CONTEXT 175 : MARCH 2023 7 Ian McInnes, the society’s chairman, suggests that an appropriate way to mark the death of the queen would be to finally recognise the architectural value of the Queen Elizabeth Hall on London’s South Bank by listing it. Perhaps surprisingly, the Festival Hall and National Theatre are listed at Grades I and II* respectively, but the collection of exhibition and performance venues that provides a coherent visual link between the two has repeatedly come under threat. It has been the subject of four applications for listing since 1992, all rejected despite strong endorsement from the society and Historic England. Currently the building has a certificate of immunity from listing in place until 2025. This issue also demonstrates the valuable role of the national amenity societies in focusing on and campaigning on behalf of specific building types. Up-todate reports on the threat to both traditional city centre department stores (a flagship campaign) and power station cooling towers demonstrate this. When the government was committed to decommissioning all coal-fired power stations by 2024, certificates of immunity from listing were issued by DCMS, clearing the pathway to future demolition. However, notwithstanding the focus on greener future predicated on renewable energy, the society believes that the loss of these structures should be lamented. The towers of West Burton A are a highlight of the society’s recent at-risk list as being most in danger. Towers that have been recently abolished and those that have so far escaped, standing in isolation decades after power station decommissioning, are also noted. It might be argued that if cooling towers are somewhat unloved, the same might be said in some quarters about British brutalist architecture. Nearly 70 years have passed since the term ‘new brutalism’ was coined by its pioneers, Alison and Peter Smithson in a 1953 article in Architectural Design. Elain Harwood pens an ode to these buildings, and lays out the seven key tenets behind this often maligned and misunderstood movement. The issue also revisits some of the notable architectural components of the post-war new towns, including Stevenage, Cwmbran and East Kilbride. The Georgian The Autumn 2022 issue of The Georgian focuses on the Georgian Group annual architectural awards. These included categories for the rescue of a Georgian building; the restoration of Georgian country house; the best reuse of a Georgian building; the restoration of a Georgian building in an urban setting; and the Giles Worsley Award for new buildings in the spirit of the Georgian era. The winners and commended schemes are illustrated and explained. They provide an excellent opportunity to see the full range and quality of the work currently being undertaken, and set a benchmark for the exemplary standard work it is to be hoped will be carried out in the future. There are also three articles of significant interest. The first deals with Chinese export wallpaper at the Royal Pavilion in Brighton. This is informative because details of the wallpaper trade are limited, and frustratingly little is known of the workshops in which they were produced. The article goes on to explain about the value assigned to these wallpapers in the 18th century, and it is fortunate that the Royal Pavilion archives hold good examples of them. Furthermore, as a result of two grants from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art, it has been possible to digitise, catalogue and rehouse these and, perhaps more important to readers, make the images available online. This may be of particular interest to heritage professionals studying relevant historic interiors of the period. The second article, by Peregrine Bryant, raises the question of the future of Clandon, the National Trust country house that suffered a catastrophic fire in 2015 with almost total loss of the internal fabric. Although more than seven years have passed since the fire, little has been achieved on the ground beyond scaffolding protection and some trials for the conservation of the external fabric. In the meantime, inflation has eroded the funding. The Georgian Group has been a consultee on the proposals. There has been detailed discussion of the trust’s intended approach in relation to catastrophic damage informed by a 2003 report by the former English Heritage on Recent Practice Following Catastrophic Damage at Historic Places. This has led to some useful definitions of the difference between restoration, The Magazine of The Georgian Group | Issue 2 | 2022 The Georgian Georgian Group Architectural Awards
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