Façadism: calm down dear – it's happening everywhere!

Façadism – keeping an original street-facing part of a building but removing and replacing everything behind it and then adding a new building behind it. 
Recently people have been up in arms about this citing examples such as the Mallet, Porter & Dowd building in Caledonian Rd and the rear of the hospital building in Artillery Row as examples of how bad this is. The Gentle Author/SpitalfieldsLife is one such person who is getting rather angsty about it and uses words like outrage, plague, folly – he is currently asking people to help him crowd fund a book on the subject.
Well, like Michael Winner, I say, calm down dear! Put you handbags down! What are you upset about exactly? Can we please put this into perspective...
Is the stress caused by loss of the old building? Or the building of the new one? Would the 'Façamoaners' rather the whole thing had been demolished? Does keeping only the front-facing section make them sad, like recalling a dead relative?
Yes, I am also disappointed at the amount of glass that is quickly replacing the old buildings, especially in the Square Mile during the last 15 years, but I am aware that 'progress' means moving with the times. Deals are not made in coffee houses these days.
Are the Façamoaners suggesting that we keep everything that has ever been built? We can't save everything! What do they think was there before? Consider that the coffee houses replaced Tudor buildings which were built on Roman dwellings etc – should we build on levels until we reach the sky?

Mallet, Porter & Dowd, Caledonian Rd

Regarding the two examples I give at the top of this post, in my humble pragmatic opinion, having studied both of those sites I have come to the conclusion that they have been well-considered, and keeping an attractive part of an old building helps a passer-by who is not that up on local history to question an area's heritage. Surely that's not a bad thing?
The MP&D/Costa CallyRd site (pic right) is often criticised because the old and new windows do not align. I agree that it does look odd at first glance. But, look closer to see that the old and new front walls are approx one metre apart – to align the windows would minimise light into the building, especially on an east-facing site. This design allows light to enter the building from many angles. The façade was the most interesting and attractive part of the building – as a warehouse only the front of would have had any embellishment. It's amazing that it's been retained at all. Again, would the façamoaners prefer to have this part also removed and we just see a flat wall of glass and clip-together panels, as per the rest of the terrace going south (left in the pic)? The new glass building will not last as long as the 1874 brickwork – there will be further developments here I am sure. My own problem with the renovation is the loss of the 99% of an original doorway of which only a tiny triangle remains at the extreme left.

Sussex Way, Holloway N7. Built 1870s.

A lot Holloway, N7, was built in the 1870s including the residential streets where I live. Façadism is in action here too but it's not so obvious; not so clearly defined. I reckon that less than 10% of the houses here will have interiors that resemble original 1870s floor plans. As I write this three houses a stone's throw away are being gutted and extended backwards and upwards – I expect bi-fold doors and pedestal kitchen units to arrive in the next few weeks.
In the case of Niclar House on Shoreditch High Street a bit of façadism would have been welcome.
Food for though eh.
That'll do.
Thanks for reading this.

Goodby to Niclar House – an art deco delight

Shocking news.
On Sunday last I was leading my Art Deco Spitalfields tour and we were heading northwards up Bishopsgate. The next stop was to be Niclar house with its 1930s castellated faience tiled façade. I had already pre-warned my group that this end of the street was in the process of being renovated and that the building we were about to see and talk about had been behind nets and scaffold for the past few months – but never mind, I had pictures to show them and plenty to talk about.

Nicholls & Clarke's Niclar House in 2018 (Google streetview)

But when we got there, oh the disappointment and shock (and tongue-biting frustration):

Pic taken from the top of a bus (Sunday 30 June 2019)

Where is façadism when you really need it?
Norton Folgate sits at the upper end of Bishopsgate and has for years been cause of dispute about the conservation of its last remaining historic buildings. However, the buildings that abut Norton Folgate were not included as they did not form part of the same street – they appear[ed] to be a continuation but they actually form[ed] the first section of Shoreditch High Street, which had become separated from the rest of that road when the railway arrived.
Niclar House at No3-8 Shoreditch High Street was built as the swanky public/street-facing offices and showrooms of Nicholls and Clarke, plumbers' and builders' supplies who, since 1875, had made very good use of the adjacent railway to ship their products all over the country from their huge warehouses in Blossom Street at the rear (often used as a film location). This tiled building had repaced the company's Victorian Gothic, telling everyone that althjough they were an old company, the products inside were modern.
In June the demolition crew arrived. The bulk of the building had been reduced to rubble and The Art Deco façade was covered with scaffolding, netting and opaque sheeting and I rather hoped that it was going to be protected and saved.
But no. The powers-that-be and the greedy developers obviously don't think that unique Art Deco buildings are significant. Nor do they appear to have any regard for what's left of the Victorian streetscape. This would also further explain the loss of The Water Poet public house which formed part of the Norton Folgate Conservation Area. As mentioned above, Niclar House, being in Shoreditch High Street, was outside that half-arsedly-protected zone and hence the demolition without discussion. It will be replaced with a huge multi-storey office block* and the Norton Folgate block will be partly façaded, but only the four red brick fronted buildings. A big shame to lose an evocative patchwork of architectural history.

I wonder what happened to all those lovely 1930's tiles and the clock parts? Were they saved and sold on? I hope so.
Also see The art deco clock.
Nicholls & Clarke still trade today

 

*I feature this building on my Demolished Art Deco – Gone But Not Forgotten online talk via Zoom – see Jane's London Walks for more info.