Charles Brooking

 

The growing Brooking

Collection of

architectural details

charles brooking

Charles Brooking is a fascinating and knowledgeable collector of architectural detail, The Brooking Collection of Architectural Detail, and as Surveyors we find his lifelong quest to collect British building details unique, informative and valuable and a collection that must be kept intact for years to come. If you need help and advice with regard to building surveys, structural surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, specific defects report, dilapidations or any other property matters please free phone 0800 298 5424.

The following is one of a series of interviews with Charles Brooking, Historic and Listed Buildings Detail Expert, The Brooking Collection of Architectural Detail and a Surveyor where we have recorded his comments and various aspects that have affected windows and doors and other collectibles. The interviews outline how his collection started and built over the years and gives an insight into the amazing architectural features housed in his fine collection.

Surveyor: Where did you store your growing collection of architectural details?

Charles Brooking : I had got a display shed for my 15th birthday in 1968, it was 16 x 8 for the display of all the objects I recovered and it was know by the family as The Museum and I moved all of the things out of my bedroom and had the items lined with the help of my tutor. By January of 1969 I had a fully fledged display and in the school holidays there were some very interesting things which were going on. Tragic things were being destroyed in Guildford . When I say tragic there were some wonderful cottages in Bury Fields that came down, some were late 18th century. I rescued a fantastic most unusual door knocker with a devils head and handmade bolts, sash windows, Karen hob grates.

charles brooking

I suppose I acquired my first complete grate in the summer of 1969, my mother bought it for me from Coombe House Antiques in Lewes and that set me off on the idea of actually preserving the history of the fire grate.

Rescue defined

Charles Brooking defines a rescue as saving a window or door or staircase that would be doomed.

Charles Brooking was a pioneer in the rescue of architectural detailing as many years ago it was very much considered a strange and an unusual past time to want to rescue old parts of buildings with everything new and shiny being so important.

Surveyor: Was your collection was very much based around Guildford, Surrey?

Charles Brooking : It was very much based around Guildford and Surrey by virtue of the fact we lived there although there were trips into London but I wouldn't have had this collection had it not been for the fact we lived in Surrey . Surrey was wealthy in the late 19th century and it became a popular commuter destination when the railways came. It was incredible; you had major architects working and the influence of those architects filtering down the scale.

Surveyor: Which architects?

Charles Brooking : Well you had Norman Shaw and locally an architect who is now quite well known, Henry Woodyear. Later on you had Sir Edwin Lutyens, Voysey, Ernest George, Thackeray Turner.

charles brooking

I didn't know about these architects as I was ignorant in that sense as I hadn't really branched out that far, but I was aware that there was an amazing building stock, most of which was mainly coming down or being demolished. The buildings being demolished were late Georgian, sometimes earlier tragically, much earlier but late Georgian right the way through I suppose to the turn of the century and this was all ear marked for redevelopment over a period of twenty years. Woodbridge Road was built up as fashionable with fine residences from the 1850's onwards with Wellington Place and then Dapdune Crescent in 1857.

If you found this article on The Brooking Collection of Architectural Detail interesting you may also be interested in the following articles on our  website

 

Should I have a structural survey?

Structural survey, what does a Surveyor do?

What is my home worth?

Buying and selling Victorian houses

 

References:

TheBrookingCollection.com DartfordArchive.org.uk IHBC.org.uk ProjectBook.co.uk

Independent Surveyors

If you truly do want an independent expert opinion from a Surveyor with regard to building surveys, structural surveys, structural reports, engineers reports, specific defects report, dilapidations or any other property matters please contact 0800 298 5424 for a Surveyor to give you a call back.

Commercial Property Surveyors

If you have a commercial property, be it leasehold or freehold, then you may wish to look at our Dilapidations Website at www.DilapsHelp.com and for Disputes go to our Disputes Help site www.DisputesHelp.com . We hope you found the article of use and if you have any experiences that you feel should be added to this article that would benefit others, or you feel that some of the information that we have put is wrong then please do not hesitate to contact us (we are only human). The contents of the website are for general information only and is not intended to be relied upon for specific or general decisions. Appropriate independent professional advice should be paid for before making such a decision

All rights reserved

All rights are reserved the contents of the website are not to be reproduced or transmitted in any form in whole or part without the express written permission of 1stassociated.com