On the South Bank
The designs for the L.C.C.'s concert hall on the South Bank were made public last week, the architects being Mr. Robert Mathew and Dr. J. L. Martin. The hall, which is expected to cost some £2,000,000, will be completed in time for the 1951 Festival. All models of buildings have a Lilliputian charm which is sometimes deceptive, but these suggest a building which will be practical and seemly as well as ingeniously planned. It is to be hoped that the design of the concert hall will chime rather than clash with that of the National Theatre, which will eventually share at very close quarters the same rather restricted site. Mr. Hayward, the leader of the L.C.C., managed to overcome our national preference for under- statement when he described the projected edifice as " the finest building it is possible to build in this age." He went on to draw a picture of a hall which would cater not only for cultural needs but for " the strolling Londoner and his wife, who just want a cup of tea and a glass of beer." This is of course the age of the Little Man, but there is nevertheless something faintly depressing in the mentality which feels obliged to justify the erection of a building intended to be noble by pointing out that people with nothing better to do will be welcome to use it instead of a café or a pub. The object of a concert hall is to enable music to be enjoyed ; it seems disingenuous to suggest that k2,00o,000 are being spent on a sort of glorified tap-room, with music available for those who care for that sort of thing.
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