Torilla's precedent
As pioneering, white-walled and flat- roofed 'Modern Movement' houses were the first post-1914 buildings which the Department of the Environment agreed to list as being of architectural importance, it may seem enjoyably ironic that one of them — Torilla at Hatfield by F. R. S. Yorke should have been 'de-listed' by Mr Neil Macfarlane, Under-Secretary for State for the Environment and, not least, Minister for Sport and Children's Play. The house's owner makes the same criticisms of the house that 'traditionalist' architects did in the 1930s about Functionalist buildings: that they do not weather well, metal win- dows rust, concrete frames crack and flat roofs leak. But this 'de-listing' has wider implications which ought to worry anyone interested in historic buildings. The owner of Torilla, who wants to build nine houses in its garden, asked for the DoE to take it off the statutory list: the Department refus- ed. Mr Hugh Small then approached his local MP, who obligingly approached the Minister about the matter. The Minister has now acted against the expert advice of members of his own department. If a 1930s building can be arbitrarily 'de-listed' at the whim of the Minister, so can any listed building of any age. This cavalier and ir- responsible action sets a precedent which is quite as alarming for the future of our historic buildings as the Government's im- position of VAT on building alterations.
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