Charles Brooking

 

18th Birthday, the World of Work

and Antiques

Charles Brooking is a fascinating and knowledgeable collector of architectural detail, The Brooking Collection of Architectural Detail, and as a Chartered Surveyor 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 Chartered 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.

Chartered Surveyor: What did you do work wise when you reached the age of 18?

Charles Brooking : I got my second display shed on my 18th birthday in 1971, which was again 16 x 8. I didn't know what I wanted to do work wise because there was no conventional job that was going to suit my interest and I was very dyslexic and very disgruntled at the fact that I may have to sit in an office and that to me was a kiss of death, I didn't want to do that!

charles brooking

My father was pulling his hair out as he didn't know what to do, but my mother had an antique dealer friend, who suggested I learnt furniture restoration and I went to work with him in a barn at Bramley Furniture. I worked with a furniture restorer; an old elderly man (he was born in 1910) who didn't like me because he thought I was rather decedent and rather spoilt and I was shy at answering the phone. He thought I had a funny way of talking and said that he  didn't know about me, as I looked like most young men but I didn't like football - the ordinary things and all I wanted to do was talk about old buildings and furniture which he felt was not quite right for a young man. He was very worried about me and what's more I was slow on the uptake and couldn't even work out the floor area, my maths was terrible! He was quite a bully actually and I felt very depressed, but I learnt a lot about furniture and I enjoyed the job in many ways, because I did see some other parts of Surrey I hadn't seen before, and trips out with him collecting furniture and seeing some cracking houses.

charles brooking

I left that job in the early new year of 1972 with the idea of going freelance. That meant very naughtily, living at home and spending most of my time going out and rescuing from the amazing amount of demolition going on at that time. There was to me an orgy of demolition in Guildford and the Home Counties area because all these sites were being re-developed as flats. There were early Victorian, mid-Victorian, all these houses, up to the Arts and Crafts, even 1930's coming down. I had a tutor, another set of tutors for English and History when I left Northease Manor and I was still going to see them which gave me a greater knowledge. I was going down to Guildford (I still didn't drive until I was 35) getting around with lifts and by walking, which wasn't easy, getting my rescued items back home. It wasn't just moving things I had to get friends to help pick things up, even my mother's antique dealer friends!

charles brooking

This went on until I got a job in 1973 at Sotheby's, Belgravia, London . SW1 again looking at antiques, or working as a porter. I found, although I enjoyed the antiques side of it, it wasn't really me. I still was drawn to my architectural detail rescues but being in Belgravia introduced me to London, whilst I was still carrying out more Guildford rescues in '73/'74 on a big scale.

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.

Surveying articles

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

Buying a house

Builders, building problems and roofs and how a Chartered Surveyor can help

Building Control Approval

Cheap Building surveys or being wrongly advised by your Building Surveyor

 

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).

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