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.

The Marlborough Theatre, Holloway

A marvellous theatre, designed by the prolific Mr Frank Matcham and built in 1903, used to stand in Holloway Road on the west side of the street, almost opposite M&S.
I was recently alerted to a short film on the Talking Pictures TV channel showing the building just before it was demolished sixty years later in 1963.
The movie is less than five minutes long and isn't the best quality. However, I managed to snap a few stills with my camera and put this together:

The tall building that now stands in its place is called The Marlborough Building in memory of the theatre and the row of villas that used to stand adjacent to it.
If you'd like to find out more about the theatre and what the Holloway Nag's Head are was like in 1903 then (plug! plug! plug!) why not come along on my walk?

The film also includes some street scenes of Holloway Road looking north; cars and buses and what not:

Hawley Road villa demolition update

Update to post from last month

Here are some pics I took last week which show that the villa on the end is still standing but most of the others have been demolished.
Hmmm... Interesting.

The more modern pink and green building near The Hawley Arms has been demolished, however the Victorian one on the bend next to the railway line (shown bottom left and middle in my last post) is still there.

A villa in Hawley Road – RIP

For decades I have been watching the decline of a lovely old villa in Hawley Road at the junction of Kentish Town Road, opposite Quinn's public house.

Top left in August 2008. Top right in June 2013.
The bottom two pics taken in early March this year.

As you can see, this must have once been a lovely, family home. But, having stood empty for [I'd estimate] +20 years, it has subsequently become the home of squatters, sniffers and taggers. Nothing wrong with squatting, mind; why should buildings stand unoccupied when so many people have nowhere to live?!

In early March when I took these pics, because I'd noticed that all the villas along that stretch of road were surrounded by hoardings, probably awaiting demolition. 

Quinn's pub top left with some clever street art on the side. Top middle and right are the villas next to the one above. The pics in the second row are in the stretch from the railway bridge to the Hawley Arms, and judging from the hardings and wire mesh panels, I guess by the time of writing this they have all succumbed to the wrecking ball, even the relatively new building in the pic bottom right. 

I found some pics and more info here.
An article in The Kentish Towner shows the £35million redevelopment scheme and mentions that only 95 signatures were collected for a petition to save the villas from demolition. Sad.

Battersea – we must rebuild it

Continuing from my from my previous post about a tour I attended around the around Nine Elms area.

Battersea riverside is changing apace. I wrote a while back here about how I am none too happy with the large ugly glass buildings that will be built to wrap around and obscure what is left of Battersea Power Station. All artist impressions or computer-generated images of how the site will look after the project is finished mostly show the area from the air or from the river, but I have not seen any views depicting how it will look from street level.

As we followed our guide westwards along Nine Elms Lane I took some photos, shown in the top row above (the bottom four pics were taken in February 2009). These views of the power station will not be possible once the new construction is in place. I noted how the brickwork of the building is in really poor condition. 

There is a hoarding that runs along the street with a quote on it. I now wish I'd made a note of whole thing. From my photos I can make out: "...have seen me before, but you don't know me. I stand here bold and strong. My proud heritage, combined with the future world, I will be like nothing you have seen..".

Eh?
Further along near Battersea Park station, in Prince of Wales Drive, behind a lovely old wall made from London stocks are Battersea's gas holders and other buildings including an impressive 3-storey detached Victorian house called 'The Field'.

The lower floor of the house is at the moment being turned into a pop-up gallery for an exhibition of large framed photographs taken on a dull day with an expensive camera. It strikes me that if you care about a building and want to take some good shots of something you choose a good day for it as I did for my photos above.
The house itself is far more interesting than the framed prints. With a bit of elbow grease and tlc this sturdy brick structure that has stood there for approx 150 years would make a fantastic home or business space(s) as it contains most of its original features; hand-painted stained glass in the doors and windows, architectural mouldings, intricate Pugin-esque hallway floor tiles, and wooden stairs with curved wood and metal bannisters. I'd have included some pics of it here but we weren't allowed to take photos, though I couldn't really fathom why not.

Sadly this 2-acre site, including the unusual 80-year old pale blue gas holder, and probably the surrounding wall as well, is going to be demolished to make way for – yes, you've guessed it – a development of metal and glass containing homes, shops and businesses – as if that hideous complex next door isn't bad enough.
It was all too much for me to take in and attempt to make sense of – too big, too much and too fast.
After seeing what was going to become of the Nine Elms area earlier that day, then walking past what's left of the power station, this was the final straw for me and it moved me to tears. Really, it did (sorry, this is 2014; I mean 'literally').

Ian Nairn used to get emotional about this kind of thing decades ago. He must be rolling in his grave. We are learning nothing – I doubt these glass replacements will last 50 years, let alone 150.
Sigh.
Soon there may be no historical details left for me to photograph and this blog will be all rants and sadness.
Sigh again.

London Chamber of Commerce RIP

I am a bit late with this... the demolition of the old London Chamber of Commerce building at 69-75 Cannon Street, along with others further along the Cannon Street, happened earlier this year. I watched for months after the hoardings went up and crossed my fingers that the building might be saved and renovated. But no :-(

It's so hard to believe that this simple stone building with its understated details has been obliterated. I am unsure what is planned to replace it but if the new buildings further up the street near the Cannon Street Station are anything to go by, it will be fairly nondescript. In fact, the new location for the LCC is actually inside one of these 'Lego' buildings. Rooting around in the LCC's website I cannot even find a picture of the exterior, so they must know themselves how bland it is.

Sadly I never saw the inside of the old building. The exterior had intricate grilles and bronze gull light fittings around the doors – I can only hope that some of these delightful details have been salvaged for use elsewhere.