“Buildings Become Historic Quickly”

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29749, 16 February 1962, Page 15

“Buildings Become Historic Quickly”

The needs of the present day and age should not become a subsequent reproach to the generation. Lord Euston told a meeting arranged by the National Historic Places Trust. Lord Euston is chairman of Britain’s Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings and is making a lecture tour sponsored by the British Council.

“It is surprising how quickly a modern building can become a historic one," he said. “This question of comparatively modern buildings becoming historic is one my society emphasises. Only now are people realising that many Victorian buildings are as worthy as buildings of the Elizabethan era. But while the public is being educated in this many buildings are being lost.” Country Homes Lord Euston gave an eloquent account of the status of the country house in England. Other countries might surpass England in the splendour of their palaces, he said. None could rival England’s country houses. “It is not an exaggeration to suggest that they are the greatest contribution by Britain to the visual arts. They show in sequence how the English home was adapted to changing eras. The illustrations of his lecture demonstrated some of the difficulties and successes of the preservation agencies in retaining these houses He gave instances of purchases by the National Trust, grants to owners from government funds, endowments by millionaires, and persuasion and propaganda by enthusiastic individuals. Sometimes, he said, his society found that owners of historic buildings were determined to let them decay or to demolish them. Nothing could be done. The main landmarks in the protection of historic buildings after the founding of his society by William Morris in 1877. have been: in 1895 the establishment of the National Trust which now, after the Crown, is the largest landowner in Britain, with 300.000 acres and 130 properties; in 1913 the Ancient Mounments Act setting up the monuments preservation branch of the Ministry of Works; in 1937 the emergence of the Georgian Group. “This group was the result of the destruction of Georgian London in the twenties and thirties.” he said. “It is

now having its work cut out to preserve what remains of Georgian London from the present speculator who is riie. “In the last three years the Victorian Society has been trying to make lists of the most important Victorian buildings. Provincial Chambers “The Provincial Council Chambers which I visited today are a good example of the kind of building which the Victorian Society says ought not to be destroyed.” Government grants amounting to £3,500,000 had been spent on repairing buildings since 1953, Lord Euston said. ‘‘We now have £400,000 a year to spend, and we have been able to deal with the root of the problem.” Nearly £lm had been raised to repair village churches as a result of the Archbishop of Canterbury’s fund opened to raise £4m in 1953, he said.