From the Chairman:

The year since I became the Society’s Chairman has passed very quickly. We have had a full programme, most recently an outstanding Banister Fletcher lecture from Martin Stancliffe and a convivial Annual General Meeting in the august surroundings of the Society of Antiquaries. I was pleased to be able to use these events to meet more of you. It is an opportune time for me to thank all those members of the Society’s committee who have worked hard on our behalf to maintain the Society’s activities. At the AGM Brian Chappell stood down from the committee after long and devoted service for which we give him our thanks. Brian was also one of the Society’s trustees and I’m delighted that William Arthurs has agreed to take on that role.

At the AGM Michael Coupe joined the committee. He is an experienced planner and we shall be grateful for his guidance on many of the wider policy issues affecting London. The Society has established means by which we can monitor individual planning applications but we are less effective in contributing to the general debate about the direction in which we wish to see London progress. For instance, the Society has taken no view on London’s Olympic bid or what we would wish to see come out of a successful bid. I would be very grateful to hear members’ views on this issue.

Two very large planning applications have recently come to the Society’s attention. We have commented on a proposal for a major rebuilding of the London Hospital which retains the historic frontage to the Mile End Road but demolishes many of the buildings behind and replaces them with two 18 storey towers. We have expressed concern about the disappointing design of these towers and the overwhelming effect these may have on the area, as well as making more detailed comments about how the hospital will operate in a congested and at some times rather intimidating area. We have yet to form a view on the proposals for the redevelopment of all the land behind Kings Cross and St Pancras Stations which is the follow-on from the building of the Channel Tunnel Rail Terminal at St Pancras; these proposals include the moving of the gasholders. We continue to monitor what is happening at Smithfield.

With this Newsletter there is the usual programme of visits which are such a vital part of the Society’s activities. I must emphasise once again that if you book and then find you can’t go, do please let us know so that we can, if possible, offer your place to a member who might have been disappointed in an application for what in many cases are popular and over-subscribed visits. We would welcome volunteers to report on visits for the Society’s Journal; if you are willing to write a short report on a visit please get in touch with our editor, Lizzie Wells.

We have this year added to the usual events a co-operative venture with the Ancient Monuments Society, providing a series of four autumn lectures on Conservation in London. The details are on the enclosed flier. Taking our lead from the AMS we have decided that these should be free to our members but it would be helpful if you gave the office an indication of your intention to turn up. We hope that these lectures may prove to be a forerunner of closer links with many kindred societies.

If you wish to turn your autumn Mondays into lecture days then Gresham College is holding a series of lunchtime lectures on 17th century London, some of which are on the same days as our evening lectures. These take place at Barnards Inn in Holborn. Details can be found on the Gresham College website or by telephoning 020 7831 0575. The more academically inclined may even consider enrolling for a new MA course on London Architecture at Westminster University, historically based but including options on urban regeneration, cultural industries and the representation of London in literature. Details from the Westminster University website or 0020 7911 5020.

September is the month for what has become one of the great architectural festivals of Great Britain — Open House Days. London usually operates on a different weekend to the rest of the country, offering an opportunity for people to see buildings not usually open in both town and country in successive weekends. This year’s London event is 18 and 19 September. More than 500 buildings will be included, some old favourites but also new entries such as 30 St Mary Axe (the `Gherkin’) and even buildings under construction at Wembley Stadium and the Channel Tunnel Rail Terminal. The programme will be available at the beginning of September. There is an information line on 09001 600061 and also a London Open House website.

Prospective visitors to the Gherkin (the building of which was supported by the London Society) may be encouraged to know that it is included in the list of Royal Institute of British Architects Awards for 2004. Other central London winners include the Milibank Millenium Pier, the Bridge of Aspiration at the Royal Opera House/Royal Ballet School, the new King’s Library at the British Museum and the new layout of Trafalgar Square. One winner in north London was Daniel Libeskind’s graduate centre for the Metropolitan University in the Holloway Road. The decision of the Heritage Lottery Fund not to contribute towards the cost of the proposed spiral building for the V&A Museum may mean that Libeskind will not be able to build that more dramatic addition to London’s architecture. Personally I shall have no regrets about that.

The recent inscription of much of central Liverpool as a World Heritage site led me to check on the London sites already inscribed. There are four: Westminster, to include the Abbey, the Palace and St Margaret’s Church; the Tower of London; Maritime Greenwich; and the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew. Charles Darwin’s Down House in south east London is on the tentative list of nominations. The London sites are rather more restricted in scope and character than other designations, such as that at Liverpool. Some of us may feel that London is itself a world heritage site.

Our city really is an extraordinary place, always full of surprises. I write this letter as much of west London dries out after flash floods and Trafalgar Square has been turned into a giant children’s playground for the day. My great experience of the summer has been a balloon trip, from which I saw many familiar landmarks from unfamiliar angles; I did not expect to see two ostriches in a suburban garden.

I hope that London will continue to fascinate you all and that you enjoy what is left of the summer. I hope to see many of you at one or more of our forthcoming events.

With all good wishes,
Frank Kelsall

TheLondonSociety

From the Chairman:

The
London
Society