Bad News for London's historical & classical heritage | Good Preservation News

29658 Views 62 Replies 28 Participants Last post by McBeans, Apr 5, 2021

erbse

Discussion Starter · Jan 24, 2018 (Edited)

Let's take the spotlight on London, world city!

It has always been very influential on the world's architecture stage.
And I hope its current take and treatment of some valuable historical heritage won't be a rolemodel for other western metropolises to follow:

heymikey1981 said:
Westminster is at it again!

After approving the demolition of this fine building in Hanover Square:

...and the possible demolition of this gorgeous building in Oxford Street:

...they are now looking at demolishing this pleasant 1920's building (Greycoat Place / Artillery Row):

... to replace it with this non-descript sh!t:

Source: https://www.bdonline.co.uk/news/squire-and-partners-draws-up-westminster-redevelopment/5091445.article

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=315079&page=1096

Of course, everyone is invited to post more bad news from London's historical architecture stock, as well as delighting and joyful ones, such as great revitalisations.

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wakka12

· #2 · Jan 24, 2018 (Edited)

I really hope they don't happen, why is their demolition proposed? I really expected better from london.

I guess historical architecture isn't safe in any city in the world seemingly. Every year some historical buildings are still being lost, illegal demolition, bribery,in the way of necessary infrastructure developments..and still no buildings that look like them will ever be built again. I feel we are fighting a constant losing battle trying to preserve historical buildings in a society that just doesnt care

Reactions: 2

cameronpaul

· #3 · Jan 26, 2018

erbse said:
Let's take the spotlight on London, world city!

It has always been very influential on the world's architecture stage.
And I hope its current take and treatment of some valuable historical heritage won't be a rolemodel for other western metropolises to follow:

http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=315079&page=1096

Of course, everyone is invited to post more bad news from London's historical architecture stock, as well as delighting and joyful ones, such as great revitalisations.

The demolition of such a fine building in Hanover Square is an absolute outrage. This is a total waste of resources considering there are so many third rate crappy 60's and 70's structures still littering the city. There is a strong preservation movement in the U.K.and the Govt. funded English Heritage but they don't always intervene or get their way.

Reactions: 1

emperormadness

· #4 · Jan 26, 2018

The first two cases are indeed without justification. For the one in Greycoat Place, I feel that it's a bit more complicated. The building itself is pleasant, but nothing special, and I don't find its replacement THAT ugly. The new building would also fit well with the one next to it. The 1920's structure was probably doomed when the modernist thing next to it was built, since now planners/architects can just use that as an excuse to write it off as incompatible with the cityscape.

London has a huge problem with the lack of homogeneity in its architectural fabric. Of all the major Western European cities, it's probably the least coherent in terms of keeping separate heritage and modernist/contemporary structures. It's one of the reasons why I like Paris more than London in terms of architecture (though otherwise London is a gorgeous place).

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wakka12

· #5 · Jan 26, 2018

emperormadness said:
The first two cases are indeed without justification. For the one in Greycoat Place, I feel that it's a bit more complicated. The building itself is pleasant, but nothing special, and I don't find its replacement THAT ugly. The new building would also fit well with the one next to it. The 1920's structure was probably doomed when the modernist thing next to it was built, since now planners/architects can just use that as an excuse to write it off as incompatible with the cityscape.

London has a huge problem with the lack of homogeneity in its architectural fabric. Of all the major Western European cities, it's probably the least coherent in terms of keeping separate heritage and modernist/contemporary structures. It's one of the reasons why I like Paris more than London in terms of architecture (though otherwise London is a gorgeous place).

I think its that very thing that makes london the most beautiful city in my eyes

But it really needs to preserve its heritage..its the mix of old and new that makes london a special city. Even though I will admit a lot of their modern architecture certainly has character and a lot of merit, its really a step up from modern architecture in most parts of the world.

Reactions: 1

MikkelAndersen

· #6 · Jan 26, 2018 (Edited)

wakka12 said:
I think its that very thing that makes london the most beautiful city in my eyes But it really needs to preserve its heritage..its the mix of old and new that makes london a special city. Even though I will admit a lot of their modern architecture certainly has character and a lot of merit, its really a step up from modern architecture in most parts of the world.

What makes London a great city is, in my opinion, not the mix, but a row of historical buildings next to each other. In some cases modern architecture, with ornaments, blend in nicely, but for the most part it doesn't.

This is more or less successful:
http://www.ma.com/wp-content/upload...itects_Scholastic-B_PaulWarchol-1180x1535.png NY

http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/cs/groups/pan/@pan/documents/web_images/dpds021438.jpg Seattle

https://cdn-img2.streeteasy.com/nyc/image/74/72296074.jpg NY

This is NOT:
https://ephemeralnewyork.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/uglybrownstone.jpg NY

http://www.gizmodo.in/photo/22171241/design/Britains-worst-building-of-the-year.jpg?135924 London

https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/ETz.../image/54240679/5469288669_f9ddc8db8b_o.0.jpg NY

Not quite sure?
https://i.pinimg.com/736x/bc/45/73/bc45732ece854ec1098c25e97f114992--postmodernism-aldo.jpg Berlin

https://static01.nyt.com/images/2013/01/13/realestate/13SUBDEALJUMP2/Sub-Deal-Jump2-jumbo.jpg NY

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MikkelAndersen

· #7 · Jan 26, 2018

https://www.dezeen.com/2013/08/29/carbuncle-cup-2013-winner-announced/

News: a student housing block in London with a retained brick warehouse facade has been named Britain's worst building of the year.

