The Georgian Group
Architectural Awards
2013
Part Two
The variety of buildings entered for the Awards was, as in the past, huge and vibrant. I visited a handful of the entries, mostly those in London, near to London and in my home county, Derbyshire.
Bentley Priory is one of a small group of surviving grand country houses on the periphery of London. It is dramatically situated and looks across at my alma mater, Harrow School.
The building has elements by Sir John Soane, most of which have been drowned in a grand Italianate veneer. The restoration of Bentley and the creation of the Battle of Britain Museum and shrine to Lord Dowding has been exemplary; Soane's entrance hall is back to its colourful best, lanterns restored, cornices recreated and intricate verandas installed on the garden front.
Soane's newly restored entrance Hall at Bentley
Robert Bargery (Secretary of The Georgian Group) and I were at Bentley for the opening of the museum by HRH The Prince of wales.
HRH The Prince of Wales and Robert Bargery
Oliver Pepys of Spink & Son and Oliver Gerrish at Bentley Priory
After the country grandeur of Benley Priory it was interesting to see a private house in Aubrey Row, Holland Park, were a nondescript garage had been rebuilt as a Soanian lodge and an extraordinary miniature room in the style of the great architect in the link beside. This sort of project, and the imagination required, were so refreshing to see despite all the red tape and hurdles in today's quest for planning permission.
From Holland Park to Kennington and The Kia Oval to see Hugh Petter's marvellous reordering and redesigning of the entrance front. This is modern classical architecture at its best - Lutyens, Raymond Erith and E.S Prior all sprung to mind when I first saw it. The facade is sturdy and grand and makes, at last, a fitting entrance to the ground. A great portico opens from the rather dingy internal bar. The columns are unique with their capitals modelled on the Prince of Wales feathers. The brickwork is exquisite and the whole project has given The Oval a facade to rival any sports stadium in Britain. On the parapet wall are urns modelled on the Ashes Urn. These references add to the tremendous history of the place. Plans are now afoot for a great Colosseum like range of terraced houses around the ground.
The new entrance front of The Kia Oval
Under the portico with the unique Prince of Wales capitals
Hugh Petter, Oliver Gerrish, John Martin Robinson, Diane Nutting, David Watkin and the Manager of the Kia Oval
Trinity Church Terrace is an example of a clever, smart and beautifully built modern development. The survival of this precious enclave of late Georgian London is a marvel in itself and the new terraces are a worthy addition. The elements of the facades have been expertly copied from the originals opposite and a whole new mews-like street has been created. The architecture here is exciting and monumental, such a relief to see these days when so many nondescript and dull attempts at Georgian revival are springing up all around.
Trinity Terrace
The new mews behind Trinity Terrace
Marcus Williams of London Realty explaining his project to us
The Cornhill Pump is something that one would have, until recently, walked past quite without noticing. Now it has been restored and looks splendid in its original attention-grabbing colours which also deter the absent minded bypassed on his iPhone from banging himself.
The Cornhill Pump
Number 4 Brabant Court crouches beneath the bulbous hulk of the 'Walkie Talkie'. Luckily for this early Georgian townhouse there is a forecourt which stops the dreadful looming skyscraper throwing scorching rays at it, thus escaping the fate of many of the burnt cars in the vicinity. It is a great rarity to find a four storey grand Georgian townhouse in the midst of the City. Number 4 has been restored to a high standard and is in fine fettle. Nothing has been made too fussy and the plain, sensible Georgian interiors must form the perfect antidote to the crazy toolbox of buildings the city dweller now has to live among in day to day life.
Brabant Court with the Walkie Talkie looming
The Theatre Royal Drury Lane is a palace of the arts. it must have helped the cause of the Actor no end when it was built, giving to the thespian the social cache often denied to those who trod the boards - either this or it made the theatre more palatable to the aristocracy?! A gift, in the form of a great Neo-Classical statue, from perhaps our greatest living theatrical aristocrat, Lord Lloyd-Webber gazes down on this palatial scene. The building has been given a much needed face lift and is now far more like a St Petersburg Palace than a West End playhouse. The bar must surely be the most stately theatre bar in London. Gone is the Barbara Cartland-like gaudiness, replaced by cool Neo-Classical hues and gilding just the right side of too shiny. I can't wait to see what the next series of rooms intended for restoration look like. One of the judges enquired whether it was safe to have such a valuable piece of statuary in full public view. I have little doubt that we all respond favourably to beautiful surroundings and that the newly restored theatre Royal will delight and inspire respect from those luckily enough to enter its portals.
The Dome at the Theatre Royal
The Bar
The last building I viewed as a judge for the Awards was on home turf in the Midlands, St Helen's house, Derby. This has been saved by architectural crusader Richard Blunt. I had driven past the sad wreck of St Helen's House for years and pondered on its uncertain and worrying future. I need not have for it has been reborn and will, it is hoped, regenerate this part of Derby so cruelly sliced through by the ring road.
St Helen's is one of the very grandest Georgian townhouses. It was really both a town and country house as it had to its rear a large landscape park and a surrounding estate. Inside the scholastic clutter has been cleared away, water damaged ceilings mended and masses of woodwork, plasterwork and stonework restored. It is now home to a solicitors firm. I asked one or two of the people working there what it was like to spend so much time in such a building, each said it was a delight and a privilege.
The Georgian Group Architectural Awards 2013 - Charles Cator, Crispin Holborow, David Watkin, John Martin Robinson, Oliver Gerrish, Diane Nutting and the Marquess of Salisbury
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