NOT GOOD ENOUGH SIR,—I happen to be a resident of
one of the ex- amples of good, modern architecture mentioned by Mr. Kenneth Robinson and, while I hold no brief for some of the mediocre (and downright bad) build- ings which had support from those who like to think of Blackheath as a 'Georgian district,' in this instance I am on their side.
I can think of no reason, unless the house in ques- tion was full of dry rot, which I believe was not the case, for demolishing a very pleasant old house to make way for new ones. No one, except the die- hards, objected to the plan to build new houses in the grounds of the house. Is the point perhaps that somebody stood to make more profit by building several new houses where one old house had stood?
What assurance have we that the rest of this row —made up, as Mr. Robinson says, of 'houses of several periods and styles', which make Blackheath Park so delightful—will survive the next five years?
At the moment ,Blackheath is a most interesting mixture of old and new—with more good old and good new than most London suburbs. But do we want a Blackheath New Town?
Many of us, Mr. Robinson, do not, and we are not all 'apoplectic neo-Georgian preservationists.'— Yours faithfully,
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