Listings report, Winter 2005

Added to the list:

114 Kenilworth Road, Coventry, West Midlands; Robert Harvey, 1957, Grade II

Coventry Council rejected an application for demolition and replacement of this building following a cam paign by the Society. A beautifully detailed brick structure reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses, this building is one of Harve’s best.

1 Campden Hill, Kensington, London; E P Warren, 1915, Grade II

This lavish townhouse was threatened by a replacement scheme despite being located in a conservation area.

PUT FORWARD FOR LISTING

Hungerford Primary School, Hungerford Road, Islington, London; ILEA, 1968-70

This experimental school is one of the most daring that came out of ILEA’s design department – the use of fair faced concrete blocks and exposed structure is employed as successfully as in some of the Smithsons’ buildings and the split open plan predates later deconstructivist designs. Islington is determined to replace the school after it has been run without the necessary maintenance.

Solar Pavilion, Upper Lawn, West Tisbury, Wiltshire; Alison and Peter Smithson, 1961-2

The Solar Pavilion is one of the iconic buildings by the Smithsons and arguably their best private house. The Smithsons built it for themselves as a weekend retreat and their family life there has been thoroughly documented and published. Sergison Bates Architects have restored the building recently and have applied for an additional garden pavilion whose design has been altered to an appropriately modest scale after the Society intervened.

South Winds, Cryfield Grange Road, Coventry, West Midlands ; Robert Harvey, 1965

South Winds is a most elegant American influenced house and another of Robert Harvey’s successes in private house design. Plans to extend the rear of the building would mean the loss of its clear horizontal lines.

RECOMMENDED FOR LISTING

Queensgate Market Hall, Huddersfield; Yorkshire; J Seymour Partnership, 1969-70, Grade II & Library and Art Gallery, Ramsden Street, Huddersfield, Yorkshire; EH Ashburner with GH Rowledge, 1937 Grade II

These two buildings were put forward for listing simultaneously and have been recommended by English Heritage and the Heritage Minister. A final decision will be made in January 2005. While the market hall is a masterpiece of engineering and its cantilevering roof structures add much to the roofscape of central Huddersfield, the library close by is a proud civic building of the interwar period clad in local Crosland Hill stone. Both have been put at risk by re-development plans for the centre of Huddersfield.

PUT FORWARD FOR UPGRADING

Church Rate Corner, Malting Lane, Cambridge; Baillie Scott, 1924, Grade II

This exceptionally intact late masterpiece of Baillie Scott has been carefully restored and is in outstandingly good condition with almost no alterations. The building’s setting is currently threatened with a large development on a neighbouring site.

Bentley Farm, Harvey’s Lane, Little Horsted, Wealden, Sussex; Raymond Erith, 1961-71, II (above)

Erith’s addition to an existing C18 building and his outbuildings are of exceptionally high standard and should be upgraded. Ownership of the estate is in limbo after the council, given the buildings as a donation, put them on the market.

TURNED DOWN

Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Harborne Road, Birmingham; John Madin Design Partnership, 1958

This building is threatened with demolition which has been conditionally approved by Birmingham City Council. The building which features a mural by John Piper was rejected on the grounds that it has been altered and the interplay of original elements has been lost.

Commercial Union Assurance and Peninsular & Oriental Line (P&O) Buildings, Leadenhall Street and St Mary Axe, The City, London; Gollins Melvin Ward Partnership, 1968-69, unlisted

English Heritage found the ensemble too altered to justify listing. Now there are no more obstacles to its demolition if the Rogers tower scheme goes ahead.

UPGRADING REFUSED

Battersea Power Station, Cringle Street , London ; Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, 1929-53, Grade II

This iconic building was rejected for upgrading to II* since the original machinery has been lost.

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