Good to see the sculpture from the top of the Walworth Clinic (1936-37 by Percy Smart) on the front of English Heritage’s round up of new London listings from last year.   I pass this on the way to Elephant and Castle station every morning and love the plaque that announces ‘The health of the people is the highest law’–more uplift than you expect on the Walworth Road.  I didn’t know that this was a quote from Cicero’s De Legibus ‘Salus populi suprema est lex’.   Also great to see Heritage Minister John Penrose being really enthusiastic in his Foreward about listing, and saying he hopes the list “interests a wide audience, captures their imagination and helps open their eyes”.    That’s a pretty good endorsement.  

you can down load the whole book here:

http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/showcase/london-list-yearbook/

If you live in Preston, or nearby, and are interested, please note that Council Leaders will be at the station TODAY between 11am and 3pm, to listen (and to talk?). If you are unable to attend, you can submit your views online. You can also still watch online a recent mention of the story in Granada Reports.

We were very pleased however that the London Borough of Greenwich has come to us for advice on schedules of urgent works and repairs to the building to compel the owners to take action. We are confident that the building can have a fabulous future if work is taken to repair it now.

These images show the result of long term roof leaks and blocked guttering which all demand urgent work. Repairs are also required to cut back and treat plant growth in the external masonry, repair the reinforced concrete facade, renew the paintwork and overhaul all repairable windows. Internally, all the floor panels and plaster damaged by damp require replacement, as well as the restoration of the bathroom fixtures and tiles.

91 Genesta Road makes up one of a terrace of four houses (Nos 85-91) designed in 1933-4 by Berthold Lubetkin. The three storey houses, built in reinforced concrete with a flat roof, are a very distinctive and classic Lubetkin design, and comprise the only completed terrace in England built in the modern idiom during the 1930s. Most houses retain their original Crittall metal doors, and all the windows to the front have the original Crittall metal frames. This particular house is noted within English Heritage’s listing description as having the most complete interior of all the terrace.

Lubetkin was an emigre architect from the Soviet Union who settled in Britain in late 1931. This is his first building here, and reveals many of the design details which were to appear in his later and better-known public commissions. Lubetkin himself designed only two other private houses, both in Whipsnade and including one for himself. Other famous work by the architect includes Grade I listed Finsbury Health Centre (1935-1938), Highpoint I (1933-5) in Highgate, a large scale residential development in north London, also Grade I listed; and various listed enclosures in London and Dudley Zoos.

Construction of the Richard Rogers’s building started in 1981 and was completed in 1986. There is no other building of this date of such significance. Since its inception the Lloyds Building has probably been the most celebrated as well as the most controversial building in London.

Known as the ‘inside-out’ building, all service components are located on the perimeter of the building: there are lifts, ductwork, fire stairs, lavatories, supporting structure and even the permanently installed cranes that are used for servicing and maintaining the facades.

English Heritage’s principle reasons for listing include:

Architectural innovation: a seminal late-C20 building by one of Britain’s most significant modern architects. It exemplifies the High Tech style in Britain, with its boldly expressed services and flexibility of plan throughout the impressive exterior and interior.

Historic interest: a purpose-built headquarters for an internationally important organisation that successfully integrates the traditions and fabric of earlier Lloyd’s buildings (including the Adam Room moved originally from Bowood House, the 1925 Cooper façade and fixtures such as the Lutine Bell).

Flexibility of design: Lloyd’s was innovative for the in-built flexibility of its design that would respond to changing needs in the market. The robustness of the overall design has allowed regular changes to work satisfactorily, and the essential elements of the building survive remarkably well. New additions, while too new to be of special interest, have been thoughtfully incorporated.

Timelessness: the building, which looked to Victorian as well as mid C20 buildings for inspiration, firmly retains the splendour of its awe-inspiring futuristic design, 25 years (at the time of listing in 2011) after it opened.

Group value: Lloyd’s, in the heart of the City of London, has many listed neighbours and it forms a wonderfully incongruous backdrop to many of these in captured vistas throughout the City. It has particular group value with the adjacent Grade II

Celebrated design: one of the best known and admired modern commercial buildings in the country, with international renown that cast the image of the City of London in a new light.

The strength of this architectural style lies in the legibility of the individual components, none of the parts are concealed, everything is there for you to see. The components are held separate from one another to emphasize this. It is an internalized building; the focus is on the great atrium around which the space is organized. The main structural system is a concrete precast and insitu framework with stainless steel bearings that transfer the loads and allow for movement and tolerances in construction.

