Comyn Ching Triangle

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A building on Mercer Street, part of the Comyn Ching Triangle Mercer Street, London 01.jpg
A building on Mercer Street, part of the Comyn Ching Triangle

Comyn Ching Triangle is a triangular city block at the Seven Dials junction in Covent Garden, London. It is bounded by Monmouth, Mercer and Shelton Streets, and comprises a perimeter of terraced buildings surrounding Ching Court, a public space. A 1980s regeneration of the block by the architecture firm Terry Farrell and Partners is considered an exemplar of British postmodern architecture.

Seven Dials, London junction of seven streets in central London, England

Seven Dials is a road junction in the neighborhood Covent Garden in the London Borough of Camden, West End of London where seven streets converge. At the centre of the roughly circular space is a column bearing six sundials, a result of the column being commissioned before a late-stage alteration of the plans from an original six roads to seven.

Covent Garden district in London, England

Covent Garden is a district in Greater London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between Charing Cross Road and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist site, and with the Royal Opera House, which is also known as "Covent Garden". The district is divided by the main thoroughfare of Long Acre, north of which is given over to independent shops centred on Neal's Yard and Seven Dials, while the south contains the central square with its street performers and most of the historical buildings, theatres and entertainment facilities, including the London Transport Museum and the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

London Capital of the United Kingdom

London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south-east of England, at the head of its 50-mile (80 km) estuary leading to the North Sea, London has been a major settlement for two millennia. Londinium was founded by the Romans. The City of London, London's ancient core − an area of just 1.12 square miles (2.9 km2) and colloquially known as the Square Mile − retains boundaries that follow closely its medieval limits. The City of Westminster is also an Inner London borough holding city status. Greater London is governed by the Mayor of London and the London Assembly.

Contents

History

The site was created when Thomas Neale laid out the Seven Dials area in 1692. [1] By the 1970s the block was occupied by an ageing, densely-packed cluster of terraced houses surrounding a yard that had been completely filled with building extensions. [1] The whole Seven Dials area was then considered run-down and ripe for wholesale redevelopment. [2]

Thomas Neale English politician

Thomas Neale (1641–1699) was an English project-manager and politician who was also the first person to hold a position equivalent to postmaster-general of the North American colonies.

Between 1978 and 1988 Terry Farrell and Partners undertook a multi-phase regeneration of the block for the Comyn Ching architectural ironmongery, who had been in business on Shelton Street since before 1723 and owned the entire block. [3] [4] [5] The scheme comprised the restoration of 25 early 18th century houses; three new infill buildings at the three corners of the block, replacing "poorer quality" 19th century buildings; and the clearance of the hodgepodge of building extensions in the centre of the block to create a new public square called Ching Court. [5]

The regeneration was commenced in consultation with the Greater London Council historic buildings division. The three new buildings at the corner lots were sold to private developers to finance the repair of the historic listed buildings. [5] Comyn Ching and Company moved their operations to Holborn but kept a showroom at 17-19 Shelton Street. [5] The three new buildings were each designed to respond to their particular context, but also to complement one another and the existing urban fabric. [5]

Greater London Council was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London

The Greater London Council (GLC) was the top-tier local government administrative body for Greater London from 1965 to 1986. It replaced the earlier London County Council (LCC) which had covered a much smaller area. The GLC was dissolved in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its powers were devolved to the London boroughs and other entities. A new administrative body, known as the Greater London Authority (GLA), was established in 2000.

Holborn area of central London, England

Holborn is a district in the London boroughs of Camden and City of Westminster and a locality in the ward of Farringdon Without in the City of London. The area is sometimes described as part of the West End of London.

Reception

The scheme was well received by historians and architects as an exemplary work of urban regeneration. It won a Civic Trust Award in 1985.

Civic Trust Awards is a Community Interest Company founded in June 2009 following the closure of the Civic Trust charity earlier that year. Civic Trust Awards continued the annual awards scheme independently.

Brian Ashley Barker, architect and former director of the Heritage of London Trust, wrote in the Architects' Journal of 6 March 1985: "Where the old fabric has been kept it has been revered and treated seriously; but in the final result we are not so much aware of old and new co-existing side by side as of one single lively identity embodied in the still recognisable historic streets."

<i>Architects Journal</i> magazine

The Architects' Journal is an architectural magazine published in London by Metropolis International.

