Diversity and inclusion Multiple perspectives on heritage Women who shaped modernism Troublesome statues LGBTQ+ histories No 173 September 2022 Institute of Historic Building Conservation
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Diversity and inclusion Multiple perspectives on heritage Women who shaped modernism Troublesome statues LGBTQ+ histories No 173 September 2022 Institute of Historic Building Conservation C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 1 www.ihbc.org.uk @IHBCtweet Registered as a charity in England and Wales number 1061593 and in Scotland number SC041945. Company Limited by Guarantee. Registered in England number 3333780. Registered Office: Jubilee House, High Street, Tisbury, Wiltshire SP3 6HA Officers President Mike Brown, president@ihbc.org.uk Chair David McDonald, chair@ihbc.org.uk Vice Chair Lone Le Vay, vchair@ihbc.org.uk Secretary Jo Evans, ihbcsecretary@ihbc.org.uk Treasurer Jill Kerry, treasurer@ihbc.org.uk National Office Director Seán O’Reilly, director@ihbc.org.uk Operations Director Fiona Newton, operations@ihbc.org.uk Consultations Coordinator consultations@ihbc.org.uk Membership Services Officer Carmen Moran, membershipservices@ihbc.org.uk Professional Services Officer Michael Netter, services@ihbc.org.uk Administration Officer Lydia Porter, admin@ihbc.org.uk Committee Chairs Policy Roy Lewis, policy@ihbc.org.uk Membership & Ethics Andrew Shepherd, membership@ihbc.org.uk Education ChrisWood, education@ihbc.org.uk Communications & Outreach Dave Chetwyn, communications@ihbc.org.uk Branch Contacts North north@ihbc.org.uk NorthWest northwest@ihbc.org.uk Yorkshire yorkshire@ihbc.org.uk West Midlands westmids@ihbc.org.uk East Midlands eastmids@ihbc.org.uk South south@ihbc.org.uk SouthWest southwest@ihbc.org.uk East Anglia eastanglia@ihbc.org.uk South East southeast@ihbc.org.uk London london@ihbc.org.uk Scotland scotland@ihbc.org.uk Wales wales@ihbc.org.uk Northern Ireland northernireland@ihbc.org.uk Republic of Ireland republicofireland@ihbc.org.uk Rest of theWorld overseas@ihbc.org.uk Cover: Lawn Road Flats, London, built in 1934. Molly Pritchard drew up the design concept and brief for this landmark modernist building, designed by Wells Coates. (Photo: John East) See page 29. 2 Briefing 5 Letter 5 Obituary 6 Out of Context 7 Periodically 10 The writer’s voice 13 Editorial 14 Multiple perspectives on heritage Peter de Figueiredo 17 Equity, diversity and inclusion in the heritage sector Alice Ullathorne 20 Pride of Place: queer heritage Alison Oram 24 Troublesome statues Rob Cowan 29 (Some of) the women who shaped British modernism Elizabeth Darling 33 Heritage and mental health Laura Drysdale 36 Diversity in the heritage workplace Historic England Inclusion Team 39 Making Greyfriars accessible Katy-Jayne Lintott with Joe Player, LucyWatson and Sarah-Jane Sorrell 41 How do you climb the scaffold in a hijab? Katriona Byrne 44 New life for Moseley School of Art Mick McGrath 48 Historic buildings in Johannes Kip’s engravings Anthea Jones 51 Notes from the chair 53 Director’s cut 55 New members 56 Vox pop 58 New member profile 59 Book reviews 64 Inter alia 65 Products and services 68 Specialist suppliers index
Editor Rob Cowan Editorial Coordinator Michael Taylor, ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com Editorial Board Tom Copp Nigel Crowe Peter de Figueiredo (book reviews) Rebecca Madgin Andrew McClelland Fiona Newton Louise Priestman Gordon Sorensen Jonathan Taylor Michael Taylor (chair) Cartoons by Rob Cowan Context is distributed to all members of the Institute of Historic Building Conservation. © Institute of Historic Building Conservation 2022 ISSN 0958-2746 Publisher Cathedral Communications Limited, High Street, Tisbury,Wiltshire, England SP3 6HA 01747 871717 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 Context on-line archive Past issues of Context can be viewed on the IHBC website. The archive provides a searchable database and reference for key articles. See www.ihbc.org.uk/page55/ context_archive. 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. Context themes and copy deadlines Context is published four times a year in March, June, September and December. The next three themes and copy deadlines are: The IHBC at 25, December, issue 174 (7 October) East Anglian coast, March, issue 175 (13 January) World Heritage Sites, June, issue 176 (7 April) Please contact Michael Taylor at ihbceditorialboard@gmail.com to discuss any editorial submissions or for information about the Context editorial board. 2 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 Briefing IHBC north west award Paul Hartley writes: The IHBC NorthWest Branch Conservation Award 2021 has been awarded to the Mount, Fleetwood. Fleetwood developed as new town from the 1830s to the designs of architect Decimus Burton. The public gardens forming the Mount were built on the largest sandhill in the area. They act as the focal point of the town plan and offer spectacular views across Morecambe Bay to the Lake District. The registered historic park and garden contain two Grade II listed buildings, the Lodge and the Pavilion. Led by Purcell, these buildings have been conserved through a programme of repair and restoration to create public spaces, including an education centre, exhibition space, wedding venue and function spaces. Discreet conservation works included the challenging restoration of external timber balustrading to the Pavilion. The Lodge has benefited from access improvements, the removal of a substation and its relocation to a secluded area of the park, and repair and restoration of elevations, helping to reinstate visual links to the gardens. The works to the Lodge and Pavilion comprise a second phase of a wider project to restore the gardens and complement an extensive programme of The Pavilion at the Mount, Fleetwood, previously functioned as an observatory and signalling point. (Photo: Nick Harrison)
