March 17, 2008
Salvage expert who trawls the demolishers' skips for jewels
Marcus Binney, Architecture Correspondent
The destruction of historic buildings has reached a pitch unseen since the 1960s and 1970s. This is the view of Charles Brooking, who has devoted his life to rescuing fine historic features from the skip. His unrivalled collection of architectural detail includes windows, doors, panelling, fireplaces and staircases, a whole library of authentic trim, including cornices, pictures rails, skirtings and dados. Exhibits range from Elizabethan timber-frame cottages to 1930s semis.
“In the last few weeks I have recovered amazing details from Georgian buildings which have been tragically left unlisted,” Brooking says. “A friend tipped me off about the demolition of a supposedly mid-Victorian house near Egham in Surrey. I was horrified to be confronted with a high-quality oak staircase of the 1720s, the best London quality equal to finest houses in Spitalfields, with three barley twist balusters to each tread, carved tread ends and ramped handrails.”
Two 1720s panelled rooms had already been removed by dealers. “I tried to get the building listed but was told I was too late,” he says. Last week, as the house was being demolished at full speed, he went with his joiner to rescue what he could when the workmen took a break for an hour.
“Other recent rescues have included an 1817 staircase being stripped out of a house in Soho, cornices and mouldings from a grand terrace house in Clapham and the original woodwork from a Thomas Cubitt house in Eaton Square,” Brooking says.
“Last year I was given a whole set of architectural details from a 1796 house in Kennington which a neighbour salvaged as they were being put on the skip.”
Two weeks ago he dashed to save features from an unlisted 1750s farm house near the Worcester Royal Infirmary. Other rescue missions have extended to the Savoy Hotel, now undergoing extensive refurbishment.
“I have original doors of 1889 and from 1904 alterations made in French Ritz style as well as Art Deco of 1929.”
Stylish Thirties work has been salvaged from the remodeling of Broadcasting House and last week from The Swiss Centre, “an icon of the 1960s now being demolished”.
Brooking is busiest in Surrey where he lives. “Surrey houses with wonderful Arts & Crafts detail are biting the dust week by week. I have details from Voysey's Priorsfield School near Godalming. The developers Try Homes donated items from Banstead Hospital by the great Richard Norman Shaw, architect of New Scotland Yard and Cragside in Northumberland. It was a listed building but fire damaged and derelict,” he says.
Why is the pace of destruction so bad?
The first reason is the failure to keep the lists of listed buildings up to date. In recent years English Heritage has set aside the essential task of revising the lists town by town and county by county in favour of thematic surveys, particularly of 20th-century buildings. As a result numerous remarkable buildings remain unlisted - especially vulnerable are houses in towns, where earlier interiors are concealed by later alterations and 19th-century facades.
He cites the second main reason as the continued imposition of VAT on repairs and maintenance but not on new build and alterations. “Wherever I go the old windows are being stripped out and replaced by plastic imitations. Yet the old Georgian hard wood sash windows last for centuries if properly looked after. Recently I rescued some delightful Arts & Crafts windows with the outline of a dog cut out of the metal handles”. For Modern Movement enthusiasts he has the biggest study collection of Critall windows.
Health and safety regulations are also fuelling further losses. “In the past builders would have carefully stripped off old tiles for reuse but now ladders can't be used and it has become so complicated that often they just smash the whole place up.”
The main part of his collection has been generously housed by the University of Greenwich but is not regularly open. Last week he received the thrilling news that Hadlow College near Tonbridge is ready to sign heads of lease for land on which a new museum in best greenoak can be built.
Sir William McAlpine, the chairman of Brooking's trust, says: “The collection is of vital importance for the restoration industry. It's essential to give it a permanent home, and we're seeking to raise £7 million.”
The educational value should make it a prime candidate for help from the Heritage Lottery Fund.
Meanwhile, Brooking is desperately struggling to continue his emergency operations. He was able to rescue the Egham stair only because SAVE Britain's Heritage offered him an immediate £500 to hire a van and skilled joiner to go on site immediately.
— Marcus Binney is president of SAVE Britain's Heritage. Brooking urgently needs more help. Donations should go to the Brooking Architectural Museum Trust, 44 The Drive, Cranleigh GU6 7LZ (inquiries to Carol Part on 01380 816565). For information on Brooking's courses at Greenwich and Cranleigh: cbbrooking@tiscali.co.uk
EH acts to save historic buildings in Liverpool
20 March 2008
By Marguerite Lazell
Two buildings on Liverpool’s threatened world heritage site have been listed as part of the biggest review of a city’s historic building stock ever undertaken.
The two Georgian terraces are part of a survey of 60 buildings being carried out by English Heritage following growing concern at the pace of redevelopment in the Capital of Culture city.
Earlier this month, a public outcry erupted when developer Maghull partly demolished the facade of unlisted 19th century Josephine Butler House on Hope Street. This follows criticism by Unesco, which has threatened to add the city to its “heritage in danger” list.
EH has toughened its stance in recent months, putting a dedicated team in charge of the survey, which will be presented to ministers in stages until the end of July.
EH insisted it was simply responding to the volume of projects on the drawing board — estimated to be worth at least £3 billion in the city centre alone. But critics claimed the government organisation had been “shamed” into action because of a series of recent scandals in which developers damaged historic buildings.
Nick Bridgland, EH team leader for heritage protection in the north of England, said the survey was sparked by a report by the Historic Environment of Liverpool Project, a partnership between EH, Liverpool City Council and other stakeholders.
“Out of that rose the perception that there were lots of buildings in the world heritage site that might be listed, but weren’t designated,” he said.
“The pace [of development] is such that we have to move swiftly. We’re aiming to have the last assessments sent to the DCMS by the end of July. We haven’t felt under pressure. It’s the pace of change which has put Liverpool’s heritage under pressure.”
But Liverpool Preservation Trust founder Wayne Colquhoun dismissed the move as “shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted”.
He added: “EH has almost been shamed into following suit. I consider this is a direct result of the pressure we and other heritage groups have applied.”
Leading local architect Ian Killick, director of Shed KM, agreed that many of the best historic buildings were already long gone.
“[The survey] has come about as a result of the world heritage site status,” he said. “There’s been a lot of bad press, and Unesco wants to keep checking on it.”
But Save Britain’s Heritage secretary Adam Wilkinson welcomed the move and called for EH to take similar action elsewhere.
“There are many other cities in the UK which haven’t had their listings looked at in 30 years,” he said.
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