issue 125 14 May September, Issue 126 16 July November, Issue 127 17 September Complementing Lord Leighton Clare Burnett is the latest artistin-residence to work in the middleeast-inspired interior of Leighton House, home of Frederick, Lord Leighton (1830–1896), and the first to have her work displayed within the historic interiors. The scheme gives established artists the chance to work in a historic building. Burnett’s crumpled paper pieces draw attention to the dramatic rendering of drapery in works such as ‘Daedalus and Icarus’ and ‘Greek Girls Playing at Ball’. Coloured using pigment and acrylic and soaked in shellac – in much the same way as the tiles in the house’s Arab Hall are painted and then glazed – the works will be displayed in the historic rooms of the house alongside photogravures of the paintings that inspired them. In the museum’s Perrin Gallery, Burnett’s cardboard box pieces, created out of aluminium and painted in cyans, reds, oranges and green yellows are said to embody the idea of the global travel of goods, and by extension the journey made by the elements in the interior decoration of Leighton House, which includes the UK’s largest collections of 16th and 17th century Damascene tiles. The works are inspired by blown paper and discarded cardboard that Burnett found on the streets of London. These relate to the themes which include the forms of the wind-blown robes of the figures in Leighton’s paintings, and the discarded cardboard boxes left outside homes and offices once they have been emptied of their cargo. Leighton House was Lord Leighton’s home and studio. The Arab Hall, its centrepiece, was designed to display his collection of over a thousand Islamic tiles, mostly brought back from Damascus in Syria. The interior, with its gold mosaics, marble columns and golden dome, evokes a compelling vision of the Orient. The opulence continues through the other richly decorated interiors, with elaborate mosaic floors and walls lined with peacock blue tiles by the ceramic artist William De Morgan. Railway memorials The Railway Heritage Trust has begun a project to ensure that there is a full record of all the war memorials erected by railway companies to honour their staff who served or died in war or conflict. The Imperial War Museum’s UK National Inventory of War Memorials has supplied the trust with details of all of the railway company war memorials that it has recorded. The trust aims to check the location and ownership of these, and to ensure that this record is complete. To achieve this, the trust is inviting anyone who is aware of a railway company war memorial to check whether the memorial has been recorded on the UKNIWM at http:// www.ukniwm.org.uk . Burnett’s crumpled paper artworks are her response to the opulent interior of the house and Leighton’s paintings. A stone from the St Paul’s historic collection (top), the most ornate piece of 14th-century work recorded from the cathedral (theories of its original location within the cathedral include the shrine of St Erkenwald) and surviving effigies of Sir JohnWolley (died 1596) and his wife. As the current St Paul’s celebrates its 300th anniversary, the cathedral’s archaeologist John Schofield has brought together the lives of its predecessors for the first time in one publication. St Paul’s Cathedral Before Wren, published by English Heritage, highlights the historical and religious importance of the cathedral and churchyard site over its first 1,000 years. (Photos copyright of Museum of London Archaeology)
C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 3 Artillery Memorial conserved The Royal Artillery Memorial at Hyde Park Corner, London has been repaired and cleaned by English Heritage. Traffic fumes and the green algae caused by the overhanging trees had dirtied the monument, and rain had penetrated the stonework, causing the joints to crack. The Portland stone has been cleaned, and the carved panels depicting life in the Royal Artillery have been conserved. The joints have been repointed and the bronze statues covered in protective wax. Erected in 1925, the Royal Artillery Memorial is dedicated to the 49,076 men of the Royal Regiment of Artillery who died in the first world war. The monument was designed by the sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger with the architect Lionel Pearson. The memorial is a sculpture of a huge canon on a plinth with stone carved reliefs showing scenes from the first world war. An inscription above records the countries in which the gunners fought. Around its pedestal stand three bronze statues of gunners, while a fourth lies dead under his cape and helmet with the inscription (from Shakespeare’s Henry V), ‘HereWas A Royal Fellowship of Death’. Broadlands archives acquired The University of Southampton has completed the acquisition of the archives of Broadlands, the country house in Hampshire, with the support of the National Heritage Memorial Fund and other benefactors. The archives include approximately 250,000 papers and 50,000 photographs of Earl Mountbatten of Burma, the last viceroy of India. They are said effectively to serve as the foundation archive for the modern states of India and Pakistan. The collection also includes the diaries of the 19th-century social reformer and philanthropist, the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, and material for the Temple and Ashley estates in Hampshire. Hard times The latest casualty among companies in the heritage sector is the Linford Group of Lichfield. The company has gone into liquidation, taking with it its smaller sub-companies of Dorothea Restoration (metalwork) and