C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 3 landscaping works, including the restoration of boundary walls, railings and planting schemes, the refurbishment of timber shelters, rockeries, paths and lighting, and tree removal to re-open views through the park and visual links with the wider town. With a total cost of works for the Pavilion, the Lodge and associated works at £1.57 million, the project was achieved through funding from the Lofthouse Foundation and Heritage Lottery. Wyre Council was the client. Special mentions in the awards were given to two other north-westbased projects: The Old Library, West Derby, Liverpool, involving the formation of a new nursery and community hub within a redundant former Grade II Carnegie Library (OMI Architects); and the Dome of Home, New Brighton, involving repairs and refurbishment of a 1930s Grade II listed church, the Catholic Shrine Church of Ss Peter and Paul and St Philomena (Kepczyk Pearce Sanderson Architects, Surveyors and Historic Building Consultants). Accounting for tastes The Grade II* listed Chartered Accountants Hall in the City of London represents the work of three architects over 80 years: John Belcher, John James Joass and WilliamWhitfield, ranging from 1890s neo-baroque to 1960s bushhammered concrete brutalism. Appointed to carry out repairs and refurbishment to the original Belcher wing (1890–93) in two phases, Donald Insall Associates has completed roof repairs, including the replacement of the outer glazed lantern of its dome, and have refurbished the two principal reception rooms. Centred under a high, glazed dome, the main reception room (originally the council chamber) extends into bold colonnaded apses to its east and west. The palatial room features large allegorical murals by the Scottish artist George Murray representing, among other subjects, ‘Science bringing order with scales and rule to Commerce’ and ‘The Triumph of Law’. The members room (formerly the library) features a playful Venetian-style bridge connecting the room’s balustraded galleries. The former library of the Chartered Accountants Hall is now a members’ room. The Old Council Chamber is a reception room.
4 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 Deep clean for St Michael’s The 19th-century interiors of St Michael’s Abbey, Farnborough, Hampshire, have been given a deep clean. The job involved cleaning all the decorative stone surfaces inside the church, including the nave, transept and chancel, using latex paste, and various poulticing and dry and wet cleaning methods. The neo-gothic abbey, still in active Benedictine use, was designed by Gabriel-Hippolyte Destailleur, and opened in 1881. A substantial amount of dirt, grease and dust had built up over the walls, ceiling, ornate mouldings and sculptural features over many decades. In some cases, these elements were blackened with smoke from the candles, oil lamps and incense, which are ritually burned within the abbey on a daily basis. The liquid latex was applied systematically in sections to avoid tide lines. As the latex cured, it created a poultice and lifted the staining and debris to the stone’s surface without penetrating it. Once dry, the latex poultice was mechanically removed, cleaning and clearing the surfaces of staining without damaging the historic stone. The abbey was founded by the Empress Eugénie (1826– 1920) as a mausoleum for her late husband Napoleon III (1808–1873), and their son the Prince Imperial (1856–1879), both of whom lie in the Imperial Crypt, along with Eugénie herself, all in granite sarcophagi provided by Queen Victoria. The conservation contractor was DBR (London). A Natterer’s bat in the church of St Lawrence, Radstone, Northants (Photo: Chris Damant) Bats in Churches The National Bats in Churches Survey, a citizen science project run by the Bats in Churches partnership, has been using volunteers to gather data on how and why bats are using churches. Bats in Churches is a fiveyear partnership between the Bat Conservation Trust, Church of England, Natural England, Churches Conservation Trust and Historic England, funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. It is thought at least 60 per cent of pre-16th century churches in England house bat roosts, but the true figure could be much higher. The Bats in Churches Project has already carried out bat mitigation works in over 30 project churches, and is closely monitoring the results. Over 20 more churches now have plans in place to help manage their bat roosts. Much of this work has been possible due to the new Bats in Churches class licence, which allows experienced ecologists to carry out complex work around bat roosts. The work has highlighted the importance of bringing together church communities, architects, ecologists and heritage specialists to share their experience and expertise. This includes training bat workers to work with churches, and providing professional training to heritage specialists on working around bats, aiming to create a base of professionals who understand the issues around both churches and bats. The ceiling of the Benedictine St Michael’s Abbey, Farnborough, after cleaning