Does anyone have some good news from new old-looking-buildings?

wakka12

· #8 · Jan 26, 2018

MikkelAndersen said:
https://www.dezeen.com/2013/08/29/carbuncle-cup-2013-winner-announced/

News: a student housing block in London with a retained brick warehouse facade has been named Britain's worst building of the year.

Does anyone have some good news from new old-looking-buildings?

"The building was originally refused planning consent by Islington Council but was approved on appeal by the planning inspectorate on the grounds that students don't require the same quality of accommodation as the rest of society."
:nuts::lol::lol:

I don't see whats so terrible about the building, I mean its ugly as ****, but so are the majority of modern buildings built every year. I think it must be stiff competition for this award annually

Reactions: 1

alexandru.mircea

· #9 · Jan 26, 2018

wakka12 said:
I think its that very thing that makes london the most beautiful city in my eyes

I came to say just that, diversity can be the most charming thing in a city. The pursuit of uniformity is not something I understand at all. That said some of the 60s to 80s architecture in Central London is shocking, and the heritage preservation legislation is surprisingly flexible. It's just too open to international capital...

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heymikey1981

· #10 · Feb 20, 2018 (Edited)

Westminster councillor has been bribed 514 times in 3 years by major developers

Davis, the Conservative deputy leader of the central London borough and until last year the chairman of its powerful planning committee, was entertained by and received gifts from property industry figures at least 150 times since the start of 2015 – a rate of almost once a week.

His entertainment was paid for by some of the country’s wealthiest property developers including Gerald Ronson, Sir Stuart Lipton and Sir George Iacobescu, the chief executive of Canary Wharf Group.

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ValterPravnik

· #11 · Feb 20, 2018

"England gets rid of itself"

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crazyalex

· #12 · Feb 20, 2018

its funny when earthquake hit Wellington. 5 to 10 building was demolition most of them are modern building, BNZ 21st century building was close due not safety but right next to railway station still stand fine that building around 1940s

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heymikey1981

· #13 · May 1, 2018

Another beautiful art-deco building (below) has been approved for DEMOLITION.

This will be part of the 9 Millbank Quarter development. The replacement (which I admit is contextually good):

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RegentHouse

· #14 · May 1, 2018 (Edited)

heymikey1981 said:

As if the piece of shit to the left wasn't bad enough! The whole irregular/barcode/schizophrenic window placement needs to be banned. It's quite frankly the worst architectural trend since Brutalism. Cities can dictate architecture to a certain degree by encouraging or discouraging certain styles and elements in design guidelines, while still allowing for architectural freedom.

heymikey1981 said:
This will be part of the 9 Millbank Quarter development. The replacement (which I admit is contextually good):

Agreed, its height and window levels coordinate better with its neighbors. Still, couldn't they have preserved the facade and added the extra floors using a comparable architectural style, as with many buildings in Central London? I mean, they went out of their way to make a new Art Deco bas-relief, so I don't see why they can't preserve the elements of the original building.

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wakka12

· #15 · May 1, 2018 (Edited)

heymikey1981 said:
Another beautiful art-deco building (below) has been approved for DEMOLITION.

This will be part of the 9 Millbank Quarter development. The replacement (which I admit is contextually good):

I agree replacement is not bad , but as usual the historic building is far superior to the modern building. Always always a negative tradeoff whenever we lose a historic building almost without exception,so why do city councils allow cities to continually get worse then

Reactions: 4

wakka12

· #16 · May 1, 2018

RegentHouse said:
As if the piece of shit to the left wasn't bad enough! The whole irregular/barcode/schizophrenic window placement needs to be banned. It's quite frankly the worst architectural trend since Brutalism. Cities can dictate architecture to a certain degree by encouraging or discouraging certain styles and elements in design guidelines, while still allowing for architectural freedom.

Yeh its ******* dreadful, why do they even do it? Is it some desperate attempty at looking 'contemporary' because theyre embarassed of how shit their design is?

And yes thats true, the german government paid private owners of buildings to strip their beautiful classically ornamented homes bare , fat chance theyd even make the slightest attempt to encourage people to build anything even slightly aesthetically pleasing today

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heymikey1981

· #17 · May 1, 2018

This was taken from the Heritage assessment doc that came with the planning application (Westminster City ref. no. 16/06616/FULL). It looks like the status of "unlisted building of merit" and "within a conservation area" means nothing anymore.

Simply because the building was altered is enough to prevent listing. In a few years, those listed buildings that have been deathmasked will lose their grade-listed status.

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wakka12

· #18 · May 1, 2018

The sad truth is excuses will always be made to demolish a building when money is talking. If a wealthy developer wants a building gone theres generally very little standing in the way
Of course this building is oozing with merit , we will never ever see carved stonework like that on another building again in our lifetime probably, the fact that its been altered doesnt change that , that excuse is just one big smokescreen

Reactions: 1

RegentHouse

· #19 · May 2, 2018

wakka12 said:
Yeh its ******* dreadful, why do they even do it? Is it some desperate attempty at looking 'contemporary' because theyre embarassed of how shit their design is?

And yes thats true, the german government paid private owners of buildings to strip their beautiful classically ornamented homes bare , fat chance theyd even make the slightest attempt to encourage people to build anything even slightly aesthetically pleasing today

I've been to public meetings with developers proposing even solid fillers, and there's always a cat lady on the architectural review board who likely never had a proper job in her life. She asks the applicants to come back with an updated design with more "pizzazz," as in this kind of shit, and usually ends up sodomizing everything. Where the hell do these people come from?

Reactions: 5

heymikey1981

· #20 · May 2, 2018

We have to say goodbye to this Edwardian Baroque sorting office

This will be replaced by the Paddington Cube:

Oh, what might have been! The project below with the retained facade was approved in 2012, but nothing happened.

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