Trumpers (historic plasterwork). Beyond the collection plate The Churches Conservation Trust (CCT) regeneration conference, held in London in November last year, was hosted by the Royal Bank of Scotland. Its main focus was on how to attract funding to churches, but the advice from most of the presenters could be applied as well across the whole of the non-commercial sector. CCT chairman Loyd Grossman launched into a critique of the draft National Planning Policy Framework, particularly its definition of sustainability and its implication that heritage is not part of economic regeneration. Philip Hall, director of charities education and social enterprise at NatWest Bank, pointed out that all the major banks had people who could take the needs of the charitable and voluntary sectors into account when considering offering loans. He encouraged churches and other nonprofit-making organisations to consider bank loans as part of their financial armoury. In looking at an organisation, he would consider its management structure, the quality of information provided, disclosure, steady income streams and its business plan. Andrew Stunell, parliamentary under secretary of state for Communities and Local Government, who happens to be a Baptist lay preacher, delivered a predictable defence of the Localism Bill. He pointed to the idea of public services being run from churches, which would derive income from them. Jonathan Levy, development manager at Land Securities, described an impressive range of projects, from Princesshay in Exeter to the Bullring in Birmingham, where the developer had provided both physical (in terms of accessibility) and financial benefits to churches. The lesson for those representing churches was to get in early in the planning process. Ian Morrison, head of historic environment at the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), could not confirm the contents of the HLF’s strategic plan, due to be published in May, but he was able to give delegates a fair idea of its direction. The good news was that more than £300 million a year would be available for grants from 2012 onwards. Grant giving would be more flexible and less bureaucratic, with greater advice and assistance at the early stages of the process. The HLF would provide help with business planning, project management, risk assessment, and capacity building on funding skills. However, it would be basically steering the same course The Twentieth Century Society described itself as ‘devastated’ by English Heritage’s decision not to list a 1950s house by the architect Leonard Manasseh at 51 Campden Hill Road in London’s Kensington, putting it under imminent threat of demolition. ‘Sadly,’ the society writes, ‘English Heritage’s decision is justified and highlights the consequences of lack of interim protection.’ English Heritage was unable to list the building because the internal staircase, a key feature, was removed after the spot-listing application was submitted. Jagger’s monument and one of its carved reliefs Family and friends at the front door of Broadlands
4 C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 ‘We have to learn lessons from the problems that have thwarted previous attempts to redevelop this much loved landmark. This is a pragmatic and incremental approach to enable the redevelopment of this famous landmark sitting in one of the largest and most valuable regeneration sites in central London. In many ways, this strategy is already on its way to being realised as there is one long flank wall missing as well as the roof itself. ‘It is not the first time the power station would have been taken down and put back together again. Not many people know that the chimneys were removed during the SecondWorld War to prevent them being targets for German bombers before being replaced. ‘The key to this strategy is that it will be, and will be seen to be, complete at each stage so that the redevelopment project can get started and make positive and rapid progress.’ The architect Terry Farrell telling the Architects’ Journal about his proposal to demolish much of Battersea Power Station in south London, leaving only the front and back elements and their chimneys. An open colonnade screen would connect the two flank walls with the area between being roofed over and redeveloped later. Around the ‘simple and beautiful finished monument’ would be housing and parkland. ‘The learning pill is well sugared, yes, but the key facts are got across.’ Heritage Minister John Penrose announcing that the former X-Factor twins John and Edward (‘Jedward’) Grimes will host a series on Children’s TV channel CBBC in which they will visit world heritage sites across the UK. ‘CANTHE value of culture be measured by government in monetary (or other) terms, or is it “priceless”? Is “measure” the right word? What is “culture” anyway? What does “value” mean and to whom? And how should DCMS go about deciding what to support with public money?’ DCMS consultant Claire Donovan writing in the department’s blog about the issues she is currently considering. ‘What London has got is a huge park strewn with enormous chunks of blandly impenetrable structure. It seems odd for an architecture critic to complain of too much architecture but at the moment when buildings and facilities of real community engagement – from libraries to sports fields – are being closed, the question needs to be asked whether this huge expenditure can be justified for a few brief moments of national pride. ‘The detritus of recent Games, Beijing and Athens in particular, presents a forbidding wasteland. Nothing looks emptier than the rusting desolation of an abandoned fun park. If there is to be a worthwhile legacy of London’s Olympics, the sporting architecture will not be it.’ Edwin Heathcote writing in the Financial Times about the sporting buildings for the 2012 Olympics ‘Under the previous controversial scheme, local communities in some of the most deprived areas of the country were told they would see a transformation of their areas. ‘In reality, this amounted to bulldozing buildings and knocking down neighbourhoods, pitting neighbour against neighbour, demolishing our Victorian heritage and leaving families trapped in abandoned streets. The families in these half-empty ghost streets should not be left desperately hoping for someone to reorder the rubble.’ Housing minister Grant Shapps announcing the allocation of £71 million to help tackle streets left by the housing market renewal pathfinder programme. ‘In awide variety of ways – economic, social and spiritual – our historic environment is one of our outstanding national assets. For too long, government has seen it on the wrong side of the balance sheet. If we want to deliver more prosperous and meaningful lives to our citizens, our heritage is a tool waiting to be picked up and used.’ Heritage Alliance chairman Loyd Grossman commenting on emerging government planning policy as before. It would remain focused on people, rather than buildings. The social rather than physical benefits must be at the centre of any grant application. Morrison said that repair grants for places of worship would continue to be targeted on urgent repairs, and there would be greater emphasis on maintenance and energy efficiency. BrianWhittaker of the Lankelly Chase Foundation reminded delegates that the majority of charitable trusts depended on income from stock market investments. The other immediate challenge was how to respond to the localism agenda and Big Society. Whittaker stressed the need to be confident about the governance of any applicant for funds, and that there would be measurable social benefits from the investment. The most entertaining presentation was by IHBC member Peter Aiers, head of the CCT’s regeneration task force. He took us through his checklist of stages in completing a successful project, with reference to some inspirational examples. The most exciting one was the conversion of the disused Grade II* All Souls Church in Bolton into a community centre. This project certainly ticked all the HLF’s boxes in terms of community engagement.Work will begin on site soon with the aid of a £3.3 million grant. David McDonald, chairman, IHBC London branch The Grade II listed West Lodge in Cardiff’s Bute Park is to be converted into a tea room, with a gift shop and toilets in a new rear extension in the same blue lias limestone.The scheme has been designed by Davies Sutton Architects.The project is supported by a £3.1 million grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. ISG is the contractor.
C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 5 Letters A yawning skills gap From Paul Latham, London I was very disappointed in the letter from John Winstone (Context 122, November 2011) promoting the RIBA’s accreditation scheme for skills in historic building work. The institute’s own shortcomings in monitoring the profession’s skills within RIBAapproved courses in architecture is the source of the problem. The RIBA is rightly concerned about skills in conservation among the wider profession.Why then is it not building in a baseline level of skills in historic building conservation into all RIBA approved courses, rather than inventing its own accreditation course? This would encourage the conservation of embodied energy in existing buildings, enhance localism and a sense of place, and promote tourism. The RIBA could find space within existing curricula by cutting out some of the remote and pointless Photoshop doodling which so many architecture courses include. It is the failure of a more handson apprenticeship approach in the training of architects, including skills in traditional materials and construction techniques, combined with a focus on ‘blue-sky architecture’, which generated the yawning gap in architects’ skills and gave rise to the need for historic building accreditation schemes. Paul Latham RIBA Back numbers From Christopher North, Needham Market, Suffolk I have been a member of the ACO/ IHBC for over 20 years and have accumulated a large number of copies of Context. I am having a sort out, prior to retiring. I am pleased to see that you now provide electronic access to all back numbers, but wonder if anyone wants a paper version? I have an almost complete run from issue 23. Please contact me at info@earth-and-reed. co.uk . Christopher North Robert Byron writing criticism of the works of Sir Edwin Lutyens and Sir Herbert Baker in New Delhi in the Architectural Review, January 1931 In approaching the main buildings of the city from the standpoint, not of their whole general effect, but of their character as separate entities, the architects’ official statement of their aims is worth considering. These aims have been: ‘to express, within the limits of the medium and the powers of its users, the ideal and fact of British rule in India, of which New Delhi must ever be the monument’. It is a sound canon of aesthetics that architecture, above the other arts, should express ideals and facts of this kind. It can do so by two methods: either by writing the ideals and facts in ornament, in crowns, scutcheons, symbolic figures, and their like; or by translating the human spirit, which makes them possible, into architectural form. In the respective