CONTEXT 176 : JUNE 2023 9 TWENTIETH CENTURY ARCHITECTURE Holy Houses proposal to ‘restore, reimagine and rebuild’. Those proposals have now been significantly revised in the light of a growing understanding and appreciation of what survives, and what is achievable in terms of reinstating lost interiors. This shift in the National Trust’s thinking about how the house might best be used, interpreted and presented led to the launch of new proposals in July 2022. It is now being argued that, post-fire, Clandon represents a new and exciting chapter in the house’s rich history. This has prompted a rethink of received knowledge and revised comprehension of the multifaceted nature of the materials and layers that make up the house, and acknowledgment and admiration for often unknown, but highly skilled minds and dexterous craftsmanship that had contributed to the building as a whole. Clearly this is proving to be a very long-drawn-out project, and it might be argued that the longer it continues, the more additional scholarship and further evidence might inform yet further revisions to the proposed renovation work. Finally, Eleanor Jolliffe considers the emergence of architects, and the changing nature of their profession, particularly with reference to the 19th century; the founding of the RIBA and the SPAB; and the architects’ presently evolving role. The relationship between what prospective architects are taught about building construction and building history; and the specific needs of authenticity, appropriate heritage management, construction and the use of traditional materials, are aspects of conservation that the SPAB is particularly well placed to address. Bob Kindred MBE C20 One of the great benefits of membership of the Twentieth Century Society, in addition to its excellent regular magazine C20, is the periodic publication of the splendid and important series of monographs on modern architecture. This is consistently supported in particular by the Mark Fitch Fund and by others including, from time to time, Historic England. The latest, Volume No 15, edited by Elain Harwood and Alan Powers, is entitled Holy Houses: places of worship in twentieth-century Britain. This invaluable collection of essays, well-illustrated with most of the photographs of buildings in colour, should act as a stimulus to motivate readers towards the care and management of these buildings as an integral aspect of our built environment and cultural heritage. Sadly, we recently learned of the death of Elain Harwood, who will be greatly missed. Within its 192 pages, the society brings together a wide range of ecclesiastical subject matter from twelve contributors. It is enterprisingly broad, ranging from denominations like the Salvation Army (by Stephen Spencer) and Christian Scientists (by Alan Powers), rarely considered as serious architectural clients, to the Quakers (by Johanna Roethe), a denomination more readily associated with the architecture of earlier eras. The volume also covers several individual architects, some of them well known, like Percy Thomas (by Robert Proctor) and Robert Potter and Richard Hare (by Elain Harwood). Others, like Ernest Bower Norris and Richard Twentyman, receive the wider recognition seemingly only formerly accorded within the limited geographical areas where their work was dominant. Bob Kindred MBE
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