Brutalism

Last week I took a book out of my local library called "The New Brutalism". When I checked the loan stamps, the last time that someone took it out of the library was November 1967, which just goes to show how little we think of 1960s Brutalist architecture.

This book opens up a strange world of concrete which has all but disappeared from our towns and cities. I can't understand why Le Corbusier revelled in the rough texture of, what I would call, badly executed concrete and brick but which purists might call raw, untreated materials. He was either preoccupied with speed and putting up a building quickly or dissatisfied with the plainness that resulted from the flat planes in monolithic blocks. Maybe someone else can explain it to me?

I was so surprised in this 1966 book to see "brise soleil" on many concrete buildings, as I thought that this was largely a new phenomenon. How wrong I was!

The main reason why I took this book out was to research a building I am working on, built in 1965.  I also bought several more obscure rare books - Elain Harwood's “A guide to Post War Listed Buildings" (2000) and Trevor Dannatt's "Modern Architecture in Britain" (1959).  I think these are a good basis for anyone researching influences on British buildings of the 1950s and 1960s.

The Albert Hall (not that one!)

This week I am trying out a new method for a Heritage Impact Assessment on a fabulous building called the Albert Hall in Manchester.  My photos don't do it justice and there are plenty of blogs out there which do (see this link - http://theskyliner.org/post/31389360454/albert-hall-manchester-skyliner )


This is the second Edwardian Baroque building I have worked on this year, and mighty interesting they are too, with lavish theatrical interiors.  If you want to get a flavour of these visit some of the music halls of the first decades of the twentieth century, such as Buxton Opera House, originally built as a music hall, but now raised in status to an opera house.

Salford Cathedral - using your loaf and not relying on plans

I was recently appointed to write a Statement of Significance for the Cathedral House, which is part of the Roman Catholic Salford Cathedral. This is one of those cases which demonstrates that in the absence of documentary information and original plans, you have to be a bit of a building detective and (yes I admit it) a bit of a nerd, drawing on previous experiences of similar building types and wider knowledge of architecture (in this case nineteeth century architects) in order to draw out the relative significance. I am afraid there is simply no substitute for really detailed inspection and experience. It won't do just to say that a building is Grade II* and ipso facto it has to be very special and that is its significance. Some things may not be what they seem.

Liverpool - World Heritage Site in danger

Yesterday UNESCO put Liverpool Maritime Mercantile World Heritage Site on the "in danger" list.  I have been reading the debate on various blogs and am pleased to see that it is not being reported any more as either "jobs" or "heritage", black or white. My uncle, who lives on the south side of the Mersey, is now fully engaged with the debate. Some good may come of this yet........

Tea and Tobacco in Liverpool

Liverpool - the City was unusual in having dual-purpose offices and warehouses. Once the main offices of Tetley and Company Tea Merchants, it also served as the offices of a tobacco importer and later a sugar refining company.

This week planning permission was granted for the change of use of a grade II listed former tea and tobacco office & warehouse within the heart of Liverpool's World Heritage Site to a boutique hotel. I was really pleased to be working with a new architect (new to me that is) for this project and produced a Heritage Impact Assessment for the architect along with a detailed Supporting Statement. Can't wait for the opening. One of the benefits of this change of use will be that more people will be able to see the amazing interior decorative plasterwork, with its scenes of tobacco harvesting, tea importing and orange harvesting. 

The Students Guild, Liverpool - plaster repair

This week I'm writing specifications for the repair of Sir Charles Reilly's Students Guild in Liverpool with help from Ornate Interiors, who have pointed out the problems with the friability of some early twentieth century fibrous plasterwork. I'll be specifying "Crystacal R" hard plaster for localised repairs in places subject to greatest wear and tear.  The building contains a fascinating mixture of moulded fibrous plaster, hard lime plaster run in-situ and wet lime plaster applied to laths for formwork to create domes and barrel vaults. The building dates from 1909-13 and was at the turning point between old and new methods of ornamental plaster fabrication.

Cast ferro-concrete was used to create some of the most elegant and visually lightweight staircases I have seen - oval and circular.  So beautiful, you can't fail to be amazed by them.

ICON Conference

Recent conference held by ICON Historic Interiors in Cambridge provided the most wonderful tour of interiors of colleges and university buildings dating from the 18th century.  A special treat to see inside the Senate House - very inspiring. Speakers covered subjects such as the restoration of John Linnell sofas, the use of Chinoiserie in 18th century interiors (which I thought was particularly fascinating), the restoration of Kew Palace kitchens (a subject close to my heart, since I was inolved early on with the restoration of Robert Smythson's Wollaton Hall kitchens) . Also managed to see the Corpus Clock, for which my colleague Tyra Till was the design consultant & project manager - it is a beast of a clock!