Past, Present and Future by Michael Rainey, Director - Rainey Petrie Architecture
A couple of years ago I wrote the forward to Robin McInnes’ fascinating book entitled ‘Art, Architecture and the Island Landscape’, in which I considered how the architecture of the Island has changed it over the centuries and continues to do so. This change and variety of both buildings and farming practice within a confined rural setting is what gives the Island its character. It never was, nor should it ever be, preserved in aspic.
Victorian architecture is now much admired but imagine the shear change to places like Ventnor in a period of 50 or so years, from a small fishing village nestling at the bottom of the cliff to row upon row of 3, 4 and sometimes 5 storey terraces and villas stepping up the hill and dominating the skyline. Imagine too, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert demolishing a fine, slightly classical manor house, in a style not unlike Gatcombe, to build the equivalent of 8 storey towers and an Italianate residence in a style and size unlike anything else that existed on the Island at the time.
While the older larger buildings are often well known, it is the development in Victorian times, through the early 20th Century, with Arts & Crafts, Art Deco and Old English all finding a place, which is so compelling within the book. The post war period has some fine examples too, and finally Robin ventures into the late 20th Century and the first few years of the 21st Century.
Prevsner’s reworked ‘Buildings of England’ series now has a unique and expanded version dedicated to the Isle of Wight. Edited superbly by David Lloyd it charts the changes right up to the end of the 20th Century. It is a highly authoritive work.
There is a general assumption that change is often detrimental and anything modern is out of place. These books should make everyone think a little more about the impact that each phase of the Island’s development would have had at the time. Transport in the form of paddle steamers and railways made it accessible, second home owners and holiday makers powered the growth bringing jobs and investment and imaginative buildings. Perhaps, most stunning are the Victorian developers’ proposals for East Cowes with two great avenues running down to the river from Osborne House with a huge triangular park between them. Imagine what East Cowes would be like now. Only York Avenue really survives as the developer went bust and the waterfront became dominated by shipbuilding. Now East Cowes again searches for a vision.
Development is a risky business, finding solutions that future generations will cherish is an unpredictable art.
Today we have more controls and restrictions than any of our forebears. Planning laws and judgments, often highly subjective, areas of outstanding natural beauty, sites of special scientific interest, Natural England, English Heritage, conservation areas, listed buildings, environmental standards and so on – the list seems endless and in addition the internet has brought public and political involvement to a much higher level of input, much of course motivated by self-interest. We all seek to preserve the status quo around our own personal space if we value it – and why not. But change is inevitable and necessary if our built environment is not to stagnate – for buildings do actually wear out and reasons for their existence cease to exist. Commercial development and natural resources drive our economic well being, even for those in retirement.
Controls, however, tend inevitably to be negative in character; they are largely about placing restraints on individuals or companies for the greater good. But it is a fine line, trod with difficulty by our regulatory and political framework, between allowing change on the one hand and stifling renewal and economic development on the other.
Rainey Petrie Architecture has a wealth of experience in trying to find that balance successfully on behalf of our clients. It is and should be possible to develop within the AONB for example. Blanket restrictions help no one. The Brading Roman Villa project and Haddon Lake House at St Lawrence are both modern buildings in protected landscapes. Both are about respecting the past while giving the sites a future in an imaginative way. Many Island villages fall within the AONB and here too development will need to be allowed in a way which maintains the sense of place and sometimes defines it with a landmark.
We should not shy from introducing new forms into the landscape. If our forefathers had done that we would not have the Island we enjoy today – it would still be covered in forest and be largely inaccessible.