C O N T E X T 1 1 2 : N O V E M B E R 2 0 0 9 45 precisely where the centrepiece should be prominent in order to balance the very weighty end bays of the elevation. Nevertheless,Wricklemarsh achieved notoriety in its day, perhaps due to the speed with which it was erected. Page completed his house within 11 months at a cost of nearly £120,000, an enormous figure at this time.⁵ For a house of its size, the speed of construction was similarly astonishing. The strong impression persists that Page did not trust the permanence of his newly-acquired wealth, and could feel the ice cracking beneath his feet. In the event, and notwithstanding two suicide attempts in later life, Page did retain his property empire during his lifetime. Another similar merchant and contemporary of Page was Richard Child. He was made wealthy through both his father’s fortune and his own commodities trading in the East Indies. He commissioned Colen Campbell to design and build the new house of Wanstead. Had it been built to the original plans, the house would have rivalled Blenheim Palace in size. The eventual footprint was still a huge 260 feet by 70 feet. The house had two lateral wings with gargantuan twin staircases on each side. In reality Wanstead, although an important harbinger of the new neo-Palladian modernism, amounted to a vulgar display of wealth by a man who had not learned to live comfortably with his ever-increasing fortune. In the end, having proved itself to be an unaffordable white elephant,Wanstead was sold off in pieces in 1822. The 20th century had its fair share of oddly-timed and counter-intuitive building projects. Many of these were financed and completed during perhaps the worst recession of all – the Great Depression of the 1930s. One example is the little-known, Grade II-listed art deco mansion, Charters, near Sunninghill in Berkshire. The mansion was designed by HG Hammond of Adie Button and Partners. The wealthy and eccentric industrialist Frank Parkinson went ahead with this stunning, modern country home in the middle of the financial crisis in 1936, regardless of the expense. The house was used to entertain guests such as Sir Winston Churchill, and was lent to the Duke and Duchess of Windsor during a visit to England in 1947. A similar project was the landmark, 14-storey Sunlight Building in Manchester. The building was erected in by Russian émigré Joe Sunlight (1890–1979), an inveterate gambler and millionaire, but also an architect of enormous talent. The Sunlight Building was erected in 1932, just three years after the disastrous Wall Street Crash. Its streamlined design draws on the contemporary architecture of New York, and remains today as one of the most exciting buildings in Manchester. Architectural history is littered with accounts of how fluctuating commercial conditions, either personal or national, influenced the construction of oneoff, singular and often spectacular commissions. One wonders how and where the climb out of the current recession, either through individual loss or gain, will impact on the architectural legacy of the future. Carole Fry, a director of AHC Consultants References 1 Ecclesiastes 1:9 2 Mark Girouard, TheVictorian Country House, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1971 ³ D.M Joslin, ‘London Private Bankers 1720-1785’ in Economic History Review, 7, 1954 ⁴ Neil Rhind, BlackheathVillage II, Bookshop Blackheath, London, 1983 ⁵ Rhind, op cit Informing Conservation English Heritage, NMR Kemble Drive, Swindon SN2 2GZ T: 01793 414600 F: 01793 414606 E: [email protected] W: www.english-heritage.org.uk/NMR • A single point of access to historic environment records across England including up to date statutory listings • Discover over 320,000 contemporary colour photographs of England’s listed buildings • Access over 400,000 records relating to England’s archaeological sites (including maritime sites) and architecture, with links to historic and modern maps as well as aerial photographs where available • View our photographs archive of England from the 1850s to the present day The archive of English Heritage, the National Monuments Record (NMR) holds over 10 million photographs, plans, drawings, reports, records and publications covering England’s archaeology, architecture, social and local history. www.english-heritage.org.uk/NMR NMR_BuildConserv_1 27/8/09 3:30 pm Page 1
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