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Somerset House

Volume 827: debated on Tuesday 30 November 1971

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11.19 p.m.

I welcome this opportunity to take a stage further the quiet campaign which we on this side of the House have been waging to restore to more profitable public use one of London's great but largely unappreciated buildings. I am happy to have the support and encouragement here tonight of my hon. Friend the Member for Cities of London and Westminster (Mr. Tugendhat), who has taken a special interest in this matter.

The fact that we have a Somerset House at all today is the result of the chance lighting of the eye of fancy of Henry VIII on young Jane Seymour, whose brother, Edward Seymour, later Protector and Duke of Somerset, gave his name to the palace which stood on the site. This was no mean affair, and what I hope briefly to say on this is something that will bear on the future.

The first palace involved the destruction of vast numbers of famous buildings and stopped short of St. Margaret's, Westminster, as a stone quarry only because of the Duke of Somerset's death. It might be mentioned in passing that Sir John Thynne, builder of Longleat, is believed to have been the architect of the first Somerset House. All this magnificence on the part of the Duke of Somerset led to the usual public jealousy, and whereas death duties now curb the pride of such people, it was only the Duke's execution which ended the affair.

Elizabeth was a captive princess in the old Somerset House, and Anne of Denmark succeeded her as resident. Inigo Jones was responsible for many of the masques put on there for Henrietta Maria. It was her desecrated chapel which later became a sort of Hyde Park Corner for dissenters. In old Somerset House Cromwell lay in state. The Fire of London stopped just short of it, due to extensive demolitions. As late as 1746 old Somerset House was the scene where Horace Walpole reports on the new heads of executed Jacobites stuck on Temple Bar nearby.

It was from the site of the terrace of Somerset House that Canaletto painted many of his famous views of London. About this time, Sir Joshua Reynolds was busy founding the Royal Academy; the Royal Society of Arts had its beginning, and Samuel Johnson was working with them. It was in 1763 that the last great magnificent reception was given by Queen Charlotte, George the Third's Queen, to the two Venetian Ambassadors Extraordinary. Old Somerset House departed in a blaze of glory, and Queen Charlotte was moved to Buckingham House, as it then was, because Somerset House was required for the public use. It is improved public use that we are now debating.

It was decided in those days that a clean sweep of all the old buildings should be made, and Sir William Chambers was responsible for the laying of the foundation stone of Somerset House, as we now know it, in 1776. It might be appropriate that by 1976 all could be set in order once more. To the more impatient hon. Members, I may say that I hope to explain why it will take some little time before we can get it as we would like it.

The Strand frontage of the present building was constructed to house the Royal Academy and several learned institutions, notably the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries, whose name is still written on the door. The remainder was purpose-built Government offices and, by Parkinson's Law, the more the offices increased the more the inmates multiplied. The Navy pay, sick and hurt offices, the Clerk of the Estreats and Comptroller of the Pipe were some of the more picturesque inmates. They multiplied, but at the same time the Royal Academy flourished. Indeed it was the exhibition of 1780 which netted no less than £3,000 in admission fees—in money of that day—that caused, I believe, certain ladies to have the vapours: the sculpture was very advanced for that time. And that is the sort of thing that the hon. Member for Smethwick (Mr. Faulds) would like to see in our modern museums.

The Royal Academy schools were established at Somerset House, and they would have flourished if it had not been for the interference of Benjamin Robert Haydon and his gang of interfering Members of Parliament who upset the whole scheme. It was Prince Albert who had to step in and get the whole business of industrial design going—but I digress.

Somerset House as it now exists began as a centre for the arts and for learning. It was unfortunate that over the door in Greek was written:
"Let no stranger to the Muses enter."
That was in Greek, be it noted, so presumably no one who was a stranger to the Muses could read it. I hope that my right hon. Friend can so arrange things that all those who are strangers to the Muses will be able to come and be refreshed by what they see there. Other notable events took place. It is worth while mentioning that the Admiralty was there for a long time. It is said that Lord Nelson's ghost still struts across the courtyard and haunts the place. With the removal of the Admiralty and the departure of the Royal Academy, the Probate Registry moved in, and at about that time, because of the rising tide of hooliganism—a famous contemporary phrase—the terrace was closed to the public. In modern times Britons deserve another chance, and after a century of censure they might be allowed to enjoy at least the terrace of Somerset House.

Many other historic things happened there, matters of historic interest connected with present day activities. The Registry contains wills which are of great public interest. In defence of the Board of Inland Revenue, I might say that they are in their way artists. They are not just concerned with dreary facts and figures. They are artists in the system of taxation which we have built up, and eminently civilised gentlemen. Perhaps a corner for them might be found in all these plans which we have for this building in the new age.

When we on this side of the House were in opposition we made a thorough inspection of this great building and we formed the conclusion that here was, at least in part, a wasted asset. The Ministry of Public Building and Works, as it then was, took great care—and that Department still does take great care—not to allow further injury to the fabric. But the great rooms on the Strand front present a sorry sight, cut up by partitions to form offices. Other great rooms are used but infrequently.

Having, I hope, made a case for moving certain people out, it would be presumptuous of me to suggest who should be moved in, but there obviously are in this country an enormous number of people concerned with improving the quality of life, and many institutions both public and private. I believe that at Somerset House there could be a place where they could have a community of interest, a meeting place where they could get together and perhaps as a result be much more effective in their work.