works of Sir Herbert Baker and Sir Edwin Lutyens these methods are clearly differentiated. And the city, regarded in the light of objective criticism, is divided between the works of a lesser and a greater architect. That this fact does not obtrude itself on the visitor’s first impression is due to the fundamental conditions of material and lay-out laid down by the greater architect… Excepting the Viceroy’s dome, the six fountains by Sir Edwin Lutyens are the most beautiful features of the city. Apart from their clean-dressed rhubarb stone, their character is purely and almost surprisingly European. The perfection of their general proportions, and the superbly acted function of each smallest moulding, can only be rivalled in the Renascence buildings of Italy. A part of their genius lies in the placing of the water exactly flush with the parapets of the basins, so that the basins appear, not as basins, but as frames to a mirror. Seen from the road level, their red ramparts, the height of a man, decorate the Great Place on every side, and their obelisks complete every view. But they were primarily designed to be looked down upon. And it is from the Secretariats that their beauty of shape, given definition by two heavy pieces of masonry where the conjoining basins begin to decrease their width, can best be appreciated. At present the jets of water from the upper saucers are only strong enough to wet half the obelisks above them; from which results a sharp and rather ugly division of colour. But it is hoped that this will be remedied. Sir Edwin Lutyens has also been responsible for the curving ‘Buddhist railings’, again of red stone, which frame the ends of the Great Place. This use of stone, the placing, between flat balusters, of thin convex blocks in length equal to the balusters’ width, and permitting horizontal glimpses of daylight, produces the effect of a strawberry basket, and strikes the newcomer as rather eccentric. But it was nevertheless one of the outstanding features of Buddhist building during the early part of the first Christian millennium, and is found at Buddh Gaya, Sanchi, and Anaradjpura in Ceylon. Sir Edwin has lifted the railings upon a heavy base, furnished on the inside with a circular stone seat, and has flanked them, where intersected by roads, with square, lantern-bearing pillars. But the motive is an ugly one in the original, and whether its present adjuncts succeed in making it palatable is hard to decide. On the other hand, it provides precisely what the situation demands: the effect, not of a wall, but of a screen. Perhaps its chief merit is that it has made it possible to avoid the inevitable alternative, an adaptation of Mogul piercing on a large scale. The horrors of this device have been developed by Sir Herbert Baker in his low wall bounding the cast approach to the Council Chamber.
6 C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 Periodically When is a historic building not a historic building? Answer: when it’s a tree. Maybe not quite, but the latest edition of the Association of Preservation Technology Bulletin, Journal of Preservation Technology (Vol XLII, No 4, 2011) raises an intriguing question about the definition of heritage assets. An article by Harold Kalman and Lone Whitehead discusses the conservation of the Hollow Tree in Stanley Park, Vancouver. This 1,000 year-old western red cedar was one of the city’s principal tourist attractions from an early date. Countless images show people outside, inside and often sitting in their vehicles backed-up inside, and many celebrity visitors used it as a photographic backdrop. Although this status diminished as other Vancouver visitor destinations developed in the second half of the 20th century, it was the tree’s established role as a cultural attraction that earned it formal recognition as a significant historic place. It is listed as a landscape-resource ‘monument’ on the Vancouver Heritage Register, and as Stanley Park had been designated by the Government of Canada as a national historic site, the Hollow Tree is identified as ‘a tree with cultural significance’ in the commemorative integrity statement prepared by Parks Canada. The tree is therefore considered to have considerable heritage value as a cultural landscape that has been modified by, and reveals evidence of, human activity – and as a monument of nature. It is this last epithet that is interest because it is a developing category in the ICOMOS lexicon, consisting of prominent natural features that carry important cultural dimensions. Should we now be listing ancient trees because of the historical associations we make with them? The article goes on to explain the inappropriate stabilisation undertaken by the city in 1965 in the aftermath of typhoon Freda and subsequent the concerns about its stability. This prompted the city’s Parks Board, without public debate, initially to propose felling because of public safety fears. After a groundswell of public concern about the symbolic significance of the tree, common sense prevailed and a more appropriate conservation engineering solution was implemented in 2009 involving six specific steps, which are then explained in detail. Other articles in the same issue include one on the investigation and conservation of the polychromatic interior decoration of the San Miguel Arcangel mission church in California, completed in 1818. Douglas Porter, Ronald Anthony and Kimberley Dugan explain how several wood-inspection technologies helped to establish a suitable treatment strategy for this adobe building. It had suffered from damage from earthquakes, particularly one in 2003 