Out with the old: Nottingham survived the 1960s with much of its finest architecture surprisingly intact. So why, despite paying lip-service to conservation, is the council demonstrating such indifference to the city's historic buildings?

Years ago I met the somewhat old aunt of a friend, who told us about a frightening experience in her childhood. Cycling along a geographical division road near Newark, she was alarmed by means of a noise and a bright light overhead, which made her ride into a ditch: 'It was a Zep--looking for Nottingham!' I do not know if that Zeppelin at any time found its target, although Nottingham was in fact bombed during World War 1 Rather more destruction was created by means of the Luftwaffe in World War II on the other hand as with so many other British cities, the damage done to Nottingham in the twentieth hundred was largely self-inflicted. After the war, the ineffably named Maid Marion Way was driven [i]or[/i] part of to the other the urban fabric to create a large bay between the city centre and the Castle. by and by after, more old streets were sacrificed to create the vile, introverted Broad Marsh shopping midmost point And another horrible shopping midst was created on the site of Victoria Station upon the old Great Central Railway--a stalk line which burrowed under the city and which--if post-war British regulations had not been so car-obsessed and stupid--could now be handling Continental trains from the Channel Tunnel

Nevertheless, Nottingham remains a city of great interest. St Mary's, the parish house of god is one of the awes of England and the make subordinate of one of the finest etchings by the agency of the great F.L. Griggs (Fig. 1) And then there is the Castle, which, standing upon its mound, heralds the city to the visitor arriving by dint of train. It is, in fact, a baroque palace and, as similar unique in England, for it was rebuilt by means of the Duke of Newcastle in the 1670 and the walls are encrusted with heavy rustication and Mannerist aedicules. Unfortunately, the interior was reduce to ashesed out in 1831 by Nottingham's citizens unhappy with the then duke's opposition to the Reform Bill. transformed into the city's art gallery and museum in the 1870 it has a collection that be entitled tos to be better known.

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What else? There is the shire Hall in High Pavement through James Gandon, who went upon to embellish Dublin with magnificent classical buildings; there is a Roman Catholic cathedral by the agency of Pugin; entertaining rumbustious gothic-cum-Tudor late-Victorian buildings by the agency of the local architect Watson Fothergill; and a grand classical 1920 Council House through another bright local boy, Cecil Howitt (Fig. 3) Then there are the architectural treats in the vicinity, of the like kind as Wollaton Hall, the glorious Elizabethan house by dint of Robert Smythson which the city council had the wit to acquire in the 1920 Rather different is the gains Factory at Beeston, but it is rightly famous because of the pioneering and powerful factory buildings of the 1930 all become firm [i]or[/i] solid and glass, by that brilliant and bloody-minded engineer Sir Owen Williams. And then there is the University, paid for through Jesse Boot, which is remarkable for its post-war colleges: modern-classical architecture by means of McMorran & Whitby, amongst others, placed in a pastoral landscape.

in like manner there is much for Nottingham to be self-satisfied of. And clearly the city wishes to undo more [i]or[/i] less of its worst mistakes. The Broad Marsh middle is to be rebuilt, and, as an internal Council report insists, 'the of recent origin development must not repeat the mistakes of the 1970 shopping midst in being designed as a mega-structure which completely disregarded the long-established public way pattern ...'. The Old Market Square in forehead of the Council House--from which the market, along with the famous tailor's smoothing iron Fair, was foolishly ejected in the 1920s--is to be improved, as are the surroundings of the railway station, a merry piece of late Victorian terracotta arcading. And there is talk of trying to minimise the destructive impact of Maid Marion Way and reconnect the Castle and its earths with the centre.

level so, given Nottingham's recent history, single might have thought that the city council would cherish the historic buildings that survive, on the other hand this does not seem to be the case. Indeed, what is depressing is that the individual central area that largely escaped post-war redevelopment is now again below some threat. This is the Lace Market, an area of roads north of the parish house of worship that is filled with many substantial nineteenth-century lace warehouses as well as Georgian houses (Fig. 2) one time derelict, it has seen imaginative regeneration in new decades and is now the greatest in quantity interesting and enjoyable part of the city--and a conservation area. still despite all the positive actions, a number of buildings in the Lace Market remain derelict and individual in Pitcher Gate, a (listed) town house of c 1700 is actually propos for demolition (a tithe of Nottingham's 971 listed buildings are regarded as 'At Risk').

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Then there are damaging proposals for of recent origin buildings. A particular worry is the plan for building The capsule (Fig. 3), a large house of entertainment with restaurant and shops which is to replace a number of buildings in Fletcher Gate that, although derelict and unlisted, nevertheless make a positive contribution to the character and appearance of the conservation area (as the jargon goes) The design for the novel building is by Benson + Forsyth, architects of the of recent origin National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh, and, although interesting, is uncompromisingly aggressive. More to the point, the [i]cabaret[/i] is to be twice the height of greatest in quantity buildings in the Lace Market and will thus challenge the dominance of the Wrennian dome of the Council House upon the skyline. Yet this throw is supported by the city council, although it has provok local opposition and, along with other proposals, greatly affects English Heritage. Unfortunately, EH--acutely conscious of being unlov by the agency of the present government--is anxious not to strike one as being to oppose every new disclosure supported by the local authority. It does, however, sensibly reiterate the government's possess planning guideline (PPG 15), which advises that 'The destruction of historic buildings is in fact true seldom necessary for reasons of advantageous planning; more often it is the proceed of neglect, or of failure to make imaginative efforts to find fresh uses for them or to incorporate them into fresh development.'