Acknowledgements

Harwood, Elain

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Acknowledgements

Elain Harwood

Space, Hope and Brutalism: English Architecture, 1945–1975

Acknowledgements

Author

Elain Harwood

PublisherPaul Mellon Centre

Stable URL: https://aaeportal.com/?id=-32139

Acknowledgements

My first thanks are to Historic England and to English Heritage’s old Post-War Steering Group, chaired by Bridget Cherry and including both staff and outside experts, among them Martin Robertson, Trevor Dannatt, Alan Powers, Andrew Saint, Gavin Stamp, James Sutherland and Geoffrey Wilson, later joined by Peter Aldington, John Allan, Louise Campbell, Catherine Croft, Jeremy Gould, Neil Jackson, John Partridge and Pete Smith, with Neville Doe and Gaynor Roberts providing the minutes. The programme swept into action in 1992 under the supervision of Martin Cherry and Diane Green (then Diane Kay), and reports were commissioned from Christopher Dean, Roger Harper, Sue Hendrie, Julian Holder, Suzanne Marston, Mervyn Miller, Alan Powers, Andrew Saint, Bill Smyth, Paul Taylor and myself. Subsequent reports were commissioned from Catherine Croft, Bronwen Edwards, David Lawrence and Andrew Smith, whose work on shells informed many building types. The architects Peter Ahrends, Peter Aldington, John Partridge and Martin Richardson gave presentations on aspects of 1960s work. All gave freely of their time and knowledge.

The result was a rapid overview of the years 1945–65, with some work on later years undertaken before the group was disbanded in 2002. In practice, however, detailed research for the book had to begin from scratch, though with the help of Geraint Franklin and Andrew Saint, particularly on schools; Alastair Howe on Harlow; Jeremy Gould on Plymouth, Exeter and Cornwall County Hall; Rob Gill on Coventry; Chris Godbold and Trevor Haines on Corby; Jon Pasmore, Brian Sheriff and all at the Pasmore Pavilion Trust; Laura Coventry, Emily Greeves, Iain Jackson and Mark Swenarton on housing; Neil Bingham, Catherine Bond, John Newman and Barbara Simms for Span; Lucy Archer, Bronwen Edwards, Simon Green, Lesley Jackson, Alan Powers and Matthew Wickens on private houses; Louis Hellman and Suzanne Waters for schools; Malcolm Airs, Linda Irving-Bell and Geoffrey Tyack on aspects of Oxford University, together with many college librarians; Nicholas Bullock, Peter Carolin, Barry Phipps and Mark Goldie on Cambridge University; Andy Foyle and Tim Mowl on architecture in Bristol; Andy Foster in Birmingham; Chris Hammond, Ken Powell and Robert Sladdin in Leeds; Maurice Howard at Sussex University; Stephan Muthesius formerly at the University of East Anglia; Jules Lubbock at Essex University; Ray Ritmeester on buses and shops; David Trevor-Jones on railways; John Minnis, Kathryn Morrison and Eddy Rhead on motor transport; Rutter Carroll and Grace McCombie on Newcastle upon Tyne; Simon Bradley, Timothy Brittain-Catlin, Oliver Harris, Nicholas Long, Ian McInnes, Chris Rogers and Dominic West on industrial buildings and offices; Duncan Ross at St Paul’s, Bow Common; Grahame Shawe at St Paul’s, Lorrimore Square; Martin Goalen, Peter Pace, Giles Velarde and Ian Wells on churches; Alistair Fair on theatres; Mark Price on theatres and swimming baths; Barnabas Calder, Richard Gray, David Trevor-Jones and Bridget West on the South Bank; Howard Duckworth and Harriet Richardson on the London County Council sculpture exhibitions. I would like to thank the staff of the British Architectural Library and Drawings Collection at the Royal Institute of British Architects, the staff of the London Metropolitan Archives and Nottinghamshire Archives, Ruth Harman and all those librarians and archivists who found material or answered queries.

