The following letter was published in The Spectator on 27 July. The Ionic pillars referred to in it were designed by the renowned architect, Sir John Soane (1753-1837), for inclusion in his magnificent building commissioned by the Bank of England. Its demolition in the 1920s has been described as “the greatest architectural crime in the City of London of the twentieth century”.
Sir: Chris Guyver (Letter, 13 July) maligns Sir Samuel Hoare, one of Neville Chamberlain’s closest colleagues in the extension of the welfare state during the interwar years. He did not ‘purloin’ Soane’s Ionic pillars (eight of them, not four); he rescued them from destruction. He also saved some magnificent features from the demolished Nuthall Temple near Nottingham, known as Britain’s Rotonda, including some superb Tijou iron work. Few people cared more about conservation than Hoare.
Alistair Lexden
House of Lords, London SW1