C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 5 Obituary Ian Lucas, historic building conservationist Crispin Edwards writes: We are sorry to report that the secretary of the IHBC north-west branch, Ian Lucas, died suddenly on 7 January. Ian was born in Claverley, Shropshire, one of five siblings. The family moved around the country before settling in Malvern. Malvern and its hills remained a place of peace and beauty for Ian. He continued to visit home regularly, increasingly so in recent years to support his own parents. He also had a great love for Cornwall, where his mother was from and which was the destination for many family holidays. He began his working life as an architect in Newcastle, after training in architecture there. While at university he had learnt to love hill walking and made many lasting friendships, as well as deepening his Christian faith with his involvement with the Navigators. As a result of one of these friendships and a fortuitous car accident he met his future wife Anne, whom he married in 1991. In 1997 a move to Manchester for work brought Ian to the north west to live, working with Byrom Clark Roberts. He greatly appreciated the firm’s flexibility to his caring for his second son’s additional needs, and he remained with them through a takeover by Smithers Purslow. He enjoyed problem solving as a team and mentoring younger architects at the start of their careers. Some of the many contractors he worked with over the years also helped with home adaptations, and he was tremendously grateful for this support network in his professional life. His work gave Ian the opportunity to further his passion for historic buildings, and after post-graduate studies this became his specialism. I remember spending time with him on scaffolding early in my career, learning about building defects. He was a great advocate for Port Sunlight and started the 21st-century best practice heritage site management for the village with his work on the conservation management plan. Like many heritage enthusiasts, for Ian historic architecture was much more than a job. Many family outings involved a ‘site visit’ or trip to see ‘something interesting’ (from a complete medieval castle to a hole in the ground and several bricks). Ian first joined the north-west branch’s executive committee in 2009, coordinating responses on consultations. He later became the branch secretary, committed to developing stronger links within the regional membership. He actively supported the development of the branch’s awards scheme, which for a number of years was run jointly with the RTPI, and he designed the award plaques. He was a great fan of the Isle of Man, and enjoyed visiting its heritage when the branch committee held meetings there to strengthen ties with this part of our region. Selfless and quietly spoken, whenever things were difficult Ian’s dry sense of humour and pragmatic approach to life would always help. In his work as well as at home he was a man of integrity who was unfailingly calm, courteous, compassionate, practical and diligent. He treated all as equals and lived his faith through his life. He will be missed terribly. He is survived by his wife, three sons and two grandchildren. Crispin Edwards, IHBC north-west branch vice-chair Letter How effective is listing? From Richard Griffith RIBA RIAS 2022 is the 50th anniversary of an ill-fated moment in listed building history.Wayland Young (Lord Kennet) had been a junior minister in charge of historic buildings in the Labour government of 1966–70; and in 1972 he published a memoir of his time in office. It included the following observation: ‘I marvelled at the willingness of parliament to set up and the civil service to operate a system designed to have a certain effect without ever checking whether it was having that effect or another or none.’ More recently, in 2009, the secretary of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings, Philip Venning, made the same point: ‘None of the players in this elaborate and costly system of consultation actually knows how effective any of us are. It is quite extraordinary that there are no figures and little, if any, research.’ There is still no routine system for checking the control’s performance and effectiveness. Of course, there are numerous documents, both official and professional, that dilate on what the control is intended to do. But what is the point of any of them if they are not routinely focused by a description of what the control is actually doing? After 50 years, isn’t the introduction of proper governance long overdue? Richard Griffith
6 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 ‘RENOVATING a Grade II-listed property comes with challenges. “We were allowed to update the kitchen and bathroom, but there were weird things we couldn’t do, like change the 1990s skirting boards,” says Maria. ‘One of the couple’s main goals was to create a “healthy” home: they avoided “modern” materials such as PVA glue, cement and MDF, using locally sourced timber and lime instead.’ Weird indeed. Kate Jacobs reports in the Guardian on how a couple restored a 300-year-old fishing cottage in Deal, Kent ‘PROGRESS is not only unacceptably slow, but the likely start date for major works has been pushed back by many years because of repeated attempts to revisit the basis of the programme. ‘Recent decisions to remove the sponsor body have created significant uncertainty and value-for-money risk. Nugatory spending, including £140 million to install temporary fire-safety systems, is already evident. ‘Although some urgent works could be undertaken earlier, there is still no clear indication of when major works may start.’ The Public Accounts Committee reporting that uncertainty over the restoration of the Palace of Westminster has caused more than £200 million of unnecessary spending ‘SELL IT. It could become a tourist attraction, or a grand hotel, or a museum, or a combination. Thousands of new jobs, millions of tourists, and the sale alone would raise billions… ‘Meanwhile build a new parliament near the centre of the nation – Sheffield, maybe, or Manchester. The money from selling Westminster would fund it. A new building, plus reforms. Scrap all the 17th century nonsense, the wigs, the black rods, the stockings and prancing around… ‘Of all the comparable large economies, we are the most centralised, and the worst governed. It’s frankly insane that we’ve become this way, and the idea that we should throw £20 billion at Westminster Palace to keep things that way is demented. Time for major reform.’ Russ Jones on Twitter @RussinCheshire on the future of the Palace ofWestminster ‘I COULD not be prouder of Lewes Town Council, Friends of Lewes and Lewes Conservation Area Advisory Group, all independently proposing the refusal of uPVC windows in conservation areas even when improving the fenestration details. Ugly and unsustainable.’ Tanya Szendeffy on Twitter @TanyaSzendeffy ‘THE PROPOSAL identifies York’s outstanding universal value as being the outstanding example in north-west Europe of urban development that commences in the Roman period and continues from 71 AD as a living city, down to the present day.’ John Oxley,York’s former city archaeologist, on the city’s latest attempt to become a Unesco world heritage site, focusing on its historic centre, listed buildings and conservation areas ‘WE ARE committed to retaining and explaining our heritage so people can examine all parts of Britain’s history and understand our shared past.’ A DCMS spokesperson explaining the decision by culture secretary Nadine Dorries to grant listed status to a plaque commemorating Cecil Rhodes at Oriel College, Oxford, against the advice of Historic England ‘LUCKILY, most of us don’t get our history from statues or plaques.’ KimWagner, professor of imperial history at Queen Mary University of London, commenting on Dorries’ decision ‘IT HAS BEEN largely unused for the past 12 years. Despite efforts to engage with the owner, it continues to fall further into disrepair. We will not sit by and watch this happen. The CPO will give us the powers to take action and give the Prudential building a brilliant new future.’ Oldham Council leader Amanda Chadderton explaining the decision to issue a compulsory purchase order to save the derelict Prudential Assurance Building. Designed by AlfredWaterhouse and listed at Grade II, it will be restored and become a business incubation hub
C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 7 Periodically The Georgian One of the key areas of professional competence for members of IHBC is evaluation, involving a knowledge of the development of the historic environment and an ability to analyse and record it. Having a clear understanding of the age and development of historic buildings is therefore a crucial skill. One way of evaluating the age and development of buildings is by understanding their historic details and fixtures. Over many years Charles Brookings has provided an invaluable adjunct to this aim based on his outstanding collection of architectural details, fitments and so on. Over four recent issues of The Georgian he has illustrated clearsightedly the development of specific features, with particular reference to Georgian buildings, making the task of accurate dating somewhat easier. Having already covered the subjects of window glazing bars sections, sash framing, details and types of pulleys, and window shutters, the latest issue of The Georgian (Issue 1, 2022) sees Brookings address the question of sash-window furniture, including catches, sash weights and shutter bars.This well-illustrated guidance is proving to be an invaluable resource. Other short articles include an excellent one byWilliam Aslet (recipient of the George Clark Prize for research pertinent to Stowe) on the contribution of James Gibbs to the landscape one of Britain’s finest country houses; Amy Frost, senior curator at Bath PreservationTrust discussing exploratory excavation in the landscape surrounding William’ Beckford’s famous tower to uncover a ‘lost’ grotto tunnel under his famous local landmark; and Pamela Cooksey exploring the notebooks of JosephWood (1750– 1821) on decorative wallpapers. These notebooks are housed in the Brotherton Library at the University of Leeds. Although a number of excellent books about historic wallpapers already exist, this article is helpful in highlighting another invaluable resource that may be helpful where decoration may facilitate the dating and conservation of historic interiors. SPAB Magazine In the SPAB Magazine (Summer 2022) events in Ukraine prompt the society’s director Matthew Slocombe to muse about the damage to that country’s heritage and why we in the UK should so cherish our own. With regard to the ruination of war, he notices that here, many of those standing monuments currently in public care face an uncertain future, particularly in Scotland, where Historic Environment Scotland closes a number of sites where surveying work is occurring. Slocombe notes that this is a huge concern but a product of a genuine fear by HES about loose masonry and the risks to visitors. The underlying problem is the lack of state funding for monuments in guardianship. Slocombe goes on to state that in the inter-war period many monuments across the UK were taken into state care. Much work was done at that time – not all of it well advised by modern standards – but we are now at a point where this major investment must be renewed.Without comparable state support, long-term closures seem inevitable. As SimonThurley, chair of the Heritage Fund, said at the Heritage Alliance’s Heritage Day in March, perhaps it is time to put aside arguments about economics and regeneration, and make a more emotional plea to government about the value of heritage to culture and well-being? This is not ‘woke’. At the time of writing it remains to be seen who the new prime minister will be, let alone the new chancellor and new culture secretary, and whether any of them will be prove to be responsive. The issue also contains a nicely illustrated peon of praise to London stock bricks, dubbed an urban vernacular material, written by UlrikeWahl, a stonemason, surveyor and SPAB fellow. On technical matters Douglas Kent highlights the unconventional solution to the urgent repair of an apsidal roof on the unique double-treadwheel crane at Harwich (both scheduled and Grade II* listed). Lead or zinc sheet have been considered too grand for such a prosaic structure but some form of modern membrane was also determined to be inappropriate. The breakthrough came with the discovery of historic references to the use of tarred sailcloth at Chatham Dockyard.This seemed to offer a viable pragmatic solution with a historic precedent.Trials of the material have proved successful.
