C O N T E X T 1 1 3 : M A R C H 2 0 1 0 51 reflection’, may offer one explanation for the disparity between the broad consensus in favour of conservation and the level of acceptance of the value judgements of experts that inspired John Pendlebury to write Conservation in the Age of Consensus. On the other hand, as JK Galbraith wrote in 1980, at the dawn of the ‘age of consensus’ (in Preservation: toward an ethic in the 1980s): ‘The preservation movement has one great curiosity. There is never any retrospective controversy or regret. Preservationists are the only people in the world who are invariably confirmed in their wisdom after the fact.’ Dennis G Rodwell, architect-planner and cultural heritage consultant Walking and looking Nottingham, Pevsner Architectural Guide Elain Harwood,Yale University Press, 2008, 246pp, 151 ills, paperback, £12.50, ISBN 978 0 300 12666 2 This Nottingham guide lives up to the high standards set by the rest of the series.Written by Elain Harwood of English Heritage, a native of Nottinghamshire, the volume is full of new and fascinating insights on the architectural history of this ancient but vibrant city, which Harwood clearly knows well and for which she displays a strong affection. Adopting the now well-established pattern set by the rest of the series, the book begins with an introduction to the city’s history and building materials, followed by a chronological account of its growth and development up to the present day. At only 25 pages, this provides a pithy but remarkably full account of Nottingham’s buildings. It is usefully supplemented by box features covering subjects as diverse as the famous cave system, the Nottingham Board School and the city’s ‘most charismatic’ architect,Watson Fothergill (1841–1928). All of these (like those later in the book) help set the scene and provide useful background. The five chosen as ‘major buildings’, another feature of the series, are suitably eclectic. They range from the largely medieval albeit much-restored St Mary’s Church, the predominantly late 17th-century castle and Pugin’s Roman Catholic cathedral, to T Cecil Howitt’s Council House (1926–9) and the Playhouse by Peter Moro (1961–3 – authoritatively described here as ‘Nottingham’s most important twentieth-century building, and the most imaginative post-war theatre in the country’). All of these certainly reflect the rich diversity of the city’s building stock. Harwood’s analysis of the Council House is particularly useful, a far cry from Pevsner’s original statement (in 1951) that ‘not much can be said in defence of this kind of neo-baroque display’. The four walks covering the central area are sensibly chosen and well thought out. Each illustrates a different facet of the city centre, beginning with the west and south. This area retains the majority of Nottingham’s Georgian buildings, including several fine town houses such as Bromley House (possibly by Robert Taylor) and Sheriff House, built in 1767 for the ‘noted miser’ Cornelius Launder. This walk also takes in the celebrated Ye Olde Trip to Jerusalem Inn. Next come walks around commercial Nottingham, north and west, and east and south. Here a number of fine Victorian and early 20th-century buildings, includingWaterhouse’s Prudential Assurance Building (1893–8) and several rather quirky structures by Fothergill Watson (the Nottingham Daily Express Building of 1876 among them) are described. The final walk covers the Lace Market, ‘a beguiling mixture of the haphazard and run-down with the slick and new’, containing many notable buildings. The eight tours of the outer areas are also designed to be undertaken on foot. Highlights include the Park, the city’s ‘premier suburban estate’. Here TC Hine (1813–99), ‘the father of Nottingham architects’, began building in 1844. Many of the houses belong to the 1870s and 80s. The university has a number of eye-catching contemporary structures by Michael Hopkins. In keeping with the other city guides, the book concludes with three excursions, toWollaton Hall, Newstead Abbey and Boots. Without these any long weekend visit to Nottingham, ideally with this excellent and well-illustrated book in hand, would not be complete. Nicholas Doggett, a director of the planning and heritage consultancy CgMs Consulting Cathedral Communications is currently preparing the third edition of its Building Conservation Directory Special Report entitled Historic Gardens:The care and Conservation of Historic Parks, Gardens and Open Spaces (summer 2010) and will be sending a copy to each IHBC member who has asked to receive relevant promotional mailings. As usual, this special report offers a wealth of useful information for the historic built environment professional. Historic Gardens is supported by Cathedral’s website www.buildingconservation. com which certainly does merit a visit and should probably find its way on to your Google favourites list if it’s not already included. Members who have asked not to receive promotional material, but who would like to receive future Cathedral Communications publications on the historic built environment, should email Devon DeCelles at membershipservices@ ihbc.org.uk. She will change the status of their mailing preference on the IHBC membership database. historic gardens ThecareandconservaTionofhisToricparks,gardensandopenspaces The Building Conservation Directory special reporT Magazine
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