Books and Articles

Futures for Defence Heritage

Celia Clark has a long-standing interest in defence heritage buildings and specialist military, naval and airforce structures, stimulated by living in Portsmouth UK with its active naval base and closed and re-purposed defence establishments around the harbour – as well as by fieldwork in similar sites in many parts of the world. In 2002 the University of the West of England published her report: Vintage Ports or Deserted Dockyards: differing futures for naval heritage across Europe. In 2012 she initiated a series of international conferences: Defence Heritage History and Future organised by the Wessex Institute of Technology. The first was in Portsmouth, the second in Venice Arsenale and the third in Alicante in 2016.

As an academic specialising in the regeneration of historic defence sites all over the world, she edited Sustainable Regeneration of Former Military Sites with Samer Bagaeen with case studies from Taiwan, China, the Netherlands, the UK and the US. It was published in 2016 by Routledge and launched on Governors Island New York. This led to invitations to lecture in Greece, Oslo and Italy, and to participation in the Military Landscapes conference in La Maddalena Sardinia.

Her book Barracks, Forts and Ramparts: Regeneration Challenges for Portsmouth Harbour's Defence Heritage with Martin Marks OBE former deputy head of Haslar Naval Hospital focuses on a local area which contains all the challenges thrown up by this complex process, its many stakeholders, as well as examples of adaptive reuse of defence structures and new land uses. It was published by Tricorn Books in 2020.

She is currently researching the different pathways countries use to dispose of their surplus state land, identifying examples of good practice and the extent to which these sites' reuse bring social, economic and environmental benefits to ex-defence communities. In 2023, based on this research, she proposed changes to the UK's Treasury-led system in which ex-defence sites are sold to the highest bidder within three years of closure in favour of a more locally beneficial and controlled system. She welcomes new contacts in different countries in order to gain greater understanding of this complex but under-reported transformation from military to civilian.

Architecture and Photography

From 1989 to 2008 Celia taught the history of architecture and building conservation at the College of Art/Polytechnic/University to specialist craftspeople, who went on to work on the restoration of the Theatre Royal, the Kings Theatre, Up Park and Windsor Castle. In 2008 the university closed the course, even though there's a national shortage of people who can lay gold leaf, restore historic plasterwork and make new scagliola. In 1995 SAVE Britain's Heritage published her Beacons of Learning Breathing New Life into Old Schools which documented reuses of urban and rural school buildings in England and Wales.

Her book, The Tricorn. Life and Death of a Sixties Icon was Tricorn Books' first publication in 2009. It's since been reprinted five times – and the concrete megastructure still has a vibrant virtual life. Many fine photographs – by Garrick Palmer, the Caravan Gallery and Jeannie Driver as well as by Celia herself and recordings – tell the story of designing and building the Tricorn, the life that developed in it, and the long fight to save it and reuse it – ultimately lost by its demolition in 2004.

Celia and Deane's Clark's Portsmouth – which the 2018 Lord Mayor gave to the Portsmouths in Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Virginia – documents the city's buildings: Lost and Under Threat, Restored – and sparkling new ones. As a historic buildings architect Deane has been drawing and painting the city – and Hampshire, Sussex and the Isle of Wight for sixty years. His books: Deane Clark's Portsmouth and Deane Clark's Hampshire, Sussex and the Isle of Wight reproduce many lovely images of his favourite places. Celia's art books of photographs: White to Black and The Colour of Water are special records of her enjoyment of light and colour. Her book for her grandchildren: Granny's Gorgeous Alphabet is another lovely design by Tricorn Books.

BOOKS

2020 Barracks, Forts and Ramparts: Regeneration Challenges for Portsmouth Harbour's Defence Heritage. Celia Clark and Martin Marks OBE. Tricorn Books Portsmouth 2020 450 pages £30

2016 Sustainable Regeneration of Former Military Sites Routledge Pp 224 ISBN 978-1-138-01652-1 Edited by Samer Bagaeen and Celia Clark $124 The first book to analyse the search for sustainable futures for former defence sites in different parts of the world

2013 Celia and Deane Clark's Portsmouth A Portrait in Photographs ISBN 978-1-909660-08-3 Pp 158 Tricorn Books £18.

2013 The Colour of Water ISBN 978-0-9573435-7-3 Pp 151 Hardback Tricorn Books £25

2012 White to Black Pp.144 ISBN 9780957107465 Tricorn Books Portsmouth £25

2011 Granny's Gorgeous Alphabet Tricorn Books Portsmouth 62 pages ISBN 978-0-9567597-4-0 £10

2010 Deane Clark's Portsmouth (Text and Editor) Tricorn Books Portsmouth Pp 157 ISBN 978-0-9562498-8-3 £18.99

2009 The Tricorn. The Life and Death of a Sixties Icon Tricorn Books Portsmouth 282 pages ISBN 978 0 9562498 0 7 reprinted 2010, 2012, 2014 £19.95

