OH, what is it about post war buildings that reduces people to such levels of strange hatred (Derek Reed’s letter of December 2)?
Can I be daring and say that I like Hilary House? I quite like Holgate Villa too; and, deep intake of breath Press readers, even admire Stonebow House – yes, even Stonebow House!
These three buildings are not overly great representatives of 1960s design or architecture, but they are examples we should cherish if we want York to “tell the history of England” as is so often stated.
Post-war design too has a place among medieval, Tudor, Georgian, and Victorian buildings that once too were classed as vulgar, past it and ready for the wrecking ball.
Hilary House’s symmetrical modernist design, the use of the lettering bearing its name, the shaped concrete ventilation blocks at ground level and the rather nice concrete planter are part of York’s contested heritage too. Let’s celebrate it, not bulldoze it!
Jonathan Peters, Gray Street, York.
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