The Indian Empire Society was a London-based lobbying organization, formed in 1930 to promote the cause of the British Empire in India .
31-737: The Society came into being at a meeting in July 1930 held in the Caxton Hall , London , at which the prime mover was Sir Michael O'Dwyer , a former Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab , following correspondence between the 4th Marquess of Salisbury and George Clarke, 1st Baron Sydenham of Combe . Its activists were mostly former members of the Indian Civil Service and included several former provincial governors of British India , among them O'Dwyer, Lord Meston , and Sir Reginald Craddock . Its principal goal
62-452: A design competition set by the parishes of St Margaret and St John , the chosen design was a proposal by William Lee and F.J. Smith in an ornate Francois I style using red brick and pink sandstone, with slate roofs. The foundation stone was laid by the philanthropist , Baroness Burdett-Coutts , on 29 March 1882. The facility, which contained two public halls known as the Great and York Halls,
93-830: A remnant for many years until a development was built behind in 2006. Guidelines for places on the State level Queensland Heritage Register however requires that interiors specifically taken into account. In Canada, all jurisdictions at the federal, provincial, territorial and municipal level have adopted the Standards & Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada , which – though not explicit – does not recommend facadism as good conservation practice. In general, projects which have approached projects using facadism are considered to have lost their integrity and value. Nonetheless, facadism
124-480: A role in the 1919 Jallianwala Bagh massacre (of which Singh was a survivor) and ordered several crackdown against anti-colonial demonstrators. The Caxton Hall was the location of the press conference that the Russell–Einstein Manifesto was released in 1955 in response to the threat of nuclear war and humanity destroying itself. On 12 May 1960, over 1,000 people attended the first public meeting of
155-518: Is a building on the corner of Caxton Street and Palmer Street , in Westminster , London, England. It is a Grade II listed building primarily noted for its historical associations. It hosted many mainstream and fringe political and artistic events and after the Second World War was the most popular register office used by high society and celebrities who required a civil marriage . Following
186-462: Is a practice in postmodern architecture reaching its peak in the latter half of the 20th century. The setback or podium architecture technique gives an illusion of integrity to the original building by visually separating the old from the new, helping to mitigate farcical effects such as the floors and windows not lining up or a dramatic clash of styles. Critics label the practice as architectural sham, some claiming that it sometimes results in part of
217-410: Is actively discouraged in others (such as Paris and Sydney ). Architectural podiums are often seen by some architects as a solution to this problem and these are allowed for as part of planning frameworks in urban heritage areas. The practice of facadism has the potential to conflict with ICOMOS international charters. The Venice Charter , article 7, states that: "A monument is inseparable from
248-541: Is marked by a commemorative plaque unveiled in 1991. In 1940, Indian nationalist Udham Singh assassinated Irish colonial administrator Michael O'Dwyer at Caxton Hall, where O'Dwyer was giving a speech. At the end of the speech, Singh walked towards O'Dwyer and fatally shot him. Singh's motivations for the assassination were O'Dwyer's actions during the Indian independence movement in the Punjab Province , where he played
279-549: Is probably the earliest example of facadism in Australia, and set a precedent for the following decade. The most notorious was the treatment of the 1850s North British Hotel in Loftus Street in 1983, where the bland office building facade rose straight up from the retained facade, and had been given the bonus floors on the basis of the preservation. In 2018, a new development on a larger site saw its complete demolition, noting that it
310-463: Is the architectural and construction practice where the facade of a building is designed or constructed separately from the rest of a building, or when only the facade of a building is preserved with new buildings erected behind or around it. There are aesthetic and historical reasons for preserving building facades. Facadism can be the response to the interiors of a building becoming unusable, such as being damaged by fire. In developing areas, however,
341-758: The Homosexual Law Reform Society . The National Front was formed at a meeting in Caxton Hall, Westminster on 7 February 1967. It was also used as a central London register office for weddings from October 1933 to 1978. On 18 August 1952, future Prime Minister Anthony Eden married Clarissa Spencer-Churchill , the niece of the then Prime Minister Winston Churchill. Other notable people who were married there include; Donald Campbell , Elizabeth Taylor , Roger Moore , Adam Faith , Joan Collins , Peter Sellers , Yehudi Menuhin , and Ringo Starr . Facadism Facadism , façadism , or façadomy
SECTION 10
#1733092437260372-606: The 1970s and 80s, and facadism was seen as an acceptable compromise by the Brisbane City Council . Uptown , completed in 1988 was hailed as a heritage 'success', retaining the facades of several buildings including the Hotel Carlton (1885), New York Hotel (1860) and Newspaper House. Another notorious example was the Queensland Country Life Building (1888) which was reduced to a facade in 1991, and left as
403-638: The British Suffragette movement, held a 'Women's Parliament' at Caxton Hall at the beginning of each parliamentary session from 1907, with a subsequent procession to the Houses of Parliament and an attempt (always unsuccessful) to deliver a petition to the prime minister in person. Caxton Hall's central role in the militant suffrage movement is now commemorated by a bronzed scroll sculpture that stands nearby in Christchurch Gardens open space. In 1910
434-552: The Olderfleet group development in 1986 were high profile examples. Facadism still occurred in a few examples, notably the T & G Building on Collins Street where 10 storey walls on two street fronts were propped up in 1990 allowing a completely new building behind, but the same height and floor levels as the facades. In the early 21st century, with development pressures increasing, and policies introduced encouraging high density residential development, new non-specific controls in
465-666: The Times, 1933) The society's first public meeting was held in Westminster in July 1930. The first president was Lord Sumner . Winston Churchill joined in October 1930 and made speeches to the society on a number of occasions.. Other prominent members included: Correspondence and papers of the Society from 1930 to 1948 are held in the Bodleian Library 's Special Collections and Western Manuscripts section. Caxton Hall Caxton Hall