2005 Maritime City Portsmouth 1945-2005 (Contributor) Editor Ray Riley 160 pages Sutton Books ISBN 0-7509-436-7

2000 Vintage Ports or Deserted Dockyards: differing futures for naval heritage across Europe Working Paper No. 57 115 pages Research Consultancy for University of the West of England Bristol ISBN I 86043 281 6

1995 Beacons of Learning: Breathing new life into Urban Schools Report for Save Britain's Heritage sponsored by English Heritage & Hampshire County Council 205pp Editor, contributor

ARTICLES AND CONFERENCE PAPERS

"What does one do with a historic dockyard?" Portsmouth Harbour: exemplar of defence site regeneration? Naval Dockyards Society Transactions 2023 - forthcoming.

2022 'Doing things differently. How do countries dispose of their surplus defence land? Do these differences offer gains or losses to ex-defence communities and sustainable reuse of historic structures?' Naval Dockyards Society/Society for Nautical Research 25th Annual Conference Portsmouth 9-11June 2022 Transactions of Naval Dockyards Society - forthcoming 2023

2022 'From Provisioning the Fleet to Modern Marine Estate - the Royal Clarence Victualling Yard' Celia Clark, Martin Marks OBE, Bernard Mennell. Hampshire Industrial Archaeology Society Journal No.30 (2022) pp. 31-40

2022 'Time for change - Treasury rules on disposal of surplus defence land' Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society May 2022 Volume 27 Number 1 pp.9-11

2022 'Forts and Dockyards Ahoy!' Celia and Deane Clark Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society June 2022 25th Anniversary Issue 14-17

2021 Sveaborg/Suomenlinna - a government funded transformation' Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society Baltic conference 27 March 2021 Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society Volume 16 March 2022 pp.133-153

2021 Transformation of former military sites to new civilian life: a research agenda' Rigenerare le aree militari dismesse Conferenza internationale Universita IUAV di Venezia 23/24 September 2021. Camerin, Federico & Gastaldi, Francesco (Eds.) (2021). Rigenerare le aree militari dismesse. Prospettive, dibattiti e riconversioni in Italia, Spagna ed in contesti internazionali. Santarcangelo di Romagna: Maggioli. ISBN: 978-88-916-5082-5. https://doi.org/10.30448/UNI.916.50825. https://www.theplan.it/politecnica-university-press/rigenerare-le-aree-militari-dismesse-prospettive-dibattiti-e-riconversioni-in-italia-spagna-e-in-contesti-internazionali

2021 Gairloch and Loch Ewe, Wester Ross' Dockyards Naval Dockyards Society newsletter November 2021

2021 Brooklyn Navy Yard 1801-2020 A dockyard reinvented' Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society The role of naval bases in maritime operations in the Mediterranean during the eighteenth century and Dockyards and naval bases in North America, the Atlantic and the Caribbean Volume 15 September 2021 pp.130-155

2021 In search of my grandfather, Leslie Bates, Royal Naval Air Service' Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society Naval Air Stations and the Defence of Dockyards Volume 14 April 2021 pp.54 -71.

2019 'Women at work in Portsmouth Dockyard 1914-19 ' British Dockyards in the First World War Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society Vol. 12 August 2019 pp. 1-33

2018 'Make Art Not War Military sites find creative new life' in Military Landscapes Conference papers June 2017 University of Cagliari

2018 'The search for Sustainable Futures for Historic Military Landscapes' in Military Landscapes Conference papers June 2017 University of Cagliari

2017 'Portsmouth Central Library (today Norrish Central Library, Portsmouth, Great Britain' in SOS Brutalism A Global Survey A collaboration by the Deutsches Architeckturmuseum and the Wüstenrot Foundation Park Books 2017 pages 440-441.

