Listings report, Spring 2006

Listed

Old Vic Annexe, The Cut, Lambeth, London; Lyons Israel Ellis, 1957-58, Grade II
Originally this was the workshop building for the Old Vic, and now serves as studios and offices for the National Theatre. Listed as an early example of New Brutalism, also being the only architect designed theatre workshops in Britain.

The Co-operative Emporium, Godwin Street, Bradford, Yorkshire; W A Johnson and J W Cooper, 1935, Grade II
Impressive modernist department store, modelled after Erich Mendelsohn’s designs on the continent, early for having escalators and an open plan with circulation at the edges of the building.

LMS School of Transport, Derby, Derbyshire; William H Hamlyn, 1938, Grade II
Built for the training of rail staff, with murals and reliefs depicting associated themes. Striped Neo-Georgian building with Scandinavian influences.

St George’s Church, Brinkley Road, Six Mile Bottom, Cambridgeshire; Seeley and Paget, 1933, Grade II
Finally after more than two and a half years this building has been added to the statutory list. The small church in a Cambridgeshire hamlet is one of the earlier works of this distinguished partnership. It is contemporary with the better-known Eltham Palace extension and St Faith’s church in Lee on Solent. Not mentioned in Pevsner this pristine yet virtually unknown church was built in 1933. St George’s is in immaculate condition inside and out. It is a simple, almost barn-shaped structure built of thin red brick and flint with a hipped roof of red ceramic roof tiles.

Turned down

Westminster Kingsway College, Grays Inn Road, Camden, London; LCC (Ron Herron, Peter Nicholls), 1957-58, and ILEA, 1974
The 1950s block has, according to English Heritage’s report, been too heavily altered and the later building is not thought to be of special interest.  

Shropshire House, Tottenham Court Road, Camden, London; Waite and Waite, 1931-32
Thought to be too altered internally.

Ashmount School, Ashmount Road, Islington, London; H T Cadbury-Brown, 1957-58
Turned down due to failure of some of the original fabric and materials and some alterations.

Vincent House, Warren Road, Kingston, Surrey; Kenneth Wood, 1958
Turned down for lack of architectural merit. The English Heritage inspector’s report notes: “There is a marked imbalance between the internal and external architectural quality, which has been exacerbated by external alterations. It does have some strong elements, but these are confined to the interior… It has clear local interest, and its loss would be highly regrettable.”

Put forward

The Shrubbery, Grosvenor Road, Redbridge, London; Cockett, Henderson and Gillow, c1935
Apartment block in the modern idiom, exceptionally well detailed and well preserved.

Houses for Visiting Mathematicians, Warwick University, Midlands; Howell Killick Partridge and Amis, 1968-70
Curved brick buildings on a plan following the requirement for continuous blackboards onto which lengthy equations can be written. The houses form an intimate group, placed prominently on a hill top and arranged in a circle but avoiding overlooking.

Cabinet Makers Factory, Lower Bristol Road, Bath, Somerset; Yorke Rosenberg and Mardall (job architect: Brian Henderson), 1966-67
Built for the production and storage of furniture, on an open rectangular plan. The German space frame system Mero was employed here for the first time in Britain, being held up by elegant slim concrete columns. The production area is enveloped by a steel frame filled in with asbestos sheets and glazing.

Marine Gate, Marine Drive, Brighton, Sussex; Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie, 1937-39
We have supported a listing request by a local resident for this large modernist apartment block and hope to prevent a wholesale window replacement with uPVC.

Matthiae Café, 82-84 Kew Road, Richmond Surrey; architect unknown, 1936

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