Rescue and Reuse

2.Downsize

Stanley Mills, Perthshire.

Victorian Britain expressed its confidence in the sheer bravura of its public buildings. The great town halls of the cities of the Midlands and the North of England; the vast churches built with the profits of industry; the public libraries, university buildings and hospitals provided by philanthropists – all these in their different ways were based on the assumption that provision should be made for a healthy and enlightened society. Much of the responsibility to do this fell to central and local government.

Careless disposal

A century later, these public buildings have assumed a different symbolic significance. ...