2017 'Sustainable Regeneration of Former Defence Sites' Briefing for Royal Town Planning Institute Southeast and Hampshire Buildings Preservation Trust Seminar 13 October 2017

2017 Malta's Military Heritage Transformed" Dockyards December 2016 Volume 21 No 2 Naval Dockyards Society pp.11-14

2016 'Venice Arsenale: Tourist magnet and the return of innovation' International Journal of Heritage Architecture Studies, Repairs and Maintenance Volume 1 Number 2 2017 Special issue Defence Heritage Pp 185-194

2016 'John Green, Artist and Portsmouth Dockyard Rigger' Celia Clark and John Hayes Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society July Volume 21 Number 1 Pp2-4

2016 'Women at Work in Portsmouth Dockyard 1914-19' Naval Dockyards Society Transactions Annual Conference paper National Maritime Museum March 2014 pp 1-30

2016 International Journal of Heritage Architecture Studies, Repairs and Maintenance Volume 1 Number 2 2017 Special issue Defence Heritage Guest Editors: Celia Clark, Carlos Brebbia, Victor Echarri, Angelo Gonzalez Aviles Wessex Institute of Technology Press ISSN: 2058-833X (on line); ISBN: 2058-8321 (paper format) 280 pages

2015 'Venice Arsenale' Naval Dockyard Society Newsletter June 2015

2014 "Make Art not War: defence sites find new life as centres of creativity' Wessex Institute of Technology Defence Sites Heritage and Future II conference Venice Arsenale September 2014 Editors CA Brebbia & C Clark Wessex Institute of Technology Press ISSN 1743-3509 pp 113-123

2014 'Charlestown Boston and Brooklyn Navy Yard' Naval Dockyards Society journal Dockyards

2014 'Dockyards in Art; Art in Dockyards' Naval Dockyards Society National Maritime Museum in Transactions of Naval Dockyard Society ISBN 978-0-9553711-9-6 pp. 43- 64

2014 'Drilling Hammock Hooks for Sailors; women workers in Portsmouth dockyard in WW1' with Professor Ray Riley in WW1 Hampshire Industrial Archaeology Group Journal

2014 'Charlestown Boston and Brooklyn Navy Yard' Naval Dockyards Society journal Dockyards

2014 'Dockyards in Art; Art in Dockyards' Naval Dockyards Society National Maritime Museum in Transactions of Naval Dockyard Society ISBN 978-0-9553711-9-6 pp. 43- 64

2014 'Drilling Hammock Hooks for Sailors; women workers in Portsmouth dockyard in WW1' with Professor Ray Riley in WW1 Hampshire Industrial Archaeology Group Journal

2012 'Bermuda: A Post-Colonial Challenge' Dockyards November 2012 Volume 17 Number 2 The Naval Dockyards Society pp. 21-26

2012 White to Black [photographs] Pp.144 ISBN 9780957107465 £25 Tricorn Books Portsmouth

2012 Defence Sites Heritage and Future Editor with CA Brebbia 270pp Wessex Institute of Technology Press Ashurst Southampton SO40 7AA ISBN 978-1-84564-590-8

2011 'Learning from experience: defence disposals in the UK contrasted with sustainable development in four US east coast navy yards' Pp 243-253 in Defence Sites Heritage and Future Editor C Clark & CA Brebbia 270pp Wessex Institute of Technology Press Ashurst Southampton SO40 7AA ISBN 978-1-84564-590-8

2012 'US Dockyards on the East Coast in 2012' Pp. 6-10 in Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society Volume 17 Number 1 May 2012

2012 'Definitions: Docks, Dockyards, Shipyards, Naval Bases, Arsenals....' Pp. 24-25 in Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society Volume 17 Number 1 May 2012

2011 'Porto Montenegro: from Austro-Hungarian and Yugoslav Naval Base to Superyacht Marina' Dockyards Volume 16, number 2 pp. 22-24

2011 '"Port Donné, Français Volé" Housing the Silent Sharks: Contrasting Uses for the German WWII Submarine pens in Lorient and Sainte-Nazaire, Brittany' Dockyards Volume 16 No. I pp.18-21

2011 'A visit to Dubrovnik' Dockyards Volume 16 No. 1 May 2011 pp.10-12

2010 'In celebration of the 'Entente Frugale': Toulon October 2010 Dockyards Volume 15 Number 2 December 2010 pp.16-22

2010 'Arsenaux de Marine on France' Francois Bellec Review Dockyards Volume 15 Number 2 pp.26-27

2010 'The futures of historic naval hospitals - once the sailors leave - as contributions to achievement of the sustainable city' Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society 2010 Pp.65-74

2010 In the Public Interest? Community Benefits from Ministry of Defence land disposals Research Report The Bill Sargent Trust Portsmouth - Contributor 44 pages

2010 'Ferrol' Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society June Volume 15 No.1 pp.15-18

