Stirling of Stirlings - RIBA Journal

Stirling of Stirlings
Hugh Pearman
27.04.09

It’s been a busy few days as we’ve finalised our “Stirling of Stirlings” online poll, to find the best buildings of the past 175 years of the RIBA.

Only a bit of fun really, but you’d be surprised how seriously some people are taking it.

The whole thing got off to a flying start when The Sunday Times asked me to write a piece, complete with link to our online poll. So hundreds of votes flowed in straight away – plus the occasional reader complaining that no modern building was worth voting for, so how dare we insist on one vote for each of seven periods, including the present day?

These people use email and drive new cars and travel in planes. But they think buildings should all somehow be old. This attitude has always baffled me. It explains our nation’s enduring love affair with Tudorbethan. A few enthusiasts have tried repeated voting, but don’t bother, everyone – multiple voting patterns show up like a sore thumb on our data and we shall weed them out ruthlessly. One person, one vote, please.

I won’t give anything away just yet – I’m writing this on Monday April 27, and voting continues until the end of Friday May 8. But let’s just say that in the “present day” period, there are two Silverback architects in particular slugging it out for supremacy, and it could go either way. Or both might be knocked out by a late-breaking rival – who knows? That’s up to you. I’m more interested in how old will match up to new in the final judging on May 10.

By the way, our 49 buildings can only be a representative selection of the architectural riches of the past 175 years. There are lots of buildings I’d like to have seen on the list but edited them out to keep things from getting unwieldy. You’ll doubtless have your own nominations. If you feel strongly about this, just email us to say why you think such-and-such a building should have made the cut. The address is (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).

And if you haven’t yet voted – get a move on! Simply click here to be taken to our online poll.

Hugh Pearman

Comments

Chris Cook at 08:50am on 28.04.09:

I enjoy this sort of poll and realise its only a bit of fun, but how difficult is it to publish a picture of each building as an aide-memoire?

Hugh at 08:43am on 29.04.09:

That would have been nice. Just a matter of cost, I’m afraid. Lovely pop-up of every building would have cost too much both in web construction and archive fees…so may I recommend Google Images in case of doubt?

Peter Hancock at 10:12am on 30.04.09:

Firstly, I was delighted with the selection of buildings, which is well-balanced and significant for each period. The selection begins with the Palace of Westminster, that non-pareil of gothic revival buildings, designed by Sir Charles Barry (1795-1860), and brilliantly detailed by A W N Pugin (1812-52). The selection includes three works by Sir Edwin Lutyens (1869-1944), inter alia The Deanery Garden, Sonning, Berks., a masterpiece of domestic architecture, described by one writer as ‘the quintessentially English house’; an opinion with which I entirely concur.

Then there is Lutyens’ superb work at New Delhi, in which he virtually redesigned the city overnight, from Lanchester’s original plan, based on a major diagonal axis, aligned on the Jami Masjid, the mosque in the Old City of Shahjehanabad (‘the city of the Ruler of the World’). Lutyens’ redesigned capital city plan, based on the east-west axis of Kingsway (the Rajpath), links the Presidential Palace, Rashtrapati Bhavan, (the former Viceroy’s House) on Raisina hill to the west, with the river Jumna (Jumana) to the east. The layout of this complete capital city plan, and redesigned by Lutyens, together with the former Viceroy’s house (and the Parliament and Secretariats, by Baker), was completed in 20 short years, between 1911 and 1931. This is surely an almost unparalleled achievement for any architect, or city planner.

Another work by Lutyens, which is included, is the monumental memorial arch at Thiepval. This masterly conception, a completely three-dimensional system of arches, completed in 1932, is not a triumphal arch, but a masterly simple and moving memorial, with the soul-searing insciption : TO THE MISSING OF THE SOMME. Located on a hill on the site of the vanished village of Thiepval, destroyed in the Great War of 1914-18, the arch can be seen from many points on the bloodstained soil of the Somme battlefield. This great arch, not dedicated to victory, but to remembrance, commemorates by name, 73 000 British and 600 South African soldiers, who died without trace, in the 1916 Battles of the Somme. The memorial arch could be described as possibly one of the greatest and most moving memorials of the First World War. Lutyens at his best. I waited many years to go there; but having been there, I was not disappointed, but deeply moved.

To sum up: Lutyens richly deserved the Royal Gold Medal of the RIBA, awarded to him in 1921; the same year in which he also received the Gold Medal of the American Institute of Architects.

The inclusion of the iconic Coventry cathedral, by Sir Basil Spence, built at right angles to the mediaeval cathedral of St Michael, gutted by fire, in the Second World War, is evocative of Spence’s own account of the cathedral’s design and construction, in his book : Phoenix at Coventry. It is indeed a phoenix; although there may be some architects, like me, who would have liked to to have seen the old cathedral reroofed and renovated, which would conceivably have been possible, as with St Stephen’s cathedral, Vienna, which had suffered a similar fate to the burnt-out shell of St Michael’s cathedral, Coventry, but was reroofed and renovated after the War.

Lastly, the inclusion of the Eden project brings us up right up to date, in terms of an innovative and environmentally-based design, which, with its intersecting geodesic domes, providing 100% light, could be a pointer to a better and more environmentally-friendly future.

This time, the RIBAJournal.com got it right; and has my vote.

Philip Vernon at 15:17pm on 06.05.09:

What a pity the RIBA wasn’t formed until 1834, for the list cannot include one of the most significant pieces of English Architecture and my all time favorite – the Dulwich Picture Gallery by Soane. John Summerson rightly identified this as a pre-modern building with the spare decoration, quasi-detached elements and flowing internal space.

Trust the RIBA to be too late!

However the list as it stands is very interesting and representative. Does the choice of Lasduns College of Physicians photo mean this is the overall favorite I wonder?