The Victorian Society has issued its ‘Top Ten Endangered Building List for 2021’.
… “Here we have buildings, crying out for our help…”
The Victorian Society writes:
Griff Rhys Jones, Victorian Society President, is highlighting the plight of buildings on the Society’s 2021 list of the Top Ten most endangered Victorian and Edwardian buildings in England and Wales. The campaign aims to expose the plight of publicly nominated buildings in the hope that increased awareness and appreciation will help to save them:
“Here we have buildings, crying out for our help, that take us to the straight to the real history of Victorian Society. From mill owners’ palaces to model farms, to state-of-the-art hospitals to flamboyant department stores. Mills, industrial workplaces, schools, markets, and the church in the heart of the countryside. This was a new world of consumers, legislators, industry and riches and it is all here. We must save it for coming generations. Like so much conservation, the issue is not the past, but the future. Can we keep these testaments alive for our great, great grandchildren as part of their own story?”
This year’s Top Ten Finalists all desperately need our attention. We have to find new funding, badly needed repair works, and protection from demolition, or new owners. Many have highlighted their needs. Many more are needed to help. Our top ten has shown real value in the past. Let’s get started saving this new bunch.
The 2021 Top 10 Full List of Buildings (in no particular order).
1. Coal Drops, Halifax, Grade II, Architect unknown, 1874
2. Horncliffe House, Lancashire Grade-II listed, Richard
Williams, 1869
5. Indoor Market, Burslem, Stoke on Trent, Unlisted, Architect Unknown, (1897)
6. Jones & Higgins Department Store, London, Unlisted, Henry Jarvis & Sons, 1894
7. Minley Home Farm, Unlisted, Arthur Castings, 1869
8. Oldham Equitable Cooperative Society (Hill Stores), Oldham, Grade 2 listed, Thomas Taylor, 1900
9. Church of St Helen, Biscathorpe, Lincolnshire, Grade II* Listed, W. A. Nicholson, 1847
10. Whitchurch Hospital, Cardiff, Grade II Listed, Oatley and Skinner, 1902-1908
Joe O’Donnell, Victorian Society Director, commented: “As always, our list has a wide variety of structures, many of which are recognised through their listing as being nationally important. But they are equally important to local communities. The pandemic has accelerated the move to online shopping, impacting areas already struggling, and these issues are reflected in some of the buildings chosen like Burslem’s Indoor Market, and Oldham’s Hill Stores. Both provide a perfect opportunity for high quality places for their local communities and a potential opportunity for the Government’s Levelling Up Fund to make transformative investment.”
