RIBAJ, one of the oldest, most esteemed of the architecture mags, decided to put a sprinkling of buildings into a “RIBA Journal/ SCHÜCO Stirling of Stirlings” online poll to uncover the best British building of the past 175 years.

The poll attracted hundreds of public votes (thanks for voting!) and the final shortlist of seven was discussed and refined by a panel of judges on a sunny Monday afternoon in London’s Somerset House, thanks to the generosity of the Somerset House Trust.

The elegant and expansive courtyard at the centre of Somerset House was an architecturally grand spot to take photographs, though James Bolton, our photographer, sensibly decided against using the fabulous but mischievous Edmond J Safra fountain as a backdrop, which gushes up in unpredictable spouts without any visible warning of where the next jet will come from.

Inside, there was talk of spatial experience, degree of ambition, design excellence, effective contribution, form, spirit and function… all important criteria by which to select a winner, and the sort of thing the judging panel would be expected to discuss.

The much-liked Holden London Underground expansion stations and Matthew, Martin and Moro’s sleek Royal Festival Hall were praised by the judges, as was the Gothic Revival gem that is St Pancras Station.

Mackintosh established an early lead with the panel going into ecstasies over the Glasgow School of Art. “An enduring masterpiece” enthused Steve Tompkins, the architect known for transforming several London theatres. “Current and fresh,” echoed founding director of dRMM, Alex de Rijke.

Up against Paxton and Fox’s Crystal Palace, Mackintosh continued to fare reasonably well, but not before Crystal Palace’s “persistence and far-sightedness,” “extraordinary feat of imagination” and “fantastic depth of ambition” were acknowledged.

Then it was the turn of Grimshaw’s Eden Project to be pitted against Piano and Rogers’ Pompidou Centre in a battle of the moderns. The Pompidou was considered “conceptual, radical and political” by some of the judges. Meanwhile, Hugh Pearman, our resident architecture encyclopedia, remarked that the Eden Project was bold indeed – client and architect in perfect harmony – but could be accused of lacking the fine detail of some of the other projects.

A move to drop Eden in favour of the Pompidou was greeted with a mutter of dissent from de Rijke who claimed it “gave new life to Cornwall and opened doors for aspiring architects, historians and tourists”, and a cry from Jane Priestman OBE that the Eden Project “had captured the public’s imagination and had done more for the south west of England than Pompidou had done for Paris.”

RIBA president, Sunand Prasad, argued that he felt cheated that the Pompidou did better in the public vote for the high-tech revival period than the Leicester Engineering building, describing it as “a fake form given to a brilliant idea” and the Leicester Engineering building combining the best of both Crystal Palace and the Glasgow School of Art.

The judging panel was entirely split, and for a while it seemed we may have joint winners. Then came a discussion over matters of a more ecological nature. Jan-Carlos Kucharek injected a note of non-artistic realism when he said, “does sustainability not come into it?” Not for some of the judges it seemed, with one arguing that that Glasgow School of Art was naturally ventilated, and another claiming that the number of cars that made their way to Cornwall’s Eden Project each day made its sustainability quite questionable. Others maintained that the Eden Project did, indeed, have an ecological argument for the future.

So after much lively discussion the panel hammered out a new shortlist…

And then there were three.

Look out for the June issue of the RIBA J to find out which buildings stayed the distance and which one scooped the top gong. The judges’ decision is final, as they say.

Find out which buildings our esteemed judges would liked to have seen in the “Stirling of Stirlings” long list. View the footage by clicking on the video thumbnails to the right.