that had led to its closure, and the paint finishes to the historic internal wooden elements had led to staining and dissolution of the historic paints. The multi-disciplinary team, involving architectural conservation, wood-science, wall-painting, woodenobjects conservation and historic carpentry expertise were able to prepare and implement a conservation plan involving structural stabilisation, a seismic refit and conservation of the painted ceilings. This work permitted the church to be reopened in 2009. Another major engineering challenge is where a need for increased accommodation at a confined historic site is met by building underneath it. James Shepherd and Nicole Ferran explain the significant risks this posed, and the multi-disciplinary approach needed to ensure that there were no long-term problems, in the case of the Washington DC Courthouse (originally the City Hall). Designed in classical style in 1820, it was converted and extended to become a federal courthouse in 1881. Particular attention was given to alternative soil-support systems and the impact on buildability, the need to support delicate structures such as the impressive south portico, and the monitoring regime put in place on completion to minimise postcompletion differential settlement. As climate change considerations become more pressing and there is urgent need to expand the use of accommodation over shops for residential use, the hygrothermal performance of historic buildings becomes critical. John Dam explains how this has been done in converting upper floors of the four-storey Hudson Bay Company department store of 1913 in Victoria, British Columbia, by balancing the conservation considerations of this attractive and robust building while improving its energy performance. The techniques and lessons learnt in Canada will be of great interest here for buildings of a similar type. The three remaining articles deal with aspects of architectural history. George Jaramillo looks at the Rangers’ Club at Yosemite National Park, designed by Stephen T Mather, the first director of the National Park Service. The club, built in 1919 as comfortable quarters for the park rangers, showcases the strength and tenacity of a complicated man determined to improve the conditions of the park employees as part of a drive to ensure a high calibre of career-based rangers. Matthew Seymour gives a brief
C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 7 history of lightning protection and the components of lightning conductor systems, with particular reference to the English examples of the 19th century. The principles had changed very little since the invention of the lightning rod by the Czech scientist Prokop Divis in 1754. Laluce Mitchell looks at early electrical wiring systems in American buildings from 1890 to 1930. He concludes that remnants of such ancient wiring can be useful today in helping date buildings of the period. What different conservation professionals call things can sometimes lead to confusion. In the Journal of Architectural Conservation (Vol 17, No 3), Claire Gapper and Jeff Orton explore why an architectural historian and a traditional conservation plasterer find it difficult to use the technical vocabulary to distinguish plaster and stuccos when discussing historic requirements. Plaster is now a generic term requiring a distinction to be made between lime and gypsum plaster. The term stucco is more confusing, meaning different things at different dates and in different countries. The authors admirably explain the historical development of the derivations and terminology. They explain the emergence of a tendency in the 18th century to use the term ‘stucco’ for a plaster render applied to walls of buildings to make them look like stone. In contemporary England this is probably the most generally understood use of the term in describing, for example, the buildings of John Nash. In the modern building industry in the UK ‘stucco’ is never used in connection with decorative fibrous plaster or external render, and the authors argue it is about time the term was abandoned in plaster conservation as well. Like the Journal of Preservation Technology, the Journal of Architectural Conservation includes interesting papers on conservation engineering. Ed Morton explains the structural repairs to the uniquely constructed Prospect Room at Wollaton Hall, Nottingham, built in the 16th century. The room is made especially significant by its ceiling, formed as a ‘Chinese’ lattice with no main beams clear spanning across the width. Instead each beam is tenoned into further beams to reduce their length. The paper explains the development of the repair solution in detail and the buildability aspects which have allowed the floor to be brought back fully into use for the first time since the 1950s. Cast iron as a structural material is well understood but not perhaps the use of cast-iron facades as structural shear walls. These hold a unique place in the history of North American buildings. Marie Ennis and Donald Friedman explain the systematic introduction of this form of construction in the 1840s to replace traditional masonry facade materials as the first large-scale use of an industrial product in building, and a precursor to modern structural analysis and construction techniques. The use of cast iron for facades reached its zenith in North America between about 1860 and 1875. Many good examples still survive. Two NewYork examples demonstrate the repair options available and illustrate the repair techniques used. For those grappling with the impact of the government’s Green Deal proposals for energy