38 C O N T E X T 9 9 : M A Y 2 0 0 7 Vox pop Richard Morrice, an inspector of historic buildings with English Heritage, is on secondment to the DCMS to help in the development of the Heritage Protection Bill, which stems from the White Paper. He is secretary of the IHBC. Who has been your greatest inspiration? In terms of my professional life, Kerry Downes, my tutor and supervisor at university. He introduced me to architectural history in general and the baroque in particular, and fortunately had no qualms about my studying the baroque of central Europe. As a conservationist, Brian Spielman, now sadly dead, who kept theWest Pier Trust going during some particularly dark days. He had a neat solution to Fermat’s Last Theorem. What has been your best idea? I’m more of a collator than an ideas type. I did put the case to the Association of Conservation Officers Council for the ACO to convert into a professional institute, but I don’t think I can take credit for the idea as it was in the air at the time (early 1990s). I remember an enjoyable meeting in the dining room at Goddards going through the pros and cons with various colleagues from across the conservation sector (as it wasn’t known at the time). Projects tend to be collaborative, particularly something as large as the Cobham Ashenbank Management Scheme, which has finally repaired Wyatt’s great mausoleum, among other projects. One can often help to change the proposed outcomes so that they assist with conservation objectives. In that case it was mitigation and compensation for the impact of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link along the northern edge of Cobham Park. Real credit should go to others (David Nessling, the late John Chesshyre, Dave Standen, Philip Smart, Alison Naylor and Roger Bowdler, among others) but we’ve got the Mausoleum repaired. What would you like to have been if you had not become a conservationist? An accordion player. How do you reply when at a party someone asks what you do? Perhaps something about old buildings. What is the biggest frustration in your job? Not enough time. What would you like to be doing in five years time? Much the same thing, I think. What is your favourite building? Johann Conrad Schlaun’s Haus Ruschhaus (1745–49), his pocket-sized country house near Münster. It’s an extraordinary little thing, combining the form of aWestphalian farmhouse with the layout of one of Palladio’s villas and the careful articulation of a supreme mid-eighteenth-century stylist. Literally a long house, from one end it looks like a barn, end on with pavilions, albeit with elaborately cut brick to the big gable end; at the house end of the range, more cut brick but windows with stone surrounds, Schlaun’s coat of arms and a little curvy pediment over the centre. In the early-mid 19th century it was the home of Annette von Droste-Hülshoff, the poet, and it is now in the care of the state. In England, I’d have to go for Ightham Mote (pictured), where we lived in one of the cottages for a couple of years. For that reason Old Laundry Cottage was the first home of the IHBC. Your favourite place? Home is good. So is a rather quirky Gasthof, up above Meran (Merano) in the Süd Tirol (Alto Adige) in the very north of Italy. I first stayed there in 1976 and have been back on many occasions since, often with German friends. The HighWeald of Kent and Sussex with its wooded valleys is important, too – for some reason Punnetts Town reminds me of long hot summers as a child. And the Henley Regatta, watching the racing, listening to the Band of the Grenadier Guards playing selections from the shows and dodging the July showers. Your favourite book? At the moment I’d have to mention John le Carré’s Smiley novels for their fantastically tight plotting and the atmospheric treatment of a peculiar kind of office life. Next week it might change, of course. What do you do in your spare time? Gardening and cooking, not necessarily at the same time. And there’s always the Grateful Dead. What organisations are you a member of? Society of Architectural Historians of Great Britain, Ancient Monuments Society, Georgian Group, Vernacular Architecture Group, Society of Antiquaries, Royal Horticultural Society, National Trust. Which one issue would you particularly like the IHBC to campaign on? I became involved with the IHBC because I felt that conservation needed to find a way to improve professional practice across a wide spectrum of conservation specialisms. I’m glad that we are making a contribution.We just need to continue and not be sidetracked by issues, important though they are. What have you gained out of being IHBC Secretary? Some very good friends, a lot of fun, some tedium and a couple of the most hilarious moments of my life.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjgyMjA=