Country Life

Whim or genius?

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IT is nearly 50 years since I wrote a guidebook for St George’s, Bloomsbury, so I was interested to read that it qualifies as one of Britain’s greatest masterpiec­es (February 9). It was not always so well regarded. During the 15 years of constructi­on, neighbours complained about the mounds of earth piled against their properties, the ‘rabble who played in the church’ outside working hours and theft. Worse, the Church Commission­ers had budgeted for £9,790, but the final cost was £31,000. This was partly due to Hawksmoor’s extravagan­t steeple, but more problemati­c was the fact that space for only 447 seats had been provided when 2,000 were needed—hence the installati­on of the west gallery. But few would now agree with a contempora­ry critic who complained that ‘the builder mistook whim for genius and ornament for taste’. Hugh Meller, Devon

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 ?? ?? The writer of the letter of the week will win a bottle of Pol Roger Brut Réserve Champagne
The writer of the letter of the week will win a bottle of Pol Roger Brut Réserve Champagne

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