reduction and ventilation, Diane Hubbard’s paper on ‘Ventilation, infiltration and air permeability in traditional UK dwellings’ will be insightful. It takes as its point of departure the English Heritage ‘rule of thumb’ that for historic buildings, ventilation should be twice the normal level of ventilation. The author, having first undertaken a review of the current technical literature, has looked at the impact on a terrace of unimproved terraced dwellings owned by the Lakeland Housing Trust in Cumbria. While the empirical evidence does not offer a complete picture (as not all the variables could be considered), there were sufficient concerns for Hubbard to question the Standard Assessment Procedure used for energy assessment because of the wide variations in measured air-flow for this type of dwelling (particularly related to chimneys). She suggests that ventilation and the wider performance of the UK traditional dwelling stock is still insufficiently understood. The IHBC, SPAB and others continue to lobby vigorously about this, as the Green Deal proposals threaten significantly to change the appearance of traditional dwellings without achieving the improved performance being projected. After the celebration of the bi-centenary of Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811–78) in TheVictorian in July 2011, attention turned in November (issue No 38) to another great Victorian ‘architectural artist’, Edward Burne-Jones. His involvement in important public and private architectural projects is explained by Fiona MacCarthy, the author of a new biography of the artist. Burne-Jones was the most prolific glass designer for William Morris, and was one of the original partners of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Company. There are also contributions from the leading experts on stained glass. Martin Harrison explains that, despite Burne-Jones’ desire to make art accessible to a wide audience, he reserved his evenings for decorative design after the more lucrative painting commissions were put away. His collaboration with the leading Gothic revival architects of the day – Bodley, Street, Scott and Seddon – may be a more enduring legacy than his escapist and introspective easel art. Peter Cormack sets out why BurneJones is such a seminal figure in the arts and crafts movement, and such a
8 C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 stimulating force in any consideration of late-Victorian stained glass. The latest Institution of Civil Engineers Proceedings on Engineering History and Heritage (Vol 164, issue EH4, November 2011) covers a wide geographical range of engineering history. It includes the second paper on the success of the pre-stressed concrete bridges built in Germany in the period up to 1965 (referred to in my September column). There is also a state-of-the-art survey by Jos Tomlow of the inverted catenaries (‘hanging models’) developed by Antoni Gaudi for the structure of the Cólonia Güell church in Barcelona and its importance as an experiment for the design of the Sagranda Familia. Despite the legend that Gaudi was obsessed with designing stone structures through the use of hanging models to the point of rejecting other approaches, he was concerned about the way the engineering results might be interpreted. The author has discussed this with leading experts since 1976, concluding that Gaudi was aware of the theoretical impact of the hanging model, within its historic parameters, and that his attitude may inspire current construction design. The issue also contains a paper on the colonial connections and networks of British consulting engineers working in different imperial contexts from 1850 to 1914, particularly in Egypt and the Crown colonies of West Africa. There is a brief resume of the engineering heritage of New Zealand; a study of the surviving historic arch bridges in Iran; and an article about surmounting considerable physical obstacles on an irrigation project on the Milk River in Montana at the turn of the 20th century. Cornerstone, the magazine of the SPAB (Vol 32, No 4, 2011) does not pull its punches. Under the heading ‘Listed? No problem…’, Phil Venning states bluntly that although it had been thought that the main battle to protect historic buildings had already been engaged over the weakening of the planning system, we could not have been more wrong. ‘The government is now mounting a frontal assault on the listing system itself.’ This stems from the Chancellor’s autumn statement supporting the Penfold Review. Despite a need for parliamentary time for the implementation of some of the more extreme measures – which have already been well-trailed elsewhere – the question is whether the government will match some of its philistine rhetoric to resource the radical changes it espouses. Phil’s blunt and accurate assessments will be sorely missed when he steps down after 28 years as secretary of the SPAB in the summer. CORNERSTONE MAGAZINEOFTHESOCIETYFORTHEPROTECTIONOFANCIENTBUILDINGS VOLUME32 NUMBER4 2011 Nikof time SOCIETY’SFIRSTDIRECTORCOLDWEATHERPRECAUTIONSSPAB’SEASTENDERSARCHITECTURALPHOTOGRAPHERINFOCUS NATHANIELLLOYD’SMASTERPIECEAMIGHTYKENTISHTOWERPENELOPEADAMSONAT90LISTINGTARGETEDBYGOVERNMENT Pevsner’s passion for the past Spellsandspirits? Candle-markedceilings WilliamBlake’slittle placebythesea COVER winter 2011:Layout 1 13/12/11 15:19 Page 1 ice | proceedings www.engineeringhistoryandheritage.com ISSN1757-9430 ICEPublishing ICEProceedings EngineeringHistoryandHeritage Volume164 IssueEH4 November2011 Engineering History and Heritage Volume164 IssueEH4 November2011 The SPAB’s view about the latest assault on heritage policy perhaps led to your reviewer making a subconscious connection between the good old days of conservation in the 1980s and 90s and the recent restoration of the Leeds City Varieties Theatre, featured in Theatres Magazine (issue 30, winter 2011). Readers of a certain age will remember that this was where until 1983 the BBC broadcast the TV variety show ‘The Good Old Days’, presided over by the ebullient Leonard Sachs. Given Sachs’ famous linguistically elaborate introductions of the performers, one wonders what language he might have conjured up to introduce what some might see as conservation’s Last Act? Bob Kindred MBE