Above all, this book was made possible by the patience of the architects, designers, engineers and clients who worked in the years 1945–75, and who submitted to afternoons of questioning or lengthy telephone conversations. They included Beak Adams, Peter Ahrends, Peter Aldington, Graham Ashworth, Robert Bailie, John Bancroft, John Bicknell, Anthony Blee, Christof Bon, Gordon and Ursula Bowyer, Colin Boyne, Terry Brown, John Burkett, Richard and Mireille Burton, H. T. (Jim) and Betty Cadbury-Brown, Denis Clarke Hall, Eric Classey, Neville Conder, Oliver Cox, Dennis Crompton, Ted Cullinan, Roger Cunliffe, Douglas Cunningham, Ivor Cunningham, Trevor Dannatt, Sir Andrew Derbyshire, Jack Digby, Cecil Elsom, Norman Engleback, Ralph Erskine, Eldred Evans and David Shalev, Sir Terry Farrell, Peter Fauset, Sir Anthony Flint, Lady Gibberd, Martin Goalen, James Gowan, Walter Greaves, Michael Grice, Patrick Gwynne, Roderick Ham, Paul Hamilton, Louis Hellman; Brian Henderson, Malcolm Higgs, Brian and Margaret Housden, Tom Kay, Paul Koralek, Sir Denys Lasdun, Patrick Litchfield, Owen Luder, Stephen Macfarlane, Leonard Manasseh, George Marsh, Robert Maxwell, Mary and David Medd, Edward Mendelsohn, John Miller, Edward Mills, Roger Mortimer, John Meunier, William (Bill) Mitchell, Peter Moro, Jeannie Moya, Guy Oddie, Peter Pace, John Partridge, Jan Piet, Geoffry Powell and family, Sir Philip and Lady Powell, Arthur Quarmby, David Rock, Richard Rogers, Su Rogers, Edward and Stella Samuel, Sam Scorer, Vincent Senatore, Peter Shepheard, Derrick Shorten, Peter Smithson, Bill Smyth, Roy Stout, Derek Sugden, James Sutherland, Jean Symons, Paul Taylor, James Thomas, Tim Tinker, David Thurlow, Hugh Tottenham, Roger Turner, Derek Walker, John Warren, Sir Roger Waters, Chris Whitaker, Charles Wilson, Sir Colin St John Wilson, Peter Winchester, John Winter, Georgie Wolton and Christopher Woodward. John Weeks read and rewrote part of the section on hospitals. The architects of the LCC provided a stimulating day seminar for the Twentieth Century Society in 2001.

Too many people have shown me round their buildings and archives to list individually, but special thanks go to those caretakers, sometimes nameless, who give so much energy and enthusiasm to keep these buildings open, and who were unfailingly helpful. The owners and managers of many private houses deserve special mention, however, among them the Battye, Deely, Richardson and Swanson families, Remy Blumenfeld, Andy and Hazel Bow, Sophie Braimbridge, Ian and Jo Cartlidge, Victoria Clarke, Andrew Cornford, Roz Cullinan, Dick and Gill Dickinson, Takeshi Hayatsu, Mark and Jo Hoffman, Roger Howells, John Jackson, Adah Kay, Olga Kennard, Jill Lever, Katharine Oakes, Trish Pank, Richard Pilkington, Michael Reece, Sir Timothy Sainsbury, David Scott, Malcolm Snelling, Rachel Spender, David Stride, Ari Zaphiriou-Zarifi and Alice Zeitlyn. Additional thanks are due to Paul Hitchens and Rob Robinson at Boots; Simon Boardman at Horizon; Peter Basham at the Royal College of Physicians; Mike Ashworth, Godric Bader, Edmund Bird, Hugh Broughton, Ruth Conolly, Elizabeth Darling, John Gold, Albert Hill, Ian Knight, Simon Inglis, Simon Levine, Glyn Mark, Peter Merriman, Rhian Roberts, Ken Saunders, Sian Segal, Jane Stancliffe, Jacqueline Thalmann, Daniel Vinnels and Brent Skelly, Richard Walker, Michael Walton and Philip White.

The book also owes much to the support of colleagues at English Heritage past and present, including Paul Backhouse, Susie Barson, John Cattell, Emily Cole, Steve Cole, Matt Dunsden, Geraint Franklin, Emily Gee, Pete Herring, John Hudson, Barry Jones, Rob Read, Joanna Smith, Robin Taylor, Colin Thom, Charles Walker, Matthew Whitfield and Enid Williams. Other help and support came from Harriet Atkinson, Henrietta Billings, Susannah Charlton, Amy and Mark Coomber, Elaine Battson, Nehal Hoque, Dominic Echlin, Charlotte Malathouni, Andrew Martindale, Lisa Ostreicher, Carolyn Parmeter, Clare Price, Joanne Quittner, Matthew Saunders, Bob Stanley, James Smith, Paul Stirner, Jonathan Taylor, Kit Wedd, Elizabeth Williamson, Jon Wright and friends everywhere. It is also a pleasure to acknowledge encouragement from the Twentieth Century Society and its director, Catherine Croft.

The greatest debt is to James O. Davies, who breathed new life into the project and gave infinite care and dedication to the images.

At the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art the project was initially encouraged by Steven Parissien and fully supported by first Brian Allen and then Mark Hallett; to all three I extend my sincere thanks, for without the Paul Mellon Centre’s considerable financial contribution to the production costs, this book could not have been published in its present form.

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