Casework Reports

Since the demolition of Wallis Gilbert’s Firestone building and the foundation of the Twentieth Century Society, we have been at the forefront of public taste and knowledge, pioneering the appreciation of buildings, which we believe to be worth saving but which are often extremely unfashionable and undervalued. Whilst a painting may be consigned to a gallery store, and novels slip temporarily out of print, with a building there is no way of putting it away to bring it out later—once demolished a building is lost for ever. Whilst there have been many major losses of extraordinary and wonderful buildings (such as Bryn Mawr Rubber factory by ACP and the Silhouette Factory by Robert Townsend) we have had many successes: Tate Modern, Denys Lasdun’s Keeling House and the Paddington Goods Yard to name but a few.

At the moment we have three paid caseworkers, based at our office in Farringdon, London. Their work is overseen by the Director and by the members of the Casework Committee, a broad range of experts in relating fields, who meet on a monthly basis to look at the most controversial and important cases.

We are informed by local authorities of applications for listed building consent for demolition works to listed twentieth century buildings, but this process if not very efficient in many cases and also many of the buildings in which we are interested are not yet listed. This means that much of our casework comes to us via local Twentieth Century Society members who contact us directly and by members of the public and architects.

If you hear of something that you think we should be aware of please get in touch ASAP by emailing us at caseworker(at)c20society.org.uk or by telephoning us on 020 7250 3857 or writing to the office at 70 Cowcross Street, London, EC1M 6EJ. It is very helpful if you can supply us with background information outlined below.

• Photographs of the building in its current state
• Map showing the location of the building
• Details of the proposals – name of the local planning authority and reference number of any currently applications for planning permission, listed building consent or conservation area consent
• Local press coverage
• Information on the history of the building, its date of construction, architect, original client and any special techniques or materials (please check with your local library if possible

Casework Reports

• A-Z Index
• 2011 2 reports
• 2010 10 reports
• 2009 11 reports
• 2008 9 reports
• 2007 14 reports
• 2006 12 reports
• 2005 11 reports
• 2004 10 reports
• 2003 11 reports
• 2002 11 reports
• 2001 13 reports