2010 'Royal Naval Hospital, Haslar: What Next?' The Naval Dockyards Society Newsletter June Vol. 15 No.1 pp 6-7

2010 'Victorian Portsmouth What the Victorians left to us' Portsmouth Festivities programme Portsmouth Grammar School

2010 'The futures of historic naval hospitals - once the sailors leave - as contributions to achievement of the sustainable city' Sustainable Development and Planning La Coruna April 2010 Wessex Institute of Technology Southampton

2009 'The Admiralty Surface Weapons Establishment, Portsdown Hill' Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society July Volume 14 Issue 1

2009 'Drosscapes or Brownfields? Differing processes to bring redundant industrial land, including military Sites, back into productive use' Sustainable Development and Planning 1V Vol 1 pp.175-186 Wessex Institute of Technology Press Southampton Eds. CA Brebbia et al 2009 ISBN 978-I-84564-424-6 (Vol 1)

2008 'Adaptive re-use and the Georgian storehouses of Portsmouth - naval storage to museum' Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society Volume 4 October pp. 27-37

2008 'Royal Hospital Haslar: Enquiry by Design Workshop November 3-5 2008' pp. 7-9 'Dockyards on the Silver Screen' pp.20-21; WeiHaiWei Photographs pp.29-31 Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society December 2008 Volume 13 Issue 2

2008 ''The Past is a Present to the Future" Portsmouth Harbour, Isle of Wight & Spithead as 'the world's first Cultural Seascape' to be inscribed on the World Heritage List Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society July 2008 Volume 13, Issue I pp. 5-7

2008 'The Froude Family's Ship Testing Tanks' Dockyards The Naval Dockyards Society July 2008 Volume 13, Issue I pp.10-11

2008 'World Heritage Inscription for naval heritage brownfields?' Fourth International Conference Prevention, Assessment, Rehabilitation, Restoration and Development of Brownfield Sites 6 - 8 May Cephalonia, Greece. Wessex Institute of Technology pp.189-199 ISBN 978-1-84564-105-4

2008 'Vintage Ports: a Future for Historic Dockyards around the World' The Suomenlinna Dockyard Leader: Round Table Discussion Learning from each other experiences 23-24 April Finland (proceedings published by Governing Body of Suomenlinna)

2007 'Vintage Ports. Lessons in the Renewal of Historic Naval Dockyards: An International Perspective' Seventh Annual Conference of the Naval Dockyards Society 5 April 2003 Transactions of the Naval Dockyards Society Fifth, Sixth and Seventh Annual Conferences in 2001, 2002, 2003 pp.89-102

2007 'Camouflage' Dockyards November 2007 Newsletter of the Naval Dockyards Society Vol 12 Issue 3 pp.12-14

2007 'Vintage Ports - Part 1 Philadelphia Navy Yard' Dockyards July 2007 Newsletter of the Naval Dockyards Society Volume 12 Issue 2 pp.22-24

2007 Chatham and Portsmouth: World Heritage sites? Dockyards Newsletter of the Naval Dockyards Society Volume 12 Issue I pp. 1-5; Hampshire Industrial Archaeology Society Journal No.15 pp9-14

2007 The Punic Ports at Carthage - Dockyards from Antiquity still visible in modern Tunisia Dockyards Newsletter of the Naval Dockyards Society Volume 12 Issue I pp. 15-19

2007 SHARP'S Triumph The Sustainable Historic Arsenal Regeneration Partnership Dockyards Newsletter of the Naval Dockyards Society Volume 12 Issue I p. 28

2006 Defence heritage moves onto civilian futures Brownfields 2006 19-21 July Tallinn, Estonia

2006 Naval Waterfront Renewals Ist Symposium on Waterfronts in the Danube Region 3-8 March Novi Sad

2005 Xingcheng Walled City Liaoning China English Editor Xingcheng Cultural Bureau China

2005 'Coming into the light: the rediscovery and reuse of naval heritage buildings' in: R.Marcett, I Barge, CA Brebbia, J Olivella (eds) Maritime Heritage and Modern Ports, Pp. 33-44. Southampton: Wessex Institute of Technology Press ISBN 1-84564-010-1

2004 'Do naval and civilian waterfront renewals have lessons to teach each other?' Brownfield Sites II Assessment, Rehabilitation and Development eds. A Donati, C. Rissi CA Brebbia Wessex Institute of Technology Press pp. 171-179 1SBN I-85312-719-1

2004 'Dividing walls: sites of disputed memory: preserve or obliterate? Politics of Design Belfast September 9-11

