TrustNews Jun 22
Six new listings by Historic England
Historic England has marked the Platinum Jubilee by listing six buildings, including the Hampshire Record Office, writes Judith Martin
Hampshire Archives, aka Record Office (Photo J Martin)
Historic England has released a list of six new buildings they have designated, to mark the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. (Why not seven?, one might ask, but no clues are given.)
All have a slight association with Her Majesty: the oldest, the imperial Hotel in Stroud, was refurbished in 1950, the same year, HE points out, that Princess Elizabeth, now the Queen, visited the hotel as part of a tour of the town. The Queen's Theatre in Hornchurch was built in coronation year, hence the name, and the two M62 motorway markers (yes, really) with their Yorkshire/Lancashire white and red roses, were installed where the road crosses the border between the historic counties, to mark the opening of the motorway by HRH in 1971.
The delightful 1933 Sun Pavilion and Colonnade in Harrogate was officially re-opened by the Queen in 1998. It was built by the borough surveyor as part of the inter-war movement for health and the outdoors.
Which brings us to the Winchester listing. HE call it Hampshire Archives but most of us know it as the Hampshire Record Office. It was built by another civil servant, the renowned county architect Colin Stansfield Smith, and opened by the Queen in 1993. Prince Philip, accompanying her, remarked on how it resembled a cruise liner. That might not be a compliment these days, as Venice has banned the huge vessels for the damage they cause, and when their most recent headlines have concerned the horrific rates of COVID-19 on board in early 2020. But it was a high compliment then, as its saw-tooth roof sails elegantly above the trees.
Drawing taken from Shools of Thought: Hampshire Architecture 1971-1991 by Richard Weston
The listing description notes that the foundation stone was laid on 17th March 1992, making it only just eligible for the 30-year listing rule. It also notes the three-fold brief for the design: to respect the adjacent Conservation Area; to meet the needs of the archive service and its users; and to use as little as possible of the earth's depleting natural resources . This is a remarkably modern approach, one that many builders have yet to address.
Stansfield Smith, who died in 2013, won the RIBA gold medal in 1991, to mark which event the RIBA held an exhibition complete with model and with a book about his work, titled Schools of Thought, reflecting the major part of his output. The drawing above comes from that book, and shows the way the diagonal design motif runs through the whole site.
Stansfield Smith became Sir Colin in 1993, for services to architecture - a title bestowed, of course, by the Queen. His building was not unrecognised before, but it is very good for Winchester to have it acknowledged by Historic England.