C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 9 Supporting Columns Controlling decay at Plas Coch Robert Demaus discusses how understanding the widely feared, and misleadingly termed, dry rot benefited an ambitious conservation project at a gentry house in North Wales. and sometimes perhaps wilfully, misidentified as ‘dry rot’. A recently completed project inAnglesey demonstrates that an alternative to the conventional approach of radical surgery and extensive chemical treatment can result in very significant savings, both in terms of costs and historic fabric. Plas Coch is a substantial Grade II* 16th century gentry house overlooking the Menai Straits in North Wales. Like many such houses, its fortunes have varied. By the end of the 20th century it had suffered frommany years of neglect, with little or no maintenance.What little work that had been done, such as cementitious ribbon pointing, had simply made matters worse. When new owners took over, they required an exemplary restoration of the house to form the heart of an exclusive holiday venue. To this end, they appointed Donald Insall and Associates to oversee repairs to the house and the creation of new facilities. They in turn asked me to carry out a detailed survey of the building to identify the various agents of decay present, assess the extent of degradation caused, and prepare proposals for remediation. First impressions were not good. Holes in the roof, broken roof-lights, missing flashings and no effective guttering allowed water to penetrate many areas of the house, particularly in the upper floors.The combination of projecting cementitious pointing externally (intended to prevent water entering the walls), and some modern non-breathing internal finishes, prevented any evaporation from the walls. Unsurprisingly, a variety of decay mechanisms had taken hold.The most significant were the brown rots Serpula lacrymans and ‘cellar fungus’ (Coniophora puteana). There were also less significant outbreaks of white rots (Phellinus contiguus andDonkioporia expansa), and some relatively minor furniture beetle(Anobium punctatum) in softwood elements. In some areas, floor structures were too degraded to walk on. As there had been so much water penetration through the roof, zones of decay were not confined to external walls. Mortar pugging, used as sound insulation between floors, created substantial reservoirs of moisture, exacerbating the problem. Of the many problems, real and imagined, that can beset owners and carers of old buildings, ‘dry rot’ is perhaps the most dreaded. It is often described as a ‘cancer’ that can spread through a building at an alarming rate, and much of the imagery and language used reinforces this notion. Why has this particular fungus achieved such notoriety, and is its fearsome reputation justified? There is no doubt that ‘dry rot’ can cause extensive damage, but like so many bêtes noires, the fear generated is often disproportionate to the damage caused. A multi-million pound industry sustains those fears, and has worked hard to maintain them, ably assisted by celebrity self-styled ‘conservation superheroes’ intent on making exciting television programmes. Sadly, all too many building professionals remain in ignorant awe of the fearsome beast and the myths that surround it. Even the very term ‘dry rot’ is misleading. It first appeared in the late 18th century, originating from a fundamental misunderstanding of the differences between what should be termed white rots and brown rots.White rots generally leave a stringy mass of spongy fibres that was thought to be caused by excess moisture. These were called ‘wet rots’.The brown rots, by contrast, degraded the wood to form cuboidal cracking (a bit like parched earth) and a crumbly texture, often leaving an undamaged outer surface, which it was thought could not be caused by excessive moisture, and must therefore be due to ‘fermentation of the juices of the tree’ and/or heat.These were therefore termed ‘dry rots’. Over the ensuing 200 years, the term ‘dry rot’ has become restricted to just one fungus – Serpula lacrymans, with all other wood-decaying fungi grouped together as wet rots. Nonetheless, the term itself is a misnomer which continues to cause confusion: all fungi must have a local source of moisture, and will die if that moisture source is removed. Serpula lacrymans is no different, but somehow the notion that it is uniquely capable of surviving and spreading far away from a source of water persists, even among those who should know better.To make matters worse, more commonly found brown rots, such as ‘cellar fungus’ (Coniophora puteana), which can do as much damage, but do not have the scare factor, are routinely, Left: Plas Coch, a magnificent 16th century gentry house in Anglesey, has been rescued from severe decay and restored to its former glory. Right:The projecting cementitious pointing trapped moisture in the wall and reduced evaporation, quite apart from being unspeakably ugly.