8 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 Noting that the traditional use of pine (not coal) tar on buildings has largely been lost in the UK but has continued unbroken Sweden, this is where the project team sought advice.Traditional sailcloth of cotton duct canvas is dimensionally stable and was regarded in this instance as a more suitable covering than alternatives manufactured from man-made fibres. The new roofs on large sarking boards were primed first with Swedish pine tar heated on an electric hob to 50°C and thinned with white spirit (10 pine tar: 1 white spirit). The underside of the sailcloth was treated likewise before being laid on the boards with folded and stapled laps. Two coats of unthinned warmed pine tar were then applied to the sailcloth, with both coatings dusted with charcoal. A third coat of tar and two dust coatings of sand were to be applied after six months, and further coats applied after two and five years. This article shows the benefits of wide-ranging and persistent research, and valuable experimentation. As a process, if not a widely applicable technique, it will be of interest to anyone facing such unusual circumstances, requiring the matching of the shapes of difficult surface geometry with traditional materials. Heritage Now Articles of interest featured in Heritage Now (Summer 2022), the magazine of Historic Buildings and Places (the new working name of the Ancient Monuments Society), include an explanation by Andrew Coles, associate director of Julian Harrap Architects, of the ongoing restoration of the Grade I listed St Lawrence Jewry (situated alongside a Roman amphitheatre and the Guildhall in the City of London); some encouraging examples of conservation, restoration and re-use of historic railway buildings by Clive Baker, chair of the judges of the National Railway Heritage Awards; and Paul Holden trying to answer his own rhetorical question of whether biographical dictionaries of architects have a future. Mark Girouard has recently published A Biographical Dictionary of English Architecture, 1540–1640. While this fills a gap between earlier biographical dictionaries by John Harvey, Howard Colvin and others, Holden asks if such books are still necessary. Holden points out that such dictionaries remain an essential tool and first port of call for any established or budding building historian. Despite obvious challenges ahead, these resources have great potential especially in an age where access to online resources and scholarship has never been so easy.What is clear, he maintains, is that the ‘treasure hunt’ of identifying architects with architecture has never been so popular. Finally, the Comment column pertinently asks, in the light of reduced local authority professional resources, where listed building owners are now expected to obtain informed advice regarding proposed alterations to their historic buildings? The answer seems to be – their builder! The Victorian TheVictorian (No 70, July 2022) concentrates on county houses, which along with churches and public buildings showcase Victorian architecture at its finest. Julian Orbach takes the opportunity arising from the publication of the revised Buildings of England volume on Wiltshire to share his experiences of country houses in that county, including well-known ones such as Longleat (altered by JeffryWyatt – who later changed his surname toWyattville – with decorative transformations by JD Crace in the Venetian high renaissance manner); Bowood (altered by Barry); Stourhead; lesser known ones such as Marston Hill Hall; and those built with Victorian new money, many now sadly reduced, ruminated or demolished. Also celebrated are two ‘Victorian jewels’ held by the National Trust. Stephen Ponder marks 50 years since two great 19th-century masterpieces were acquired: Philip Webb’s Standen,West Sussex (1892–4), listed Grade I as early as 1948; andWilliam Burges’s Knightshayes Court, Devon (built 1869–74), and listed Grade I only in 1975. Of further interest is the recently completed renovation of Kelmscott Manor, the Oxfordshire country home ofWilliam Morris.The house initially passed to the University of Oxford but was not particularly well respected or looked after, and the building was already deceptively fragile when ownership passed to the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1961.They undertook an initial five-year programmer of renovation because of the perilous state of the fabric.While visitor numbers increased year-on-year until 2019, it was decided that a new vision for a sustainable future for the house and estate was HERITAGE NOW PROTECTING OUR HERITAGE SINCE 1924 The Magazine of Historic Buildings & Places | www.hbap.org.uk (02/2022) SUMMER 2022
C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 9 required. It was closed while repair, conservation and reinterpretation supported by National Heritage Lottery Fund were undertaken. The basis of that extensive research, redecoration and re-presentation is now complete, with the building once again open for visitors. Elsewhere Lucie Clarke relates the story of the electrification of Hatfield House, Hertfordshire, and the experiments by Lord Salisbury converting an old sawmill as a hydroelectric power station, with two abortive attempts at power generation before success in 1881; and Elgan Jones of Donald Insall Associates describes the recent revival of the iconic Victorian pier at Colwyn Bay. The pier, built in 1890, extended 1903, and devastated by fires in 1922 and 1933, was ignominiously closed following severe dilapidation in 2008 and subsequent storm damage. The magnificent restoration of its cast-ironwork is a triumphant reinstatement of a fine piece of Victorian metal-casting and seaside engineering. C20 C20, the magazine of the Twentieth Century Society (Issue 2022/1) concentrates on the architectural legacy of the recently departed Richard Rogers. Catherine Croft’s editorial calls for better protection of his buildings noting, for example, that Channel 4’s proposed privatisation makes the campaign by the society to list its current Horseferry Road, London, HQ all the more urgent. It is surprising how little of Rogers’ work has been fully assessed. Croft refers to Rogers’ transformative work on historic buildings such as Billingsgate Market and his own home, a radical Georgian conversion in Chelsea. She makes a telling point that the Chelsea facade has long been listed Grade II but Rogers’ dramatic transformative interior behind does not get a mention. In similar vein the society has recently drawn attention to the need for greater investment in listing research as identified in the Saunders report. Liverpool Street Station is a