THE RECORDING OF MONUMENTS OF ARCHITECTURE AND BUILDING IN ENGLAND

The Fortress House in Mayfair (London’s district) is the seat of the institute that makes lists of historic structures in England and Wales (Scotland has its own system) placed under its legal protection (Department of Ancient Monuments and Historic Buildings). Another institution is the National Monuments Record which compiles iconographie materials with detailed data on the structures. The system of monuments protection in England and Wales covers: (1) the so-called monuments of the past such as archaeological sites, ruins, abandoned castles and churches, (2) buildings of particular significance, and (3) zones of conservation protection. The campaign to record buildings, taken up in 1944, was completed a few years ago. By 1980 it covered 273 thousand monuments. The list is being regularly updated. In England buildings are qualified according to the following classes: 1st class — outstanding buildings (5 per cent of the total), 2nd class — most of the buildings that deserve protection; the structures asterisked represent objects of particular care. Class 3 has been given up, with part of its buildings transferred into class 2. The author compares English recording system with the Polish one, carried out by the Centre for Monuments Documentation attached to the Ministry of Culture and Arts in Warsaw. The Polish recording comprises also specifically Polish structures, i.e. wooden and folk buildings. An object placed on the list in England is automatically covered by legal protection. In Poland it has to be on the list of historic monuments. In 1976 there were in England 856.982 photographs of historic buildings, 14.906 layouts and 750.000 photographic negatives. Concluding the author says that Polish recording cards (for architecture) are better than English. In England the publishing of inventories takes a very long time and then the publications are final items, without a chance for any complements to be introduced. For its own purposes, London has been publishing inventories from the begining of the 20th century (the so-called A General Catalogue of the Architecture of London)