KOCH AND BUTE
THE English do not take kindly to black- Tall; English Heritage — the Historic Buildings & Monuments Commission — Should resist it as well. Mr Fred Koch has let it be known that unless his plans to rebuild the interior of St John's Lodge, Regent's Park as a museum are approved, he will remove his collection of 19th- century art from the country. Mr Koch is not the first rich American to find our historic buildings laws and procedures ex- basperating but he is certainly the most razen. He proposes to destroy interiors, by Raffield i , Burton, Barry and Schultz, n favour of a pretentious and indifferent litoder American architect Classical design by an Amecan architect, with a past President of the 8A, Michael Manser, as consultant. These proposals have rightly met with Widespread opposition, not least from English Heritage. Mr Koch's threat has alarmed the Crown Commissioners, the owners of the building, and the Minister for the Arts, who would have to decide whether to refuse an export licence for any outstanding paintings. We do not presume to comment on the quality of Mr Koch's collection, save to note that we at present enjoy superb Victorian paintings in the Tate, in the City Art Galleries of Birming- ham, Manchester and Liverpool and at Port Sunlight. We do, however, consider it strange that a connoisseur of Victorian art should propose to treat an authentic 19th- century building with such ruthlessness, destroying all the alterations made by its most distinguished resident, the 3rd Mar- quess of Bute, who was one of the greatest patrons of the arts of the Victorian age. As it stands, St John's Lodge merely needs repair and redecoration; its interiors show changing interpretations of Classicism through the 19th century and would be an ideal setting for Mr Koch's paintings. Lord Montagu, chairman of English Heritage, is able to overrule his own commissioners and officers and is anxious to effect a compromise, although no compromise seems possible while Mr Koch retains his present architects. But Lord Montagu is not faced with a choice between preserving architecture and retaining art. It is the statutory task of English Heritage to pro- tect historic buildings. St John's Lodge is listed Grade II*; if it can be gutted to appease Mr Koch, then no listed building in the country is safe.
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