One of the pleasures of seeing several properties in Spitalfields in quick succession was the opportunity to compare different approaches to conservation.

19, Princelet Street has a philosophy of minimal intervention: stabilising the fabric just enough to ensure that it is safe to visit, but otherwise to do as little as possible to retain the atmosphere of past time and create a space for historical contemplation.

The House of Annetta presents a somewhat different set of opportunities and challenges because its previous owner, Annetta Pedretti, had herself deconstructed so much of the fabric of the building down to its material bones.  Here the philosophy is to reinvest the building with social life through engagement with, and the involvement of, the local community, so that the built fabric becomes merely the backdrop to multifarious social activity.

Then, Dennis Severs’s house where each room is treated, as Severs described it, as ‘a still life drama’, part of a theatrical experience in which authenticity is less important than evocation.

Each different in purpose and effect.

A lesson in the politics and practice of conservation.