Just a thought: in all the chit-chat about modernist versus traditionalist architecture, everyone seems to think that traditionalist means a choice of neo-classical, neo-vernacular, or Arts and Crafts. Whatever happened to Gothic?

All right, smart arses, Rogers’ Lloyd’s of London is what happened to Gothic. But as a traditionalist masonry style, I mean.

The thought was prompted by my summer “staycation” in Herefordshire. Of course we went to see the famous Mappa Mundi in Hereford Cathedral. Except that it is not in the cathedral proper, but (along with the nearly-as-famous Chain Library) in a 1996 neo-gothic building by William Whitfield, plugged into a corner of the cloister. 

It’s got a bit of a weird ceiling inside but outside, it fits into the cathedral precinct very successfully. It’s clearly new (ish). It’s also clearly Gothic. This is pastiche of a high order. And I’m not one of those who thinks that pastiche is a dirty word, for the simple reason that all architecture is pastiche.

I liked Hereford. Apart from the historic stuff, it’s also got some good 1950s buildings and an excellent early pedestrian suspension bridge across the River Wye. 

But (same applies to Liverpool) I really don’t like that pink local sandstone. I can’t quite take the cathedral seriously in that colour. Still, it doesn’t seem too bothered. Gothic can take anything.