listed building highlighted by Saunders which (like the two Rogers examples) has 20th-century additions that have been totally overlooked. As the society has recently learnt that major redevelopment plans are afoot for the station (made on the assumption that the 1980s reworking is of no heritage value), this is seen as a clearly demonstrating the danger of out-of-date list descriptions. Returning to Rogers, the society notes that while Creek Vean, Cornwall (1963–5) was listed as long ago as 1998, and the Lloyds Building (1978–84) was listed in 2011, Inmos Microprocessing in Newport (1983), the Millennium Dome (1996–1999) and the Senedd Cymru, Cardiff (1999–2005) all should be listed (some requiring some flexibility, or a threat, to fall within the 30-year rule); and that excellent buildings like Rogers’ Reliance Controls, Swindon (1967) was lost in 1991 to make way for a banal ‘retail park’. Construction History Construction History (Vol 37, No 1, 2022) presents its usual international outlook. Several papers may be of particular interest to Context readers.The first concerns Francis Harris and the early enthusiasm of the CooperativeWholesale Society (CWS) Architects’ Department for reinforced concrete.The CWS was to play a pivotal role in the early adoption of reinforced concrete in the UK, acting as a progressive client for a significant proportion of new warehouses, banking offices, mills and granaries for the society for this new material in the period before the first world war. Edwin AR Trout of the Concrete Society explains the use of the material on a number of a historically significant buildings in north-east England, including the huge CWS warehouse on Newcastle Quayside (1899–1900), listed Grade II, and other work between 1900 and 1903. Other work at the turn of the century included important buildings in Manchester between 1904–1907. The author explains how the architects’ department was organised, and how Elkins and the Newcastle office functioned between 1907 and 1916. A number of splendid buildings are illustrated, not all of which survive, but which were all ‘influenced by progressive “modern” interests’. The author concludes that the CWS was matched only by the railway and dock companies in its practical embrace of reinforced concrete, coming as it did at a time of much building activity and the expansion into dockside milling and soap manufacture. The architects’ department undoubtedly helped advance the use of reinforced concrete in its infancy, both in volume of construction and development of design. Nicholas Bill’s paper on ‘Developments inTimber Engineering by British Military Engineers, 1815–1900’ includes
10 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 A letter of 1764 to Sir Horace Mann fromThe Letters of HoraceWalpole, Volume II, T Fisher Unwin (1890) My journey to Paris is fixed for some time in February, where I hear I may expect to find Madame de Boufflers, Princess of Conti. Her husband is just dead; and you know the House of Bourbon have an alacrity at marrying their old mistresses. She was here last year, being extremely infected with the Anglomanie, though I believe pretty well cured by her journey. She is past forty, and does not appear ever to have been handsome, but is one of the most agreeable and sensible women I ever saw; yet I must tell you a trait of her that will not prove my assertion. Lady Holland asked her how she liked Strawberry Hill? She owned that she did not approve of it, and that it was not digne de la solidité Angloise. It made me laugh for a quarter of an hour. They allot us a character we have not, and then draw consequences from that idea, which would be absurd, even if the idea were just. One must not build a Gothic house because the nation is solide. Perhaps, as everything now in France must be à la Grecque, she would have liked a hovel if it pretended to be built after Epictetus’s – but Heaven forbid that I should be taken for a philosopher! Is it not amazing that the most sensible people in France can never help being domineered by sounds and general ideas? Now everybody must be a géomètre, now a philosophe, and the moment they are either, they are to take up a character and advertise it: as if one could not study geometry for one’s amusement or for its utility, but one must be a geometrician at table, or at a visit! So the moment it is settled at Paris that the English are solid, every Englishman must be wise, and, if he has a good understanding, he must not be allowed to play the fool. As I happen to like both sense and nonsense, and the latter better than what generally passes for the former, I shall disclaim, even at Paris, the profondeur, for which they admire us. a table of 27 examples of timber testing carried out between 1825 and 1885, and an important exposition of timber roof-structure and bridge types that some readers may encounter. Bill concludes that throughout the 19th century British military engineers spent considerable time and effort mastering timber. Their efforts were not merely for their own self-interest, but intended to advance science and engineering. From testing, to its application on roofs and bridges, military engineers facilitated the transfer of timber technology. The author notes that, while many officers made valuable contributions, the efforts of Sir William Denison and Frank Fowke stand above all others, and their legacy has had a lasting influence. None of the timber bridges has survived, but collectively military engineers have left us with an architectural legacy in the form of numerous roof structures, some still extant in the UK. For those interested in the construction of tile-vaulting, four authors from Spanish universities explain how these remarkable structures were quickly built in the middle of the 18th century. The motivation of the article stems from a desire to understand a construction technique that adjusts to the needs of a unitary architectural space with data about it obtained using terrestrial laserscanning techniques. From this, formal anomalies, not initially visible, were detected between the construction elements. Also of note are a paper regarding Antoni Gaudi as the first architect in history to use hyperbolic paraboloid vaults in his experiment buildings; a history of the technological development of tubular steel scaffolding and its connection pieces in inter-war Italy (well-illustrated); and an article on how French plasterers executed a series of discursive strategies to differentiate themselves as a distinct group of workers (based on a treatise published in 1837) and some of the features that were typically attributed to the trade. Bob Kindred MBE Horace Walpole: ‘It made me laugh.’
