Re: Re: Nicholas Street

Just talking out loud about reconstruction will set off little warning lights in ICOMOS headquarters. Conservation is the doctrinal wing of the architectural profession and the custodians take their catechism very seriously.

At the risk of being beaten to death with a copy of the Venice Charter, I agree that there is a case to be made for reconstruction in cases like the terrace of Billys on Mary Street.

What that terrace represents is a fragment of a once great main street, whose absence leaves a void in our understanding of the urban history of the city.

The site remains essentially undeveloped today preserving basement layers and at least one substantial upstanding party wall. Sufficient photographic records exist which if combined with typological comparisons and a detailed archaeological investigation would reduce the reliance on conjecture to a minimum.

The model of urban development that these buildings represented, although three hundred years old, remains the standard that we would regard as just about the optimum in terms of height and density today, hence a reconstruction would in no way be in conflict with the sustainable urban redevelopment of the site.

A reconstruction project of this scale could be the catalyst for the regeneration of the entire street

When can we start?