Architecture
H. S. Goodhart-Rendel (Architectural Association, till 26 June)
The father of us all
Gavin Stamp
In his letter to Michael Sadleir, pub- lished as a foreword to the second edition of his Gothic Revival, Kenneth Clark wrote that 'No one has equalled the learning, urbanity and critical insight of Mr Goodhart-Rendel, the father of us all . . This was Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel Holy Trinity Church, Dockhead, Bermondsey, 1951-60 (1887-1959), son of H. C. Goodhart, tutor to the poor Duke of Clarence at Trinity, and heir to his maternal grandfather, Lord Rendel, who was described by Lytton Strachey as an undergraduate at Cam- bridge in 1905 as 'possibly a genius, cer- tainly remarkable, and almost certainly nice . . he's violently musical and wildly architectural, he talks in torrents and believes in mediaeval Christianity.'
Unlike Strachey, however, Goodhart- Rendel took both the buildings and the religion of the Victorians very seriously and he is still perhaps best known as a pioneer in the appreciation of 19th-century architecture. An early article of 1918 on the churches of Brighton was followed over the years by his celebrated lectures, some of which were published as English Architecture Since the Regency. This book, by far the most illuminating and entertain- ing history of Victorian and Edwardian architecture, is, absurdly, long out of print, while Goodhart-Rendel's many other bril- liant and incisive writings remain unpub- lished — publishers please note.
This strange, cultured, shy, aristocratic individual would not, however, have wished to be remembered only as a writer. Goodhart-Rendel confided to James Lees- Milne in 1941 that 'the order of his interests in life is: 1. the Roman Catholic Church, 2. the Brigade of Guards, and 3. Architecture', and it was as a practising architect that he understood such things as the 'constructional polychromy' of his favourite 'hard' Victorians. He believed that architectural history had a practical value — to modern architects. It is there- fore most appropriate that Goodhart- Rendel's centenary is being celebrated by an exhibition of his architecture at the Architectural Association (36 Bedford Square), organised by Alan Powers, who has also written a most intelligent and perceptive catalogue worthy of the man (£9.50). In his introduction to the catalogue, Sir John Summerson notes how, in his life- time, Goodhart-Rendel's buildings 'were never much noticed, still less understood'. Best known, because of its modernistic and `Art Deco' overtones, is the headquarters for Hay's Wharf by London Bridge. But because Goodhart-Rendel later tired of the pretensions and illogicalities of the Modern Movement, most of his work has been dismissed as reactionary. Some have dis- missed him as a Classicist, which he hardly was, although he had great admiration for the rational, unsentimental monumentality of Burnet, the great Beaux Arts-trained Glaswegian. Goodhart-Rendel's first signi- ficant building — designed when he was reading music at Cambridge — is an office block in Calcutta, which has hints from Westminster Cathedral; and an obsession with the structurally expressive, neo- Byzantine brickwork of, above all, the Edwardian, Beresford Pite, is evident in much of his work.
But Goodhart-Rendel's most repre- sentative work is best characterised as neo-Victorian. There are his additions of the 1920s to St Mary's, Bourne Street, off Sloane Square, a brilliant essay in tact and development, and his great church of the 1930s, St Wilfrid's, Brighton, a reinforced concrete structure which pays homage to the great Victorian churches of the town without using a single pointed arch. Above all, however, there are the churches of the 1950s — almost completely unknown be- fore this exhibition — which are to be found in such unlikely places as Bermond- sey, Purley and Crawley, East Hounslow and North Cheam.
In these fascinating and beautifully made buildings, pedants like the present writer can enjoy themselves spotting references to Street and Butterfield as well as late Victorians like Pite, Bentley and another hero — Temple Moore. But what is important is the intellectual rigour of the designs, for historical references are not used self-consciously or purely symbolical- ly, but are integrated into a logical, cohe- rent whole. History becomes alive and purposeful, both aesthetically and structur- ally. As a result, in the present Post- Modern, eclectic climate, Goodhart- Rendel's buildings have suddenly become relevant — as he would have wished both in terms of the use of style in context and in the rediscovery and development of tradition.
The work of H. S. Goodhart-Rendel is not easily classified. Some may see him as a mere eccentric, like some of the Victorians whom he delighted to categorise as `rogues', but experience of his buildings suggests to me that he was a very good architect indeed.
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