Victory over Vandalism
The report of Lord Gorell's committee on Nash's Regent's Park terraces, with a declaration of the Government's intention regarding them is, on the whole, a reassuring document. The St. Marylebone Borough Council concluded that the buildings should be demolished, and that, ultimately, there should be erected in their stead " blocks of multi-storey flats of a mixed character, with a proportion of hotels "; the St. Marylebone Labour Party took the view that the Nash architecture was not worth preserving. It is just as well to realise the dangers that have been averted. Regent's Park itself and the houses surrounding it are an almost unique example of Georgian planning at its best. The symmetry is such that nothing will suffice but the preservation of virtually the whole. That is what the committee recommends and what the Government in the main approves. The present state of the principal terraces is deplorable, for many bombs fell in Regent's Park and the damage to the facades was serious and widespread. Internally, moreover, dry rot is rampant everywhere. But restoration is perfectly possible and little wholesale rebuilding will be necessary. All the property is in the hands of the Commissioners of Crown Lands, of whose management the committee is disposed, justifiably or not, to be a little critical. The Government will obviously have to provide much of the finance for restoration and it is naturally not prepared at present to commit itself to a definite sum. Many of the houses, moreover, are at present in use as Government offices, and once civil servants are in they take a lot of getting out. But the main thing is that the preservation of this historic and singularly satisfying example of Nash's and Decimus Burton's work is now assured. One of the committee's proposals, that one block, inferior in merit to the general whole, should be demolished and a "Music Centre" be erected on the site, is particularly imaginative and attractive. A hostel for university students is also suggested
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