In April 2015, a fire raged through Clandon Park, destroying much of the 18th-century Palladian mansion’s prized interiors. Contrary to all expectations, the National Trust, its custodian, announced plans to keep the Grade I-listed building ‘as a ruin’. Architects Allies and Morrison would ‘creatively curate’ the celebrated property as ‘a country house laid bare’, adding a modern roof and walkways, but otherwise leaving the interior in its half-charred form. Last month, Guildford Council waved through the plans unanimously.
It was a landmark decision. Without any fanfare, a sweeping precedent was set for how we restore damaged buildings – one that throws out the lauded example set by Windsor and Notre-Dame – with incendiary implications for our architectural heritage.
The conundrum of conservation is architecture’s Ship of Theseus: how much of a historic building can be restored before it becomes a different building entirely? The thought experiment embodies a perpetual debate among conservationists: whether a building’s essence lies in the bricks and mortar, the form, or something else. Might not the craft culture that comes with a building be as important as the material artefact itself? As a provocative example, look at Japan’s Ise Shrine, which has been rebuilt every two decades for the past 1,300 years, a ritual that enables the original design and artisanry to be passed down to each new generation.
A nuanced compromise is usually the answer. Not for the National Trust, however. With Clandon, the Trust toes the party line of the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB), which was founded by William Morris in 1877 in opposition to how Victorian architects were restoring cathedrals.
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