Saving the Endangered Species Sculpture in London

In London, there is a building about to be demolished. It's called Allington House and it has, in the eyes of some anonymous board, outlived its usefulness. They will tell us that the land is not living up to its "highest and best use". That's economist-speak for "we can knock down this old building and put up something else and charge more!"

Now, I'm not a developer, and I certainly don't direct my life strictly by a profit motive, but I did earn my degree (a very long time ago) in Economics, so I do understand the theory of Highest and Best Use in regard to real estate. Furthermore, although I think the Allington House building is architecturally interesting, I don't mind them wanting to tear it down and put up something else. What I do mind is waste and the deliberate destruction of art.

Where I live, in the Central United States, we have a local group called the Preservation and Conservation Association. When a unique home or building is planned to be demolished, they are usually invited in to remove items which can be salvaged and reused. Wood molding, doors, windows, stair banisters, and plaster artwork can all be removed. They are typically resold and reused in new construction or in remodeling projects calling for original materials from a given period.

What I really detest, though, is that the developers in this case, are planning on demolishing a unique piece of art. A triptych sculpture of Endangered Species which hung above the main doorway. The sculpture is not light (it weighs about 12 tons) and it's not small (it hangs about 3 feet out from the building's facade), but it certainly is unique and historically significant.

This is Allington House building in London. Notice the unusual sculpture over the front door.

Sculpture of the Great White Shark.

Side view of the Endangered Species sculpture.

The Tiger, African Elephant and Orangutan are the center piece of this sculpture.

A different view of the center piece.

Endangered art juxtaposed with the old and new architecture of London.

I love this last photo -- and yet I hate it too. It typifies the modern struggle of big city life: In the background, a monolithic commercial building rising anonymously above the surrounding city -- big, dark, and impersonal. In the middle vision, we have the older building with its multiple colors, shapes and levels. You can discern different colors of brick in the side wall and the old clay chimney caps. It's reminiscent of a Dickens novel set in London. Juxtaposed to this scene is the Endangered Species sculpture -- itself an endangered piece of art. I fear they will be supplanted by, yet another, behemoth. An anonymous, mundane, efficient and commercially profitable real estate. It saddens me.

You can help. Please see the Facebook page: Save the Allington House Sculptures. and read the article by Peter Berthoud at Discovering London. Thanks!

UPDATE: the statuary were saved! See this link for more details: http://www.peterberthoud.co.uk/2013/05/endangered-species-sculptures-saved/