The church of St John on Burnley Road in Crawshawbooth, Lancashire has been included on the The Victorian Society’s list after suffering the ruinous consequences of lead theft – one of the major threats to historic buildings at present.

St John’s, built in 1890-92, is an important set-piece church by the great Lancashire firm of Paley, Austin & Paley featuring internal red sandstone and a complete set of high quality fittings.The final straw for the small congregation was the theft of its lead flashings, resulting in catastrophic water damage.Mould and mildew cover its fine pews, screen and pulpit.The church has been closed for worship since 2012 and the Church Commissioners are looking for a new occupant.

Given the hefty cost of repairs and the quality of the fittings, saving St John’s in Crawshawbooth will be a real challenge but this is far too good a church to be lost.We hope that current negotiations on reuse are successful.

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The 1903 Grade II-listed Royal Victoria Pavilion was designed by architect Stanley Davenport Adshead in the style of a Robert Adam orangery.It was apparently designed in a week and built in six weeks for the opening of the summer season.

Commanding a central position on Ramsgate seafront, the building was once a vibrant public space, housing a concert hall and assembly rooms. Today, it stands dilapidated and deserted, having been closed since 2008.Its open arcade has been infilled and much insensitive modernisation has taken place.Balconies and decorative crests have gone – and with them the sense of fun that the building embodied.

Positioned right on the beachfront, the Pavilion should be at the heart of Ramsgate’s life.It needs a sensitive refurbishment and a suitable long term use so that generations of locals and visitors can continue to enjoy it.

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The Grade II*-listed Palace Theatre (or the “New Palace Theatre of Varieties” as it was christened) was built by architects John Thomas Wimperis & William Henry Arber in 1898.

The Palace Theatre is one of the most remarkable entertainment buildings of its time.It sums up the flamboyance of the music hall, with display and show both inside and out.The principal façade boasts Spanish soldiers, Flemish gables, Tuscan columns, scenes from the Armada and a small lighthouse, and the interior is every bit as lavish.

The construction of Plymouth’s more central Theatre Royal in the 1970s led to closure as a theatre, and the building’s spell as a club ended in 2006 after a drugs raid.

Often appearing on the The Victorian Society’s endangered list helps to kick local authorities into action to preserve their architectural assets.Although the Palace Theatre was in our Top Ten endangered buildings in 2008, Plymouth City Council has made no progress in finding a solution and the building’s condition has further deteriorated.

Plymouth Council needs to take decisive action, or the city risks losing one of its best buildings.The state of Union Street lets Plymouth down, and the reopening of the Palace Theatre is a necessary precondition for its regeneration.

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The Grade II-listed Palace Theatre was built by architects Alfred Bucknall & Edward William Jennings in 1888.The Baroque Revival theatre, built by a tramway company and flat-iron in shape, is a charming composition, with its corner tower distinctively marking the end of the High Street, but it increasingly resembles the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.

It has hosted Charlie Chaplin and was the site of Anthony Hopkins’s first stage appearance in 1960.

While much of the centre of Swansea was destroyed in the Blitz, the Palace Theatre, by then a cinema, survived. However, in the post-war period, Swansea’s centre of gravity moved south, leaving it marooned. Urgent action is needed if this building is to have a future, as it is in an appalling state.

Repairs will be expensive but Swansea can’t afford to lose a building of this quality, and one that has been at the heart of the city’s cultural life for over a century.We are delighted that efforts are being made to set up a Building Preservation Trust to save the Palace but responsibility still lies with Swansea Council to secure a solution.

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Standing 110 feet high, Jumbo (or Balkerne Water Tower as it is more properly named) is the largest remaining Victorian water tower in Britain.It was built in 1882 by borough surveyor and engineer Charles Clegg in the Romanesque Revival “Campanile” style.

Decommissioned and sold in 1987, Jumbo has since had a string of owners and a number of inappropriate planning applications have been made.These have been consistently refused, but in May this year an application was submitted to convert Jumbo into flats.The plans propose glazing over its soaring open arches, destroying the views through the structure that are such a unique feature of the building and Colchester town centre.

Shrouded with overgrown vegetation at its base and suffering from wind damage to the roof, Jumbo is in need of essential maintenance.

The Jumbo Water Tower is a vital element in Colchester townscape.We urge Colchester Borough Council to reject the current harmful application and to work towards a regeneration scheme that would preserve its integrity.

