Saving the recent past
Gavin Stamp
ENGLAND: A GUIDE TO POST- WAR LISTED BUILDINGS by Elain Harwood f15, pp. 688 Ellipsis publish a series of illustrated books devoted to modern architecture in particular cities or countries; they are square in format, small and thick, and shaped rather like building blocks. This lat- est one is devoted to English architecture since the end of the second world war. But it is more specific than that as the buildings included have all been statutorily listed by government as being of architectural and/or historical importance. And that, of course, is something abhorrent to those who think that only mediaeval churches and Georgian country houses are worthy of protection on cultural grounds.
Now here I must declare an interest and also express a certain pleasure and pride. The listing of post-war buildings in England began not with archetypal Modern Move- ment buildings of steel and concrete but with Albert Richardson's Bracken House in the City, the former home of the Financial Times, and I campaigned in favour of that subtle Neo-Neo-Classical late masterpiece by Sir Albert Richardson in The Spectator in 1987. Furthermore, along with Alan Powers, I have been sitting on English Heritage's Post-War Listing Steering Group since it was established in 1992 to undertake a systematic survey of recent modern architecture under the newly adopted `30-year rule'.
What particularly pleases me is not only that this book celebrates the fact that English Heritage's recommendations for listing were, on the whole, adopted by what is now the Department of Media, Culture and Sport — indeed the idea of a publica- tion was suggested by the Minister, Alan Howarth — but also that it reflects the catholic attitude to the period that some of us on the Steering Group were determined to pursue. The result is that a surprisingly broad range both of building types and of styles is covered — in fact, the general pic- ture for post-war English architecture might seem almost as pluralist and con- fused as it was during the two pre-war decades.
Of course, the familiar Modern Move- ment buildings are all here, and rightly so. There is the Festival Hall, Coventry Cathe- dral and the Royal College of Physicians all listed at Grade I; there are the Hertfordshire schools, the large number of prestigious new university buildings by firms like Chamberlin Powell & Bon, Sir Basil Spence, the Architects Co-Partner- ship and many more; there are commercial `shoe-boxes' — even Colonel Seifert's once notorious Centre Point (now, surely, to be seen as the most elegant high-rise of them all) — and cleverly planned modern churches by Maguire & Murray or George Pace; and many private houses, usually bungalows, by such architects as Peter Ald- ington and Patrick Gwynne. The selection is weakest on public housing, which govern- ments (of whatever complexion) have always been reluctant to list, although the discreet rural housing by Tayler & Green is here, along with Churchill Gardens as well as those brutally sublime concrete towers by Goldfinger.
But the Steering Group was concerned not just to survey the famous modern masterpieces by famous firms that were lauded in the architectural journals when brand-new, for there was a whole area of more traditional architecture which had been resolutely ignored by the Architectural Review and the modern establishment. All buildings of the period, regardless of style, should be looked at, we felt: all that mat- tered was whether they were good or bad in their own terms. So, amidst the Portal frame schools and the beton brut, there are Classical houses by Raymond Erith, Gothic churches by Goodhart-Rendel and Giles Scott, Neo-Georgian halls of residence by Donald McMorran, Neo-Swedish local government offices by John Brandon-Jones and, oddest of all, a camp Baroque theatre by Oliver Messel in, of all places, White- haven.
But there is more. Elegant and innova- tive bridges have been listed, like the one across the Wear near Durham Cathedral by Ove Arup & Partners (no wobble there), as well as other remarkable struc- tures like the bus garages in Bournemouth and Stockwell with vast roofs of shell con- crete. Bernard Lovell's famous radio tele- scope at Jodrell Bank is also included, as is that shiny metallic box in the middle of the roundabout at the Elephant and Castle, which turns out to be both a transformer station and a memorial to Michael Fara- day, a local boy.
This book has been compiled by Elain Harwood, who is a member of the English Heritage team which has carried out research in the field. Her descriptions of the 300-odd buildings illustrated are intelli- gent, enthusiastic, thorough and admirably balanced. I also note that she has taken most of the photographs herself — and very good they are (not just snapshots with converging verticals) — which makes me look forward to the bigger book on the subject which is promised.
The post-war listing programme has been very popular, with many suggestions coming from the public. Even so, listing is often politically sensitive. And then the parrot cry goes up from architects that too many buildings are listed. Are they? Listing is not a preservation order; rather, it is an index of importance and quality which gives owners, architects and local authori- ties pause for thought before proceeding with demolition. What is cheering to learn is that listing has prolonged the useful life of experimental buildings which have been misunderstood or badly maintained: Denys Lasdun's ailing 'cluster block' in Bethnal Green has now been sold to a private developer for restoration, and listing also saved Oxford Road Station in Manchester and encouraged the restoration of its amaz- ing timber shell-roofs. Both are in this admirable little big book.
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