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In August 2000 an unusual building
was added to the List of Buildings of Special
Architectural or Historic Interest. The former
Silhouette Corset Factory in Market Drayton, Shropshire,
was a pioneering example of laminated timber engineering.
The huge uninterrupted space, required for the
manufacturing of foundation garments, was designed
as eight hyperbolic paraboloid timber shell roofs
supported on a single central column.
Internally the building consists
of 120’ by 240’ of clear space with
only one central support. Above, the curved timber
roofs appear to arch and sag dramatically. Ribbon
rooflights at the junctions of the shells throw
light into the centre of the space and help articulate
the structure. Flexible screens to house storage
and office areas divide each end of the space.
Robert Townsend designed the
factory in 1959-60 with the structural engineer
Hugh Tottenham, assisted by Ove Arup and Partners.
It was commissioned by George Lobbenberg, a corset
manufacturer, who had been impressed by Townsend
and Tottenham’s earlier factory in Wilton.
This building had been the first use of timber
in a hyperbolic paraboloid roof in Britain and
its construction was sponsored by the Timber Research
Association. Market Drayton was a development
of this earlier example and a more sophisticated
building.
The DCMS list description describes
the structure thus – "a hyperbolic paraboloid
is a true doubly curved surface allowing a thin
skin to be held in tension, and any section parallel
to an edge appears as a straight line or gable."
Externally the edges of the paraboloids form high
gables infilled by curtain glazing on a brick
plinth. Because of the nature of the structure
the corners appear unsupported.
This in a very unusual and groundbreaking
structure and was rightly listed as a building
of great significance. As Townsend and Tottenham’s
Wilton factory has been demolished, Silhouette
remains the oldest structure of its type in the
UK and is of undoubted architectural and historical
importance. Unfortunately, its future is very
bleak. After the original users moved out the
factory was opened as a supermarket, a use that
would appear to suit its internal volume. However,
it has recently become been empty and vulnerable
to vandalism.
A new owner, the LIDL supermarket
chain, now wants to demolish it and erect one
of its own standard trading units. Yet it is a
structure that could easily be adapted to supermarket
use – with a potential to be a considerably
more attractive shopping environment than a great
many out of town retail sheds. With many supermarket
chains now recognising the benefits of high quality
and unusual architecture to their marketing strategies
it is a shame that this opportunity cannot be
grasped here.
English Heritage, which supports
the building’s retention and reuse, commissioned
a condition report from the original structural
consultants, Ove Arup and Partners, which confirmed
that the building was basically sound and capable
of repair. Yet the local authority, North Shropshire
District Council, have given Listed Building Consent
for its demolition. What is more surprising, the
Secretary of State has chosen not to call the
application in for further examination. This is
somewhat unusual when the application involves
the total destruction of a listed building.
Unless the owner has a change
of heart it is inevitable that the former factory
will be lost. It is not only a tragedy that a
building that was recognised by statutory listing
so recently may be demolished. It also brings
into question the effectiveness of the present
system of statutory protection. One wonders whether
the Secretary of State would have shown a bit
more interest were the listed building to be demolished
a Georgian house or Victorian town hall rather
than a twentieth century factory.
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