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C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 13 DIVERS I TY AND INCLUS ION Opposite: The former Martins Bank in Liverpool has a prominent relief depicting African children bearing bags of money. See page 14. Editorial The world as it actually is We try to conserve the buildings and places that we value, and to help people enjoy and understand them. But who are we?What do we value? How can we best communicate about it? ‘We’ may be a rather small and unrepresentative sliver of the population.What we value, and our ability to communicate about it, is likely to reflect who we are. Our familiar world of conservation may be quite limited; this issue of Context tries to challenge it. It is tempting to portray history as comforting and to present historic buildings as a chance to step back into some sort of golden era, enjoying a pleasant day out for the family with tea and cakes. But that may be fiction, or propaganda. If we are interested in history, we should be prepared for aspects that may have been airbrushed out. These include people of different races who served on historic estates; a slave-based economy that supported the estate owners’ way of life; historic sites with LGBTQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans, queer and others) histories; womenwho created notable buildings and places; overlooked opportunities to make historic buildings accessible and attractive to a wide range of people who do not usually visit them; and the fact that people on low incomes, includingmany livingwithmental-health problems, are least likely to visit historic sites, but benefit their wellbeing more than others when they do. This issue of Context, whose theme has been conceived by Peter de Figueiredo, points to missed opportunities. But above all it is a celebration of what has been achieved when historic building conservation is opened up to reflect the world as it actually is. Since 2019, the IHBC equality, diversity and inclusion working group has been asking members to consider the diversity of the built heritage sector, and what members might do to promote opportunities to all communities through the institute’s work. There is further inspiration to be had from the Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain’s equality, diversity and inclusion networks (covering LGBTQIA+, women architectural historians, disability, and race and ethnicity). Theywill be partneringwith theTwentiethCentury Society as part of itsmonthly building-of-the-month feature. Throughout 2022 the society is committed to featuring buildings that tell the stories of under-represented groups across geographies and building types. It’s a whole new world.
14 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 PETER DE FIGUEIREDO Multiple perspectives on heritage Historic buildings, monuments, sites and museums with darker histories can tell us how architecture, places and objects can play a role in suppressing cultural identity. In November 2020 a group of 59 Conservative MPs and seven peers wrote a letter to The Telegraph claiming to represent ‘the silent majority of voters tired of being patronised by elitist bourgeois liberals’. A part of their mission, they said, was to ‘ensure that institutional custodians of history and heritage, tasked with safeguarding and celebrating British values, are not coloured by cultural Marxist dogma’. In the ensuing debate the National Trust was criticised for documenting links with slavery and colonialism in 90 of its properties, and the National Maritime Museum was challenged for presenting ‘multiple perspectives on history’ in response to Black Lives Matter protests. When Oliver Dowden, then secretary of state for culture media and sport, issued a letter regarding contested heritage and its interpretation to national museums and bodies such as the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the Museums Association replied urging the UK government to respect the arm’s-length principles enjoyed by all museums, allowing them to make decisions on care, presentation and interpretation of their cultural heritage in discussion with their communities. These events, and the growing ‘war against woke’ which had spread from the USA as a mix of theories on race, post-colonialism and gender identity, assumed a particular focus on history and heritage in the UK.They have subsequently been pursued with particular vigour in parts of the press and social media. What then might multiple perspectives on heritage provide, and how can they help to foster social cohesion? The Queen’s platinum jubilee this year celebrated a reign of extraordinary continuity and goodwill. But set against this beacon of civility is the legacy of the British Empire, the disappearance of which the Queen herself witnessed.While the British Commonwealth has survived under her guardianship as a symbol of the nations’ heritage – based on friendship, loyalty and the desire for freedom and peace – universities throughout the UK have recently sought to decolonise their curriculums; factions have contested the removal of Cecil Rhodes’s statue from its place on the listed Oriel College Oxford; and historic figures associated with slavery have been identified.The British Empire, it is now widely argued, was not so much a liberalising enterprise intended to modernise and bring rule of law to the non-western world, as an act of domination brought about by coercion, often achieved by violence and cruelty. The authors of the National Trust report on slavery and colonialism that caused the group of MPs and peers to complain argued that it is incumbent on historians and guardians of heritage never to become complacent, but to push at Powys Castle houses the Clive Collection of over 1,000 Indian artefacts.
