I came across the attached article online this morning. It is a historically well informed argument, hardly surprising given its author, for the benefits of impoverished museums: more concentration on the art and less on the panoply of treating museums as visitor attractions; and sympathetic to a new generation coming into museums with counter-cultural political interests, upset by the dominance of trustees and the ways they make their fortunes.
We missed the programme about Coventry Cathedral which came out recently, but watched it last night (https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m000wvm3/coventry-cathedral-building-for-a-new-britain): a rather fascinating reconstruction from documentary footage of the process which led to the construction of a Brave New Cathedral after the destruction of the original from heavy bombing in the early stages of the war (there was German newsreel footage proudly reporting on it at the time). Basil Spence came out of it well, not least for his great generosity in employing so many significant artists, including Jacob Epstein, in spite of the hostility of the committee overseeing the work, and Graham Sutherland, whose east end tapestry is so remarkable. I remember being taken to see a documentary about the construction of the cathedral in the village hall of Pandy in 1962, the year it was consecrated, and the film brought back all the characteristics of democratic post-war optimism, even including Kenneth Clark.
We went to see the Charlotte Perriand exhibition at the Design Museum yesterday: quite a revelation and a beautifully organised and informative exhibition.
When she first presented herself to work for Le Corbusier, he said ‘We don’t embroider cushions here’. She had already designed a necklace out of ball bearings, ‘a symbol of my adherence to the twentieth-century machine age’:-
We liked the kettle in the room she designed in the late 1920s, all very austere and callisthenic:-
And the foldable stackable chair, designed in 1936:-
I wasn’t so convinced by her more organic work from the 1950s, but would definitely like to see Les Arcs. This is her Refuge Tonneau (1938):-
In the intervals of talks about Cedric Morris and the glories of the world’s trees, we explored the parkland at Helmingham – a magical, old established, totally unspoiled, ancient parkland, full of big, old, ancient trees:-
Helmingham Hall was a spectacularly beautiful setting for the Garden Museum’s annual festival, postponed from last year. An early Tudor moated house recooked by Anthony Salvin in 1840:-
Everything about it was perfect – a compact, well ordered garden, opening out onto a spectacular deer park:-
I half knew about the Line, the sculpture trail which stretches from the Olympic Park to the Millennium Dome or vive versa, but had never walked it until today. It’s an impressive way of connecting bits of East London which I did not previously know connected – partly because there is an obscure path stretching south from Three Mills past the gas holders to Cody Dock.
We started at the Dome:-
There is a remarkable view of Canary Wharf from the east (what used to be called the Valley of the Failure of Capitalism):-
Richard Wilson’s Slice of Reality, which has been there since the Millennium:-
And Antony Gormley’s Quantum Cloud:-
To the north of the river, there is a Richard Rogers’ pumping station, contemporary with John Outram’s on the Isle of Dogs:-
And then a walk up an obscure section of the River Lea:-
And a view of the Balfron Tower and the new developments of Canary Wharf beyond:-
It says it’s only 2.4 miles, but it felt like a good way to explore some of the obscurer bits of East London.
Close examination of the attached reveals that our cottage in Wales is on the shortlist for this year’s RSAW Architecture Awards (we were on last year, but they’ve carried us over to this year). It entailed a flying visit today to meet one of the judges in situ in order to commend the virtues of a small-scale rural project making a nineteenth-century cottage disabled accessible in such a way that it retains the character of the original. The sun shone. The grass has grown long and wild:-
There is still a surprising amount of activity on Twitter about the Bell Foundry, asking if anything can now be done.
The answer is that the government is clearly not minded to do anything. The ministers in the Department for Housing, Communities and Local Government have between them effectively cocked up – Chris Pincher by making a statement in the House of Lords which put the government at risk of judicial review by appearing to treat the Planning Inquiry as a foregone conclusion and Robert Jenrick by calling the decision in for an Inquiry, but then simply accommodating himself to the advice of the Inspector, in spite of tweeting to the effect that it was bad advice. This government will go to any lengths to keep statues on plinths, but no lengths to keep a Historic Bell foundry in operation. But then, it does seem to find empty symbols more appealing than real action (unless it is illicit).
So, now, I think there are only three possibilities.
The first is market forces. It is just possible that now is not the best moment to go forward with a grand scheme for a new hotel in an area which already has plenty of new hotels (the Inspector was caustic about the business plan for a Foundry, but didn’t look at the business plan for a hotel).
The second is that Bippy Siegal has a change-of-heart and realises – or is encouraged to realise – that he would win international friends and plaudits if he adjusted his plans to give more scope for the reinstatement of a proper full-blown foundry in the space currently proposed as a restaurant, making use of the equipment which he himself bought at auction, not just a little toy one as is currently proposed.
The third would be if new evidence came to light of something having been done wrong in the process of securing planning permission.
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
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