Emily Cole – författare

This book charts the history of Stevenage new town centre, looking at its planning, development, design influences, significance and survival. The historic market town of Stevenage was the first location to be designated for major expansion under the New Towns Act 1946, making it Britain's first post-war new town. As part of this a new town centre was planned from 1946. Informed by the ideas of figures including Gordon Stephenson and Clarence Stein, among the leading planners of their day, the detailed design of this area was undertaken in the 1950s by Stevenage Development Corporation, under Chief Architect Leonard Vincent. The shopping precinct, with surrounding car parks and bus station, was built first, begun in earnest in 1956 and officially opened in April 1959. Its design is notable: the fully pedestrian precinct is one of the earliest examples of this kind of development in Britain and on a scale unequalled in Europe at the time of its initiation. The shopping precinct, designated as a conservation area in 1988, is notable for its uniformity, integrity and level of survival. Provision was also made in the town centre for offices, community, entertainment and public buildings, which will be discussed in this book, along with expansion works undertaken in the 1960s and ‘70s.

This book tells the story of a remarkable building, the Rotunda, and its unique landscape. The Rotunda has had two separate but equally significant lives – the first as a tented ballroom in Westminster and the second as an artillery museum in Woolwich. The structure was commissioned in 1814 by the Prince Regent, the future King George IV, and designed by renowned architect John Nash. Having hosted a major party celebrating the Allied victory in the Napoleonic Wars and honouring the Duke of Wellington, the Rotunda was dismantled and transferred in 1818 to the military garrison at Woolwich. There it was rebuilt as a permanent structure and opened as an artillery museum in 1820 – one of the earliest of its kind in the world. On its new site, the Rotunda formed an integral part of the Royal Military Repository, founded in Woolwich in 1778 as an educational facility for the Royal Regiment of Artillery and based at the Repository Grounds from the early 1800s. As well as outlining the site’s history, this book highlights its innovation and popularity and places the Rotunda and Repository Grounds in their historical context. The Rotunda only closed as a museum at the turn of the 20th century, after 180 years, and is now a high-profile building at risk.