496-442: The building becoming a folly . Despite being highly controversial and denounced by many preservationists as vandalism, facadism is used as the demand for new development is overwhelming community desires for preservation. Facadism appears often in cities where there is a strong pressure for new development. While the controversial practice of facadism is encouraged by governments in some cities (such as Toronto and Brisbane ), it
527-516: The central city, and a series of decisions at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal , retention of only facades has become more and more common. By the early 2010s, industrial buildings, shop rows, and traditional corner pubs across the inner and middle city were routinely reduced to a facade (and usually some side walls to retain the appearance of a "three dimensional building"), to allow new residential construction behind and above. In 2012
558-411: The exterior shell, and used for purposes other than those for which they were originally intended. While this is equivalent to facadism, the difference is typically the retention of roof and or floor structures, maintaining a credible link to the original building. In contrast, facadism generally involves retaining only one or two street facing walls for purely aesthetic and decorative purposes. Facadomy
589-413: The facade left in place ). With the introduction of heritage controls in the 1980s, and high profile heritage battles over a number of several large scale CBD buildings, a compromise policy avoiding facadism was generally adopted. The front portion, often about 10 metres depth of the front of a building was retained, with taller development setback behind the retained portion. One Collins Street in 1984 and
620-503: The fate of the Indian masses under a democratic system . A joint letter (written in 1933) sums up the society's attitude: "As retired Government servants, with long experience of Indian conditions, we are convinced that a too rapid advance towards self-government would be fraught with the utmost danger, not only to British trade and commerce, but also to the security and happiness of the 350,000,000 of our Indian fellow-subjects." (published in
651-540: The front of the building facing Caxton Street were restored and retained being converted into luxury flats (see Facadism ). The rear of the building, containing the halls, was demolished and a circular office building, named the Asticus Building, was built on the site. The building was the location of the First Pan-African Conference in 1900. The Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU), part of
SECTION 20
#1733092437260682-575: The history to which it bears witness and from the setting in which it occurs. The moving of all or part of a monument cannot be allowed except where the safeguarding of that monument demands it or where it is justified by national or international interest of paramount importance". In Australia, the Burra Charter , which sets out the principles and procedures to be followed when conserving heritage places, does not have any policies which specifically deal with facadism. However, it requires that all aspects of
713-546: The huge Myer Store on Lonsdale Street in the city was reduced to a highly visible propped facade to allow the construction of a shopping center. Concern was expressed by heritage groups in 2013 that the trend has gone too far, and the City of Melbourne started the process for introducing new guidelines for the central city that would curb such practices. In Brisbane, where heritage controls did not exist until 1992, many historic buildings were lost completely despite public opposition in
744-455: The mid 1990s. In the rapidly growing city of Melbourne, facadism has become very common. The Old Commerce building at the University of Melbourne was a very early example dating from the 1930s, however this was a case of saving an elaborate stone bank facade by relocating it to Melbourne University and reconstructed as part of a new building (which was itself demolished and replaced in 2014 with
775-510: The mid-20th century, now removed. From 1933 on it was used as a Central London register office and was the venue for many celebrity weddings. This function closed in 1979 and the building stood empty for years getting a place on the Buildings at Risk Register . It was listed as a building of Special Architectural or Historic Interest on 15 March 1984. It was redeveloped as apartments and offices in 2006. The facade and former register office at
806-590: The occultist Aleister Crowley staged his Rites of Eleusis at Caxton Hall. The series of performances took place over six weeks, and received mixed reviews. In January 1918 Prime Minister David Lloyd George outlined the main war goals of the Allies. During the Second World War it was used by the Ministry of Information as a venue for press conferences held by Winston Churchill and his ministers. This wartime role
837-521: The practice is sometimes used by property developers seeking to redevelop a site as a compromise with preservationists who wish to preserve buildings of historical or aesthetic interest. It can be regarded as a compromise between historic preservation and demolition and thus has been lauded as well as decried. There is sometimes a blurred line between renovation , adaptive reuse , reconstruction and facadism. Sometimes buildings are renovated to such an extent that they are "skinned", preserving only
868-519: The significance of a place be understood and retained as far as possible. Many local governments have heritage policies, but while some specifically warn against facadism, others do not. The central city of Sydney sported numerous examples of historic buildings reduced to facades as part of the development boom of the 1980s. The retention of only the two street facades of the 1890s Colonial Mutual Building on Martin Place in 1976 to allow an office tower behind
899-525: Was not officially heritage protected. Many warehouses and industrial buildings in the central city area were facaded in the 1980s, some left propped up for years after the building boom bust in the early 1990s. New heritage controls introduced in NSW allow the listing of interiors, and many now are, and the City of Sydney heritage guidelines assume the retention of the whole of buildings that are heritage listed, and so there have been very few examples of facadism since
930-481: Was opened as "Westminster Town Hall" in 1883. The building ceased to be the local seat of government after the creation of the enlarged City of Westminster in 1900. It was renamed Caxton Hall at that time to commemorate the printer, William Caxton , who had worked in the almonry of Westminster Abbey . However the halls continued to be used for a variety of purposes including public meetings and musical concerts. A central entrance porch and canopy were added in
961-467: Was to resist the policy of Indian constitutional reform which successive British governments of the 1930s had begun to pursue. Field Marshal Sir Claud Jacob , a former Commander-in-Chief, India , was chairman of the Society's Executive Committee. The society's aims, and its membership, often overlapped with those of the India Defence League . The society frequently cited its deep concern for