The building was conceived around the immense Underwriting Hall that can accommodate up to 10,000 people at one time. The company’s expansion formed part of the brief and this was resolved by building a soaring 80m high atrium surrounded by 12 levels of open floors covering an area of 19,000 square meters on the rectangular site. It is a surprisingly simple plan. The approximate dimensions of the footprint are 70m by 40m.

Built on the site of Sir Edwin Cooper’s Lloyd’s building of 1928, Roger’s design has been hailed for its international stature since it was built. It features alongside the contemporary Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank in Hong Kong by Norman Foster and the James R Thompson Centre in Chicago by Helmut Jahn in most publications on twentieth century architecture.

Many traditions unique to Lloyd’s have been carefully integrated into this building: The double height underwriting room is laid out with boxes where the underwriters sit and negotiate with brokers. Also the rostrum from the 1928 building was salvaged, as well as the Lutine Bell which is now set up in the centre of the atrium. The Adam Room (Robert Adam, 1763) was also brought over from the 1958 building that had been its home after it had been bought at auction and installed there—it was originally from Bowood House in Wiltshire).

Although the 1928 building was listed, it was demolished apart from the entrance arch on Leadenhall St which was retained as a subsidiary entrance to the new building.  The ground floor has been designed as part of the public realm: it is a cafe and offers a reminder of the origins of the Edward Lloyd’s establishment as a coffee house near the Tower of London. Finally the large glass arch that forms the atrium references the Palladian arched windows of the earlier Lloyd’s building that can be seen on Terence Cuneo’s painting of the building.  These features are highly important as a contrast with the high-tech environment and as a link to the long heritage of the world’s largest insurance market.

Amused to read the following in one of the vintage (sadly no date visible) Habitat catalogues on show at the Terence Conran exhibition at the Design Museum:

“Choosing an architect who is also a close friend is like teaching your wife or husband to drive.  Chances of success are dicier.  At least that’s what architects say.”   (Contacting the RIBA is recommended instead).

 I also liked the letter reporting back on the opening of the Conran Shop in NYC, apparently “Margaret Jay, wife of our new Ambassador in Washington was the principle [sic]  guest … a bright, articulate, goodlooking lady” according to Conran’s John Stephenson.

Also lots of great textiles, one illustrated in the Architectural Review October 1952 has a caption which describes it as  ”composed of shapes reminsceint of block plans of modern buildings”  —it set me fantasising– they would be pretty weird buildngs.

And Iove the early Habitat graphics–there is a great stiched paper sack version of this little one, and I’m wishing I’d noted down the designer.  

The exhition runs until March 4th 2012 and is well worth a visit, although it feels more like a celebration than an objective analysis of Conran’s undoutabely vast influence on British design, in our homes and beyond. 

Treat someone to gift membership of the Society at our special Christmas offer price, saving up to £15, and help protect C20 architecture and design, like these recently listed murals by Dorothy Annan. Existing members can choose a free gift for themselves too! Order by Monday 19 December.

If you have anyone on your present list that cares about C20th architecture and design, then gift membership of the C20 Society is the perfect solution. They will receive all the benefits of membership:

• our newly-revamped magazine three times a year
• access to our renowned member-only events
• reduced prices to talks and public events
• copies of the Society’s journals

not to mention the satisfaction of knowing that they are helping to protect the best of C20 architecture and design.

All this is available for the special pre-Christmas price of £30 for an individual and £45 for household membership, but hurry, this price is only available until Monday 19 December. Plus, if you are already a member, you can choose to receive one of the publications listed below FREE as a thank-you for introducing a new member – or you can donate your reward to the Society.

Order gift membership now. Membership packs are normally sent out within 5 days, and we will make every effort to ensure that orders placed by Monday 19 December are received by Christmas.

Members will need to log in to the members area to select their free gift, if you are not already logged in.

• Housing the Twentieth Century Nation (RRP £19.50)
• The Heroic Period of Conservation (RRP £18.50)
• The Sixties (RRP £17.50)
• The Festival of Britain (RRP £19.95)
• The Modern House Revisited (RRP £10.00)
• Twentieth Century Building Studies No.1 : Robin Hood Gardens – Re-visions (RRP £20.00)