2003 'Dividing walls: sites of disputed memory: preserve or obliterate? European Association of Archaeology St. Petersburg 10-14 September 2003

2002 'The contribution of the reuse of historic naval and airforce sites to brownfields regeneration: filling in the 'white holes'' Brownfield Sites Assessment, Rehabilitation and Development Wessex Institute of Technology Press, Southampton, Boston eds. CA Brebbia, D.Almorza, H. Klapperich pp.109-119 ISBN: I- 85312-918-6

2002 'Les ports d'époque ou les chantiers navals abandonnés: les différents destinées du patrimoine maritime à travers l 'Europe 'in Le Patrimoine Maritime Construire, Transmettre, Utiliser, Symboliser Les Héritages Maritimes Européens Françoise Péron ed. Presses Universitaires de Rennes, France 2002 ISBN: 2- 86847-594-9 2002

2001 'Degrees of physical adaptation: current uses of historic naval building types' Structural Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Historical Buildings VII WIT Press Southampton, Boston pp 617-622 ISBN 1-853 12-869-4

2000 'Vintage Ports or Deserted Dockyards: differing futures for naval heritage across Europe' Acquapolis, Città d'acqua, Venice pp 1-10

2000 'Defence Deficit to continue?' RICS Conservation Journal Spring 2000 p. 4-6

1999 'Pembroke Dock - the evolution of a dockyard town' Naval Dockyards Society Newsletter Vol. 4 Issue 2 December pp 5-8 Portsmouth

1999 'Heritage under defence attack' Civic Focus Autumn 1999 Issue 30 p. 10

1999 'Naval heritage resources and revitalisation in contested space: possible futures for the Arsenale, Venice' C Clark and D Pinder Journal of Ocean and Coastal Management: Heritage resources and naval port regeneration (US) Vol.42 Nos. 10-11 1999 pp.933-956 Elsevier

1999 'The Re-use of the Georgian Storehouses of Portsmouth - naval storage to museum' Naval Dockyards Society Third Annual Conference National Maritime Museum London

1999 'White Holes: the future for defence heritage' Future Planning: Planning's Future Planning Research Conference University of Sheffield

1999 'The value of industrial heritage to education' Flemish Industrial Archaeology Conference Ghent

1999 'The Future of the Arsenale, Venice' Maritime Heritage Conference University of Portsmouth

1998 'Exploiting the built environment' Spatial Ability A Handbook for Teachers National Foundation for Educational Research, Slough Eds. T Clausen-May & P Smith ISBN 0 7005 1509 7

1998 'Ship to Ship Communication: Lessons from across the sea Vasa Stockholm' Naval Dockyard Society Newsletter Vol 2 Issue 3 Portsmouth

1998 'Göteborg: flagship for waterfront renewal' Perspectives in Architecture Vol. 33 (last issue cancelled:closure)

1997 'Portsmouth Millennium Project contrasted with shipyard renewal in Göteborg, Sweden: community participation'

1997 'The Reuse of Early Dockyard Buildings: covered slips' Naval Dockyard Society Newsletter Vol 2 Issue 1 pp 1-3 Portsmouth

1997 'Vintage Ports: The Transition of Historic Dockyard Buildings to Civilian Uses' Stremah 97: San Sebastian. Structural Studies, Repairs and Maintenance of Historical Buildings, Wessex Institute of Technology: ISBN 1853124664 pp 661-673

1997 'Consult and Ignore? The Reinvention of public participation' Creative Environments: New Directions for Planning Studies Conference, University of West of England

1997 'A Model Transition? New Uses for Defence Heritage' RTPI South Talk: Southern Region Bulletin 1/97 Issue 52 Jan/April

1996 'Covered Slipways for Ship Construction in reuse' Building Pathology '96 Magdalene College Cambridge

1996 'The School Buildings and Site' 48pp Learning through Landscapes Trust Winchester Esso Schoolwatch 111

1995 'The Missing Piece of the Jigsaw: The Contribution of Conservation and Reuse of Buildings to Sustainable Communities' Streets Ahead Conference University of the West England Elsevier

1994 'Vintage Ports' Building Renewal Supplement pp 14-18 9 December

1991 'The Ark in the Park: Zoo Buildings' Civic Trust/London Zoo Education

A Portrait in Photographs
ISBN 978–1–909660–08–3
158 pages Hardback

Deane Clark's Hampshire, Sussex and the Isle of Wight
ISBN 978–1909660–07–6
156 pages Hardback

