0 C O N T E X T 9 8 : M A R C H 2 0 0 7 Many national icons are here, the Vines, the Philharmonic, Peveril of the Peak, the Garden Gate, the Blackfriar, the Blue anchor and the Crown Liquor Saloon. If you already know where these pubs are and the simple litany of the names carries the luggage of happy evenings spent in them, you will find this book a source of quiet joy as well as authoritative information. If, on the other hand, you are indifferent to the charms of tepid, brown liquid served in a straight glass and these names just form a list that means nothing to you, your need to read this book is urgent.You probably still have one or two pubs with wellpreserved interiors on your patch. It is essential that you can recognise their characteristics and understand the processes that made them if you are to have any chance of protecting them for future drinkers to enjoy. Michael Scammell is a conservation officer in East Cheshire. Lost and found Sir John Soane and London Ptolemy Dean, Lund Humphries, 2006, 248pp, 22 colour and 160 b&w illustrations, hardback, ISBN 0 7546 3926 6, £40. If you think that you know London, try this one. Ptolemy Dean has produced an extraordinary addition to the information in print about the architectural history of the capital. The book refers to sites in 25 London boroughs (and the cities of London andWestminster) where interventions by Soane (1756–1837) may be traced. Surviving buildings are covered. So are numerous documented examples of work on buildings now vanished. The book will be a valuable source of research for those interested in the history of London’s building sites, whether on the streets of Mayfair or in the more leafy outer suburbs.Walthamstow, for example, was the location for the outof-town houses of two Bank of England directors and another City merchant, all users of Soane’s services. Soane is often regarded as an elusive architect. In part this is due to the later rebuilding of his greatest project, the Bank of England. Then, at Chelsea Hospital, where he acted as surveyor for many years, his surviving buildings are greatly overshadowed by those of Wren. This leaves Dulwich Picture Gallery and Mausoleum, and the houses in Lincoln’s Inn fields, as the places in London where his genius most clearly shines out. Ptolemy Dean features these and other principal sites: St Peter’s Church Walworth, the Board of Trade and Privy Council office inWhitehall, and Numbers 10 and 11 Downing Street. The Bank of England and other considerable sites, such as the House of Lords, are described but not as the subject of individual chapters. Buildings in the (then) country, such as the Soane family home at Ealing, Pitzhanger Manor, were already included in Dean’s 1999 companion volume on the country houses Sir John Soane and the Country Estate. The London volume is not totally the result of primary research. Much of it depends on work done by celebrated former curators of the Soane Museum, Summerson and Stroud. The new book’s value lies also in its bibliography, indices and the phenomenal gazetteer of almost 100 pages, and in the chapters on individual notable sites. as a bonus there are 22 of Dean’s own watercolours and numerous photographs by Martin Charles of surviving buildings. There is much human interest here to enjoy. Soane’s apparent successes (a career that spanned six decades, material prosperity, professorship, eventual knighthood, and the gift to the nation of his collections and buildings in Lincoln’s Inn fields) were mingled with private sadness and endless setbacks in his work. The cancellation of favourite projects, disagreements with government agents, disputes about tendering (Soane preferred to bypass tenders and to rely instead on trusted contractors) and the reliance on menial tasks to keep the practice ticking over give a vivid picture in Dean’s pages of a very human situation. Conservation professionals will find much that still seems familiar today in this fascinating account of architectural affairs during the late-Georgian era. GrahamTite, head of conservation and urban design, London Borough of Ealing Historic Scotland’s guides for homeowners In addition to publishing an excellent series of technical advice notes (TaNs), research and study reports, guides for practitioners, and conference proceedings, the Technical, Conservation, Research and Education group (TCRE) of Historic Scotland is developing a new range of free publications aimed at homeowners. These ‘inform guides’ cover historic building repair and maintenance topics in a concise and accessible manner. The first six publications are: Fire Safety an introduction to the factors that can create a fire risk within a historic property, and methods of preventing the start and spread of fire. Bronze The principles involved in the care and maintenance of bronze in the built environment. Boundary Ironwork advice for building owners intending to reinstate lost or decayed ironwork using traditional materials and techniques. Graffiti Removal Practical advice on how to remove graffiti from masonry and other historic materials. Masonry Decay an introduction to the principles involved in the decay of masonry. Repairing Scottish Slate Roofs Explains the construction of traditional slated roofs, the problems that can arise, and how to maintain them. further guides will be published relating to the use of lime versus cement; sash and casement windows; rainwater goods; timber decay; and masonry repair. TCRE is also working on a 3D digital model using computer games technology that will allow the user to navigate around a virtual house and access ‘inform guides’ and building maintenance advice. The first stage of this model will be completed in spring 2007. Inform guides and a catalogue of all Historic Scotland publications are available from: Historic Scotland, Room G20, Longmore House, Salisbury Place, Edinburgh EH9 1SH. Tel 0131 668 8638, hs.conservation.bureau@scotland. gsi.gov.uk; www.historic-scotland. gov.uk/publications .
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