Listing all the possibilities

First published in The Huddersfield Daily Examiner 2nd March 2006

The concept of listed buildings means different things to different people. To some it is a guarantee of preservation; to others it is a millstone. To their dread the heritage conservators will insist on what can and cannot be done. The threat of being listed has even caused destruction, because of the fear of being saddled with responsibility.

The basic idea of listing buildings is generally welcomed, when it concerns other peoples’ buildings and there are many cases where heritage is preserved as a result. Would listing have avoided the debacle of Castle Hill? Would the town Hall or the Station have been razed to the ground if they had not been listed?

Huddersfield is often quoted as having more listed buildings than any other provincial town, bar one. The ‘other’ town cited varies, from Bath to Bristol, to, but this assertion about Huddersfield is still remarkable. More worthy buildings than Cambridge or York? Many people wandering the long unlovely streets will find the statistic an aberration or a curiosity.

Why should Huddersfield have so many listed buildings? Is it the Quality of the architecture, celebrated in Gibson and Booth’s The Buildings of Huddersfield? Is it the power and commitment of conservation bodies like the Civic Society or the blanket application on any mill more than 150 years old? The statistics could mean local pride in the inheritance, or the fear of past mistakes, which are many. Listing buildings also reveals some anomalies with those listed not escaping the destructive power of neglect or greed at which point the will to preserve is lost and the economic arguments are used to justify ignoring the law.

To lest buildings is to name individual ones/ It means detailed knowledge, or an acquaintance at least with the existence of a building like, for instance, Folly Hall Mill. But what about the listing of all the complex qualities of spaces, areas, and the street furniture, the real control of what a town feels like for those who are aware of it. Single buildings do not create a townscape.

Listing is preservation. It is also creative. A living and cared for town centre is not something merely kept up. It attracts people. It consoles. Listing should also be forward thinking; a recognition of possibilities as well as responsibilities.

It is a pity that listing buildings tends to be used as a protective measure. Whilst this is understandable, since anything beautiful cannot be taken for granted and does need protecting, it is a pity that some form of recognition could not be devised that took in the possibilities as well as what is already there. Could sites be ‘listed’ as of special interest, parts of the townscape, like market square, that could be made so much better. Could Castle Hill, that symbol of Huddersfield, be the focus of some creative endeavour rather than a battle between commercial interests and nothing?

As in the designation of places as cities of culture, these kinds of recognition would make a great impact on the aesthetic and commercial development; since the two go together. It would be a sign of regeneration if particular landscapes and space, and not just buildings, could be listed, as a sign of renewal rather than defensiveness and fear.