C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 15 DIVERSITY AND INCLUSION boundaries and be evermore inclusive. In justification, they referred to the founding aspiration of Octavia Hill that the organisation should speak to and for everyone; claiming that only by honest and open acknowledgement of the reality and legacy of slavery and colonialism that have been fundamental to several historic houses, their collections and estates would justice be done for what was sometimes an uncomfortable episode in global history. Around a third of the trust’s properties have direct connections to colonial events and 29 have links to successful compensation claims for slave ownership. The research carried out also provides evidence regarding the presence of African, Asian and Chinese people working on some of the estates; and that several of the properties can be connected with campaigns opposing colonial oppression. The facts uncovered present a different picture to the conventional histories that have disregarded associations with the slave trade and the role played by people of colour in the national interest. These findings broaden our understanding of the trust’s properties and their history. At Powys Castle, close to the English/Welsh border, is the Clive Collection of over 1,000 Indian artefacts, one of the most important outside India. Amassed by Robert Clive (1725–1774), it powerfully illustrates the connection between colonial activities and the acquisition of highstatus art objects. These include textiles, gems and decorative arts that were plundered after violent skirmishes and widespread looting by the East India Company’s army, which forcibly invaded and conquered parts of the Indian subcontinent under Clive’s command. Research into the acquisition of the collection is currently under way so that the story can be fully explained to visitors. Penrhyn Castle in Snowdonia, also owned by the National Trust, was chosen by Neil McGregor for his radio series The Museums That Make Us because of the focus the curators are currently placing on how the 1830s Norman fantasy castle and the Pennant family’s impressive art collection were acquired. The castle was built on the proceeds of the nearby Penrhyn slate quarry, the investment for which came from the family’s sugar plantation in Jamaica, and the compensation received when slavery was abolished. Moreover, in 1900–03 one of the great national episodes in the struggle of labour against capital took place at Penhryn, when the quarrymen went on strike, capitulating only after three years when they faced starvation. Visitors to Penrhyn Castle are now able to understand how the riches they see around them could not have been assembled without the exploitation and oppression by the Pennant family of the labour forces both inWales and the Caribbean. Another National Trust initiative, with funding from the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Arts Council England, has provided the opportunity for 100 children to lead national conversations on the links between heritage and colonisation. Known as the Colonial Countryside Project, this involves 11 trust properties, including Kedleston Hall, home of Lord Curzon, the last Viceroy of India; Speke Hall, Liverpool, the 18th-century owners of which made fortunes from the slave trade; and Charlecote Park, which had black servants. Led by Corinne Fowler of the University of Leicester, the children collaborated with historians and writers to produce short stories and videos on each of the houses and to curate exhibitions. At Charlecote they produced an alternative guidebook incorporating cartoons. Penrhyn Castle was built on the proceeds of the nearby slate quarry, the investment for which came from the family’s sugar plantation in Jamaica, and the compensation received when slavery was abolished.
16 C O N T E X T 1 7 3 : S E P T E M B E R 2 0 2 2 Bringing the story up to date, the National Trust is currently staging an exhibition at the Birmingham Back to Backs about the lives of the Windrush generation in the 1970s. It is an exact recreation of two rooms of the home of Erick and Vera Brown and their family, who travelled by boat from the Caribbean to seek a new life in Britain. The exhibition has been timed to coincide with the coming of the Commonwealth Games in July. English Heritage too has researched and explained the links between the transatlantic slave trade and properties in its care – this commenced during the 2007 bicentenary of the abolition of the slave trade – and several privately owned historic houses, including Harewood Hall in Yorkshire have addressed the issue in a sensitive and creative manner. Historic England has reviewed the formal descriptions of its listed buildings to take account of such associations, as well as the LGBTQ+ histories (described in Alison Oram’s article on page 20). For example, the former Martins Bank in Liverpool, completed in 1932, has a prominent relief sculpture depicting African children bearing bags of money, about which the amended list description tactfully comments: ‘Some see them as dignifying, or accepting unquestioningly, the role of slavery in Liverpool’s economy; whilst some see them as a more general celebration of the international aspect of Liverpool’s trade and prosperity. Either way, the fact that the subject was chosen in 1927–32 is an indication of the extent to which Liverpool’s former involvement with the slave trade has been embedded in its economic culture’. First to address the cultural heritage issues around colonialism, slavery and racism was the museum sector, essentially because of the imperialist foundations on which collection-based institutions in Britain were funded. Museums established in the Victorian period presented the cultural achievements of people of African descent as inferior to the histories and creative outputs of white Europeans, so it is not surprising that such perceptions lingered on. The Museums Association’s Statement on Decolonisation sees decolonisation as a long-term process seeking to recognise the integral role of empire in British museums from their creation to the present day. It states that over past decades museums have begun to recognise the trauma and suffering caused by the display of objects that were obtained during or made because of the British Empire. They are now working with communities and those in the diaspora relevant to their collections to explore different ways in which they can be displayed; and where appropriate consider options for restitution. In summary, what all these historic buildings, monuments, heritage sites and museums with darker histories can tell us is that architecture, places and objects can play a significant role in suppressing cultural identity. The debates now taking place on how they should be assessed and presented emphasise the complexity of the issue. For heritage professionals, working along with others in the planning and development sector, it is important to be aware not only of their cultural significance, but also to understand the impact they may have on a wider and more diverse society. Without the understanding of communities that have been affected by the impact of colonialism, prejudice or discrimination, the barriers to a cohesive historic environment will remain. Peter de Figueiredo is reviews editor of Context. An exhibition at Birmingham Back to Backs replicates Mykal ‘Wassifa’ Brown’s childhood home in Handsworth. The Windrush generation and their children were often turned away from churches and clubs. At times they faced violence and abuse on the streets. Their response was to gather, worship and celebrate at home. Mykal’s home was the headquarters of the Wassifa Soundsystem. (Photo: Sophie Flynn)
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