10 C O N T E X T 1 2 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 2 Conventional wisdom would require that all timbers within one metre of any sign of fungal activity should be removed, and everything remaining should be liberally treated with biocidal chemicals, probably including irrigation of all masonry walls.This approach would have been horrendously destructive, involving the loss of much of the structural timber, as well as high-quality joinery and fine plain and decorative lime plaster ceilings and walls. It would also have been horrendously expensive. Wall irrigation, although still often specified, is usually ineffective. In walls that are already wet, the chemicals will not disperse, and in walls that are dry, there will be no fungal activity, so no treatment is required. The same sort of ‘wisdom’ will often also recommend the use of silicone-based external sealers, which tend to seal moisture in, not out. Fortunately, the owners of Plas Coch were receptive to the suggestion of an alternative, much less destructive approach: one based on the simple and irrefutable fact that all wood-decaying fungi will die when the moisture levels are brought under control, and can not ‘regenerate’ at the typical ambient moisture contents found in a well-maintained old house. At Plas Coch, it was clear that the elevated moisture content and consequent decay was not due to any inherent faults in the building, but was caused by the lack of any maintenance over the preceding 50 years, and the use of inappropriate materials – particularly the cementitious pointing. The proposed repair works would remedy these faults and allow the fabric to dry down to a sustainable level. The overall business plan for Plas Coch required that restoration of the principal house was deferred while new facilities were constructed. During this time, the house was cleared of debris and a full scaffold roof was erected so that the building fabric could start to dry down. Screens on the scaffold prevented driven rain hitting the stone walls, but allowed sufficient air movement. Some floorboards were lifted, and modern finishes removed where possible, to aid the drying process.The removal of the cementitious pointing was an important part of this process. It had a profound and almost immediate effect, allowing the water trapped in the masonry to escape. The building dried down very quickly, without the use of any forced ventilation or de-humidifiers. In less than a year, walls that had been effectively saturated had dried to a level where timbers built into the stonework had a typical moisture content of around 18 per cent – already significantly below the point at which fungal attack could survive. Throughout this period, the building was unheated, but was protected from driving rain by the screened scaffolding.With the fungal attack stopped, only timbers that were no longer capable of fulfilling their original role were replaced or strengthened. Generally repair-by-addition was preferred to repair-by-replacement. Now, more than a year after the repairs were completed and all the scaffolding removed, the building is continuing to dry down with typical moisture contents of 10–12 per cent, well below the level at which there is any chance of a recurrence of the fungal activity. A huge amount of historic fabric has been saved, and the cost savings approached a six-figure sum. Many lessons can be learnt from this example. The fundamental principles apply to most, if not all, old buildings.These may be summarised as: • Fungal attack almost always arises from lack of maintenance and/or the use of inappropriate materials. It is rarely the result of inherent defects in the building, although subsequent changes, such as the loss of roof overhangs, can have a significant effect. • All wood-decaying fungi are very sensitive to moisture. If the building is well maintained, using appropriate materials and detailing, the moisture held within the fabric is unlikely to rise to a level where there is a risk of fungal attack. • Steps to reduce excess moisture in the fabric should be implemented as soon as possible. • Decay in timber can not be assessed in isolation.The condition and performance of whole building must be taken into account. Robert Demaus’ company is Demaus Building Diagnostics. The masonry of this dormer window was saturated, and the softwood matchboard lining completely degraded. The underlying oak roof structure could be retained with only relatively minor strengthening required. The splits and shrunken distorted surface of the softwood panelling concealing a structural beam are classic indicators of brown rot decay.The oak beam behind is not significantly affected. Massive amounts of Serpula lacrymans mycelium spreading through a damp floor void can look alarming, but once the building fabric has dried the fungus will die naturally. If significantly weakened, the joists may need to be strengthened, but not necessarily replaced.
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