- Aug 16, 2011
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Us historians are also taught to look above ground level as well.Identikit NIMBY stuff, full of megaphone clichés.
The "out of scale" arguments aren't going to cut any ice. The "heritage assets" arguments help Historic England by showing that there is local support for the retention of the three buildings - in fact it would not surprise me if this objection was actively recruited by HE, through contacts.
A bit of devil's advocate is merited, though. Architecturally, Tottenham is anything but a "shithole". It has a very impressive collection of high-quality Georgian architecture, including some fine late 18c. buildings further down the High Rd toward Seven Sisters. There are excellent historic buildngs in Bruce Grove, too, and elsewhere. And, of course, there's Bruce Castle, which is Grade I listed and 16c.
You have to look up and see what's behind some of the shop facades and also imagine what some of the better buildings would be like if they were cleaned and fully restored didn't have 20 cars parked in their forecourts.
When I was doing my architecture degree, we would joke that you can always tell the architects, because they're the only people who look up above ground floor level when they walk down London streets, except of course the tourists.