The 2014 book London's Contemporary Architecture: An Explorer's Guide, by Ken Allison and Victoria Thornton, praised the "extraordinary" detailing of the scheme and called it a "fine urbanistic exercise whose stylistic tropes are now so unfashionable that, some 30 years later, we still find it difficult to acknowledge the work". [3] In the same year the columnist Sir Simon Jenkins cited Comyn Ching as an example of "postmodernism’s skill at context", calling the scheme "little-noticed (and therefore brilliant)". [6] In support of the 2016 historic listing bid, Henrietta Billings of the Twentieth Century Society called Comyn Ching "an important and influential example of postmodern urban development that fully deserves recognition and protection through listing". [7]

Several other noted architectural theorists wrote to Historic England in support. Charles Jencks stated: "This post-modern strategy of creating what could be called the Time City has today become much more prevalent even among modernists – witness Norman Foster at Berlin’s Reichstag or David Chipperfield’s mixed methods at the Neues Museum in the same city – but Comyn Ching was the first example here 40 years before, and should be preserved and celebrated for starting this more inclusive approach." [8]

Deyan Sudjic called the scheme "a painstaking piece of urban embroidery, lovingly carried out by an architectural team determined to do things differently from the dogmatic approaches of the past, combining mixed-use development, creative insertion, and handsome restoration". [8]

Architectural critic Jonathan Glancey wrote: "With its unexpected courtyard, its intriguing passageways, fairy-tale entrances, rich use of materials and colour, and imaginative corner towers, Farrell's Comyn Ching is an enchanting development [...] The scheme is also important because, both physically and ideologically, it marks a major break away from the kind of comprehensive redevelopment that, fashionable until the early 1970s, would have seen not just Seven Dials, but effectively the whole of Covent Garden swept away for inept and insensitive new development." [8]

Rowan Moore said: "it is becoming an increasingly important and pressing question which works of this period should be protected by listing. Comyn Ching is up there with the best, representing Farrell’s thinking about the urban fabric and its renovation. It is also one of the best examples of his use of ornament." [8]

Proposed alterations

In late 2015 Rolfe Judd Planning, on behalf of property investor Shaftesbury and Morrow & Lorraine Architects, submitted a planning application to Camden London Borough Council for alterations to Comyn Ching Triangle. These include the removal of a triangular window at Monmouth and Shelton streets, meant to echo the triangular plan of the Seven Dials blocks, replacing it with a flush window behind balconets, as well as the replacement of wooden doors on Shelton Street to provide level access. [9]

Terry Farrell strongly objected to the proposal, stating: "The removal of the triangular motif that runs up the front of the building, which provides it with an unusually dynamic push-and-pull, in-and-out geometry that speaks rather powerfully to the junction of Shelton and Monmouth, would effectively drain it of much of its effect. To replace this with a run-of-the-mill, uniform flat window and balcony is not acceptable." [9] The alterations were announced the same week as proposed changes to 76 Fenchurch Street, another postmodern Farrell building from the same era which he is also trying to preserve. [9]

The proposed changes were approved by the council in early 2016. [2] In response his practice, Farrells, has applied to Historic England for an urgent listing of the scheme. [2] Adam Nathaniel Furman, a researcher at Farrells, explained that the company hopes Comyn Ching "can set a precedent that post-modern architecture is worth protection". [2]

In November 2016 Historic England announced a Grade II listing of the scheme. They stated: "Comyn Ching Triangle represents Postmodernism at its purest and is an early, masterful exercise in placemaking by one of the country’s leading architects. It is widely seen as one of Terry Farrell’s most important works of the time where he delivered much-needed urban regeneration to Covent Garden by keeping, respecting and integrating historic buildings, rather than redeveloping the site." [10]

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Monmouth Street, London street in London

Monmouth Street is a street in the Seven Dials district of Covent Garden, London, England.

Mercer Street, London street in London

Mercer Street is a street in the Seven Dials district of Covent Garden, London, England.

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References

  1. 1 2 Davies, Emma, ed. (2013). Collage and Context. London: Laurence King. pp. 211–219. ISBN   1780672756.
  2. 1 2 3 4 Hopkirk, Elizabeth (17 February 2016). "Farrell submits Comyn Ching for urgent listing". Building Design .
  3. 1 2 Allinson, Ken; Thornton, Victoria (9 July 2014). London's Contemporary Architecture: An Explorer's Guide. Routledge. p. 208. ISBN   0415825024.
  4. ↑ Trainor, Terry (8 May 2012). Victorian London Slums and the Seven Dials. p. 5.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 "Comyn Ching Triangle listing application" (DOC). Farrells. 15 February 2016.
  6. ↑ Jenkins, Simon (12 November 2014). "100 Buildings, 100 Years review – 'A battle between modernism and tradition'". The Guardian .
  7. ↑ Taka, Tomo (17 February 2016). "Is architect Terry Farrell's Postmodern Comyn Ching Triangle in Covent Garden worth listing?". The Spaces.
  8. 1 2 3 4 Hopkirk, Elizabeth (28 April 2016). "Big names back Comyn Ching listing bid". Building Design.
  9. 1 2 3 Hopkirk, Elizabeth (23 November 2015). "Farrell angered as second po-mo building 'threatened' in a week". Building Design.
  10. ↑ Waite, Richard (10 November 2016). "Farrell's 'masterful' PoMo Comyn Ching Triangle listed". Architects' Journal.

Coordinates: 51°30′48″N0°07′36″W / 51.5133°N 0.1268°W / 51.5133; -0.1268

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