Pillar Reinstatement
Modernisation
This was a key word in the post-war world. Anything Victorian was seen as antediluvian: cluttered, fussy, dark and ugly. People wanted a new sleeker modern world. Fireplaces were ripped out and replaced with tiles, panelled doors covered with hardboard, medieval guildhalls knocked down and replaced with glass and concrete shopping centres.
Well how times have changed. Those windows you see behind the pillars were installed in 1972. The hatch windows can’t open with the pillars in front. So they were taken out and an angle iron left to support the 2 lintels. Basically, the 1970s while providing my favourite music, has also provided me with the bulk of my work, undoing the damage of cheap ugly, shoddy alterations and reinstating the original features.
Reinstated pillars and new lintels
17 Ridley Road before. Note the sagging angle irons underneath the lintels.
Drawings
I was asked to provide drawings of the existing and proposed alterations. I have no idea why. A photograph of the existing and photograph of the neighbouring house would have provided the powers that be with all the information they needed, but they wanted a drawing so who am I to quibble?
