Context 168 - June 2021

6 C O N T E X T 1 6 8 : J U N E 2 0 2 1 Periodically In my last column I referred to the invaluable annual transactions or learned journals published by the national amenity bodies and the added value to their members (and an incentive for uncommitted readers to sign up). I said that I aimed to cover the content of several of these in this column. Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society One of the most august, longest running and wide-ranging set of Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society . The latest annual issue for 2021, running to 162 pages, is Volume 65. Past issues are an indispensable source of reference on subjects treated in depth. The current issue includes the first-ever published account of the work of the ‘rogue’ antiquarian architect Edward Lushington Blackburne (1803–188). This paper by Edmund Harris is the second winner of the AMS’s Stephen Croad Essay Prize and a worthy winner, providing a useful addition to the literature on neglected 19th century architects. Harris has been assiduously illuminating these largely overlooked figures in his informative and well-illustrated blog www.lesseminentvictorians. com. Until recently an appreciation of Blackburne was fragmentary at best, but the author has brought lost works to light, placed previously little-studied buildings in their proper context and made some additional attributions. Blackburne’s early antiquarianism and interest in medieval architecture was followed by domestic designs of some flamboyance. He was an architect with an aptitude for stylistic diversity whose works deserve wider recognition. One of the great values of the Transactions of the Ancient Monuments Society has been its coverage of the establishment, early evolution and gradual refinement of the listing system. Its papers illustrate seminal cases on that journey: to appreciate how the system operates now one must understand where it has come from, and how. The paper by Nicholas Cooper on ‘The Saving of Holland House, 1940–1965’ forms part of that long narrative thread. Cooper makes clear that the achievements of the conservation movement in the last third of the 20th century have overshadowed the deep and widespread challenges faced by historic buildings in the 25 years after the outbreak of the second world war. The case study of Holland House in west London well illustrates the problems faced by all those grappling with the problems in those years. The paper also includes that memorable, highly evocative and frequently reproduced photo of three men in raincoats and trilby hats standing in the ruined and roofless library of Holland House, staring at the books, following the devastating air raid of September 1940. It is a picture this reviewer had previously assumed to show a central London bookshop. The libraryofHollandHouse, Kensington, after anair raid in1940 (Photo: Harrisonfor Fox Photos,Wikimedia)