The Victorian Society in Manchester Registered Charity No
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The Victorian Society in Manchester Registered Charity No. 1081435 Registered Charity No.1081435 Spring Newsletter 2012 EDITORIAL faults remained. Thirty years of private members bills rather than growth produced only a modest mainstream government policy, Development and Conservation – catalogue of architectural or civic with ideas periodically borrowed Some myths and realities distinction. Why did this happen? from other countries. The Conser- The apparent but unnecessary vation Area came from France, and conflict between development and The informed patronage which more recently the Conservation conservation has its roots in Britain’s historically had produced our great Management Plan was introduced history and also in the decline of towns and cities is largely missing from Australia. Most politicians are informed architectural patronage. today. Many of the developers, either hostile or indifferent to conser- Between 1750 and 1840 Britain contractors, bureaucrats, councillors, vation. A lack of commitment at became the world’s first industrial planners and architects who are central and local government levels nation. Aggressive commercial, foreign and naval policies led to Britain’s position as the world’s strongest nation economically, politically and militarily for most of the nineteenth century. This position started to slip in about 1860 and continued to decline after the First World War. By 1945 Britain was dirty, worn out and broke. People were tired of stagnation and decline – they wanted radical change. While Europe set about repairing and rebuilding many of its war-torn cities, Britain began a programme of ‘comprehensive redevelopment’. The pressure to get rid of dirty old buildings, seen by many to epitomise national decline, was intensified by the demands of the motor car. The vision may have been well-intentioned but its realisation became crude and uncritical. Whilst the nation’s Thriving, varied, confident, civic and civilized – Victorian Aberdeen. architectural crown jewels were acknowledged, most historic buildings responsible for new developments is apparent when one visits our and places were dismissed as ugly are ill-equipped to judge either good European neighbours and compares and redundant. Their replacements design or the significance of historic the care and consistency applied to were cheap imitations of Modern buildings and places. They hold on their historic areas with our own. Movement ideals, fuelled by those to the lie that Britain is unhealthily political curses of modern Britain – fixated on the past. In fact most Developers and politicians accuse rush, short-term ism and PR statistics. western countries place greater conservationists of being driven by emphasis on their history and the nostalgia, of wishing to return to an By the 1980s society had rebelled protection of their historic places and earlier age. This is false and confuses against the destructive and ugly results. did so long before Britain. The states the point that while we don’t want to The conservation movement gained which became modern Germany return to the past we do need to learn momentum, and comprehensive began to enact historic buildings from the past. Compare the richness redevelopment was replaced (too late legislation a hundred years before and consistency of a Victorian town in many cases) by urban regeneration. Britain and this does not seem to centre as seen in contemporary We were bombarded by a new set have hindered their economy. By photographs with the jumbled and of buzzwords – synergy, catalyst, comparison most British conser- discordant mess of town centres innovative, iconic – but underlying vation legislation is the result of today. The problem is rooted in the 1 fragmented management of urban badly designed or poorly informed derelict. The repaired, conserved development and the absence of development. To use the language and partially re-gilded statues, once informed patronage and shared of the government’s own guidance, moved back into position, will recreate design objectives. conservation is not about preventing the appearance of the nave interior change, rather about properly that E.W.Pugin and his Franciscan Traffic and road design have their managing the process of change. patrons and workers intended. own rules which produce dull Conservation and development are surfaces, ubiquitous yellow lines, a not mutually exclusive; good conser- Book review : proliferation of metal barriers and vation goes hand in hand with good Beggars and Builders: My Story of chaotic signage. These destroy the design. Change is acceptable when Gorton Monastery by Tony Hurley visual and aural quality of our streets it is demonstrably justified in terms and rob the pedestrian of their of need and public benefit and Published by Monastery Publications possession and enjoyment. Similarly, appropriate in terms of design. £6.99 ISBN: 9780957148406 2011 each new development seems to be conceived in a contextual vacuum. For over fifty years the Victorian Gorton Monastery may perhaps be Material, form, scale, colour and Society has worked hard to protect regarded as Manchester’s flagship detail vary widely from site to site on our historic buildings, towns and heritage project. Over the last fifteen the grounds of architectural creativity cities and can be proud of what it years, a charitable trust has saved and and innovation, producing a chaotic has achieved. Its role today is as restored a derelict landmark building townscape. Shop fronts are seen important and essential as ever. it purchased for £1 and transformed it by retailers (and unquestioningly into a cherished and viable community, accepted by planning authorities) as Ken Moth May 2012 corporate and cultural resource. Tony simply enormous billboards which Hurley was involved in the restoration obliterate architectural features and Ken Moth has been an active member almost from the beginning in the dominate the streetscape. Listed of the Victorian Society since 1973. late 1990s to his sad early death in buildings are often seen as no more He is an accredited conservation January 2011. In a foreword to this than facades and unlisted buildings architect, an executive trustee of the book, Elaine Griffiths M.B.E. pays dismissed even when they have Victorian Society and chairman of fulsome tribute to his knowledge and intrinsic quality. There are no longer the Northern Buildings Committee. contribution. Tony had been working any manners or shared values in our He retired from a large commercial on a book about Gorton Monastery for built environment. Look at the results practice two years ago and remains several years and his text has been of the last half century. Something is active in the field of architectural edited and completed by trustees fundamentally wrong. conservation. Janet Wallwork and Ray Hanks. The book follows the Franciscan story from A MORI survey carried out in 2000 The Manchester Victorian Society their arrival in this country in the 13th for English Heritage concluded c/o Portico Library century to the 1872 consecration in that most people placed a high 57 Mosley Street Gorton of the Monastery of St Francis, value on the protection of the Manchester M2 3HY England’s largest parish church built historic environment and regarded since the Reformation. The pen portrait it as a major contributor to their The Victorian Society is the champion for Victorian of Brother Patrick going through the and Edwardian buildings in England and Wales quality of life. In the absence of an informed and collective vision for our towns and cities we need better NEWS guidance, more joined-up thinking and effective safety mechanisms. Gorton Monastery: Return of the Our principal safety mechanism is Saints public consultation, even though Next month (June) this restoration our secretive local authorities seem project reaches a significant mile- only to pay lip-service. It is through stone; the re-positioning of the twelve the consultation process that statues of the Saints to their elevated amenity groups like the Victorian plinths inside the nave. The statues Society have an important part to (made originally by William Wilson & play by drawing attention to the Co. of Manchester) have, with the full worst errors. This inevitably creates approval of English Heritage, been hostility and accusations of blocking restored in their containers at Gorton essential progress. Again this is a by sculptor Andrew Scantlebury and false accusation. Amenity groups his team. and conservationists do not have The statues had suffered considerable a veto on planning decisions, only One of the twelve saints returned damage, probably mainly arising from an opportunity to express a point of to Gorton manastery view. The objection is not usually to the crude and illicit removal from their http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Gorton_Monastery_ the principle of development, only to plinths when the building became saints_012a.jpg 2 local pubs begging for the money to On May 16 (7 pm) architectural Manchester School Board), John ‘buy another brick for St Francis’ stays historian David Slade will give a talk Bright and the abolition of the Corn in the mind, as does the view that ‘Pugin the Man’, demonstrating the Laws and Robert Owen and the the head of Brother Patrick’s mother rise of the architect and his influence Co-operative movement. is carved high up on the church. in ecclesiastical designs. Tony’s theory about the North/South Copies of the trail can be obtained at alignment of Gorton Monastery