The Colour of Water
Celia Clark
ISBN 978–0–9573435–7–3
151 pages Hardback

Their first Joint book, Celia and Deane Clark's Portsmouth A Portrait in Photographs, celebrates the changing city since 1970 when Deane was appointed Historic Buildings Architect to Portsmouth City Council in his home town. As living organisms, cities continually change: the map of Portsmouth was redrawn as postwar rebuilding, new roads, slum clearance, land reclamation and comprehensive redevelopment reshaped it. Conservation areas, general improvement areas and creative reuse of buildings slowed the pace of change. While some buildings, such as South Parade Pier and the Naval Academy are under threat, excellent new structures are given Best New Buildings awards by the Portsmouth Society. A round Portsea Island tour completes the book.

Deane Clark's Hampshire, Sussex and the Isle of Wight is the second in the popular series of his drawings and paintings of his home county and adjoining areas, where he was head of the Hampshire County Council Historic Buildings Bureau. The images including many churches span sixty years of sketches and watercolours. His first book, Deane Clark's Portsmouth, has been reprinted in response to popular demand.

Celia Clark's The Colour of Water is her third photographic book, this time incorporating poetry inspired by the sea, lakes and rivers. Portsmouth, an island city, is surrounded by water: the seafront facing the Isle of Wight, Portsmouth and Langstone Harbours and the tidal Portscreek. She loves swimming in the sea from Southsea beach. The powerful rivers Thames and Hudson flow through the places where their children live, and the North Sea, Atlantic on the United States' east coast and Bermuda and the Mediterranean all inspired the photographs.

These books cost £18.95 plus post and packing. To order: email CeliaDeane.Clark@btopenworld.com Celia & Deane Clark's Portsmouth – A portrait in photographs, released, July 1st

2013 The Colour of Water

Love it or hate it – there's no middle ground in reactions to the Tricorn: the Brutalist, bold, multi–layered and multi–use megastructure built in Portsmouth between 1962 and 1966, and demolished in 2004. The Tricorn features in histories of architecture. Its chunky imagery spawned progeny – the Lloyds building's exterior staircases, the Barbican's curving upstands – leading ultimately to the birth of high–tech

The Tricorn: the Life and Death
of a Sixties Icon Celia Clark and Robert Cook Foreword by Tom Dyckhoff ISBN 9780956249807 £19.99 Reviewed by Jon Wright – Twentieth Century Society Journal

As the years continue ton pass since its short–sighted destruction, Portsmouth's 'concrete casbah; gets more fondly remembered. The Tricorn: the life and death of a sixties icon, written by the building's staunchest local defenders, Celia Clark and Robert Cook, is therefore both a requiem and a warning. Exploring how it came to be built and how the subsequent tide of local and national dislike and ambivalence finally overwhelmed its ramparts, Clark and Cook leave no stone unturned. More widely, it's a timely investigation into why Portsmouth along with so many other towns in the country has so struggled to value its monumental civic architecture from the 1960s. The book is something of a compendium, a scrapbook of the building's front and back pages with all the various viewpoints allowed a voice. Structurally the book is unconventional, with fascinating and passionate passages devoted to the building's colourful history mixing with rather more prosaic architectural detail–chapter 7 is devoted to the history of the Tricorn Club. Anecdote forms a huge part of Clark's all–encompassing study, and in collecting so many fond memories, Clark has uncovered a whole stratum of the city who actually loved the building and clearly loved being there.

Chapter 6, devoted to the building's commercial operation,ends with a quote from a former trader–"l always liked the ugliness of the Tricorn, it had a certain beauty'~ The photographs are many and varied, giving added weight to the scrapbook feel. Quite stunning shots taken by Clark and other local campaigners in the building's final days, show Right and below: Portsmouth's demolished Tricorn Centre26– C20 Spring 2010 up close what a beautiful finish the building had. Colour shots of the destruction that followed therefore appear as records of vandalism on a massive scale in one shot a campaigner holds up a sign saying "we will regret it"–and so we do. This book is an unsolicited love letter to the Tricorn and an amalgamation of all the various documents, opinions, personalities and decisions that saw its rise and fa ll. Owen Luder and Rodney Gordon have their say of course, but it's the social and conservation history, rather than the architectural, which lingers in the memory. The Society continues to fight so that this does nothappen again, but one feels that the people of Portsmouth should write an open letter to the people of Gateshead, Preston or Birmingham, such is the depth of feeling the Clark has uncovered. This is a remarkable book on a remarkable building.