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The Sheffield School Board wanted the best and employed pioneering school architect ER Robson to design its Board Offices and two schools, of which Heeley Bank is one.Heeley Bank, built in 1880, is a rare example of his schools outside London.It is in his distinctive style yet follows Sheffield School Board’s preference for the use of cream-coloured local stone throughout.

The sloping site is well-used with a sequence of gables and gablets adding interest to the roofline.Owned by Sheffield Council, the school has been empty since 2008.The street front was boarded up but the back was not, and vandals have got in.Lead has been stripped from the roof and there is increasing water damage.

This fine school building is currently for sale, and its future is uncertain and has been jeopardised by the failure to properly secure it.We urge Sheffield City Council to act quickly.

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The Grade II-listed Haggerston Baths on Whiston Road in Hackney were designed by architect AWS Cross and opened in 1904.This magnificent pool complex, closed and boarded up since 2000, has seen plans to secure its future scuppered by the recession, despite its proximity to the Olympic site.

Plans to refurbish and reopen it were scrapped, and the glazed barrel-vaulted roof has now witnessed more than a decade of creeping dilapidation. It was built by Shoreditch Borough Council to serve the needs of this underprivileged area, and, as Pevsner put it, was ‘built to impress’ with a front fit for a palace.

The building stands proud in the streetscape, its grand exterior a stone’s throw from the lively Kingsland Road.Its neighbouring housing estates are being redeveloped. There is a strong local campaign to save the pool and a new healthcare centre has been proposed to make use of the building.

Hackney Council must ensure that action is taken as a matter of urgency to bring Haggerston Baths back to life.At a time when there is so much new development in the area it is important to capitalise on our existing assets and to put important buildings like Haggerston Baths into public use again.

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Fenton was developed by the Baker family, which built the town hall for the town.Built in 1888 it was designed by Robert George Scrivener & Son.Together with the church, square, library and war memorial it forms a charming civic complex.Later the town hall became a courthouse.

Layers of partitions, plasterboard and heating ducts have hidden, but not destroyed, the soaring proportions of the vaulted principal chamber.

The current owner, the Ministry of Justice, has put the building up for sale.Sadly, as English Heritage has decided not to list Fenton Town Hall, its interior, including the Minton tiling and First World War memorial, are unprotected.Next door the fine Edwardian library, also unlisted, has recently shut its doors.

A ‘Save Fenton Town Hall’ campaign has been set up to protect the memorial and proposals are afoot to turn the Town Hall into a community venue.

We urge the Ministry of Justice to work with Stoke-on-Trent City Council to find a new role for Fenton Town Hall that will ensure that its chamber and First World War memorial remain intact and accessible to the public.

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Accrington Conservative Club in Cannon Street, Accrington has been included on the The Victorian Society’s list of the ten most endangered Victorian and Edwardian buildings in England and Wales.

The colossal Grade II-listed building (1890-91) was designed by architects William James Morley & George Herbert Woodhouse and to make a grand statement of permanence, prosperity and patriotism in Accrington.One of the largest Conservative Clubs in the country with a ballroom which could comfortably hold a thousand people, it has most recently been used as a nightclub and has suffered from arson.Its gates are now chained shut.

Right in the heart of the town, the most recent proposal is to retain only the façade, with new-build flats behind.

We urge Hyndburn Borough Council to find an appropriate solution as soon as possible, which preserves this magnificent building, an important part of the townscape and social history of Accrington.

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Two neighbouring buildings on Eleanor Street in Grimsby, Lincolnshire, the former Winteringham School, later Grimsby College of Art and Design, and the next door School Board Offices, have been included on the The Victorian Society’s list of the Ten Most Endangered Victorian and Edwardian Buildings in England and Wales.

Winteringham School’s tall flat Flemish gables and cupola (on right) were opened to great acclaim in 1895. Six years later its architect HC Scaping was commissioned again to build the School Board Offices (to school’s left), in a contrasting Edwardian classical style but with the same materials holding the two together. The School Board Offices are noticeably more lavish, with a charming bowed oriel window and segmental pedimented dormers.

The two Grade II-listed buildings are the heart of a notable group of educational and religious buildings built in the area around 1900 on land provided by the Heneage Estate. The school (most recently Grimsby College of Art and Design) and Education Department offices have been empty and deteriorating since the 1990s and have reached a critical stage.

The current deplorable state of the buildings demands urgent action. These are great buildings and part of Grimsby’s proud architectural heritage. They need to be rescued fast.

16/10/2013

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