I am not suggesting that a great new bureaucracy should be set up and installed in offices there. But we have the Historic Buildings Council, the National Buildings Record, the Royal Commission on Historic Monuments, great private institutions like the National Trust, the Civic Trust, the Government's Countryside Commission, all the learned societies, the Historic Houses Committee of the tourist authority, societies concerned with conservation, the C.P.R.E., the S.P.A.B., the Country Landowners' Association, the Victorian Society, the Georgian Group, the more civilised activities of the R.I.B.A., the Arts Council, the British Council and the College of Arms. We could have an informal society of societies where they could hold their meetings so that they could keep in touch and reach a much wider public.

We badly need a new centre from which Britain can be presented to the growing number of visitors from overseas, and where our own people can have new interests awakened. Public and private efforts to improve life need a focal point. Much good work is being done by Government, societies and individuals. If they could meet together on equal terms and on neutral ground, a great deal more could be achieved.

I am sure the Government would not want to create a new bureaucracy, but they would, by dedicating Somerset House to this new purpose, enable the arts and all of those who try to help them to flourish. The new role of this great place should be allowed to evolve in the next few years, and perhaps by the time of the bicentenary it could be playing a significant part in our national and international life. Here, of course, we have an enormous responsibility and a great opportunity as we look towards Europe. Britain could lead the way in European cultural appreciation.

I have great hopes that our eminently civilised Minister will be able, with the Parliamentary support from all sides which I am sure he needs, to bring about this welcome change. He is busy rescuing fine buildings in Whitehall from years of neglect and grime; he is getting a move on there and elsewhere, where others just talked. I believe that, with a little encouragement, my right hon. Friend will be able to rescue Somerset House from a living death.

11.31 p.m.

It is a rare occurrence, and a pleasurable one, when I can rise and support wholeheartedly the arguments put forward on any subject by an hon. Member opposite. This is such an occasion—although the hon. Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Robert Cooke) exhibited his usual meanness of mind in seeming to suggest that it is only his party which is concerned—if he reads his speech tomorrow, he will see that this is what he said—about the misuse of Somerset House.

I do not know how he presumes to know my taste in sculpture. Many modern sculptures give me the vapours which the speeches of the hon. Member on other subjects usually give me. But we are not here to discuss the hon. Gentleman but the future of Somerset House.

It is outrageous that the octopus of the Civil Service should ever have been allowed to entwine and entrap in its tentacles the entire premises of one of the finest blocks of Georgian buildings in London. I am sure that the Minister will listen sympathetically to the arguments of those of us who hope to see the building restored to purposes more fitting to its grace and history and its unique position on the river.

It is only fair to commend the Evening Standard for the part which it played in the campaign of bringing this matter so much to public attention recently.

I should like to mention what I see as the three aspects of the redemption of Somerset House—first, that the Strand and River blocks should be cleansed, like the Augean stables—moving civil servants will probably require fairly Herculean efforts by the Minister—so that those premises could then be used for an art gallery, exhibitions or concerts.

Second, the central courtyard should be cleared of cars. It is ridiculous that such a gracious square should be full of these awful modern tin boxes. The square could then be used for exhibitions of sculpture, for son et lumière performances, or even for concerts on summer evenings. Some of us might even get to a few.

Third, the riverside terrace should be opened to pedestrian traffic, for those who wish to wander along the river as they will, be they lovers, sightseers or workaday Londoners on their way to work. That happy outcome could be achieved simply by a rearrangement of the floodlighting equipment installed on the terrace, and the blessing of the Minister.

It is that blessing which I ask the right hon. Gentleman to bestow on the efforts of those of us who wish to see Somerset House restored to uses more appropriate to its elegance, and returned to the public, both the ordinary Londoner and the British and foreign tourists whom it will undoutedly attract. I hope that the Minister will consider our suggestions. He will undoubtedly earn the kudos which will accrue to a positive response to these suggestions. Let us hope that we will get that positive response.

11.34 p.m.

I am grateful to my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, West (Mr. Robert Cooke) for raising this important issue and to the hon. Member for Smethwick (Mr. Faulds) for the constructive suggestions he has made.

Over a number of years I have had doubts whether Somerset House, with its magnificent view across the river, was being put to the best use. My grandmother, who lived in London before the terrace was closed to the public, often deplored the loss of this amenity and I was brought up to wonder whether it was being properly used.

As soon as I became Minister of Public Building and Works, as the office was called last year, I made it my business to go and see for myself. On 19th May this year, I expressed my concern in answer to a Parliamentary Question put by my hon. Friend the Member for Horsham (Mr. Hordern). I have continued my inquiries and paid a second visit to Somerset House with my right hon. Friend the Lord Privy Seal, who as the House knows, is responsible under my right hon. Friend the Prime Minister for the Civil Service Department. I think that my best course would be to report my findings to the House.

The East block of Somerset House, adjoining King's College, was completed as purpose-built Civil Service accommodation in the 1780s. It has recently been modernised at considerable expense and I do not think that its rooms would be suited for other than office purposes. The same is broadly true of the two West blocks, linked by a bridge and occupied by the Inland Revenue. Here again, the rooms are essentially offices in character, some of them indeed falling short of what I might call Fulton Report standards.

The South block, overlooking the river and now occupied by the Principal Probate and Divorce Registry, contains rather better rooms, most of which are used for legal hearings. As such they are accessible to the public and have appropriate dignity and setting. Whether the departments occupying the rooms are the most appropriate is a matter for argument, but they have been there a long time, the Registrar-General since 1837, the Probate since the mid-1800s and the Inland Revenue since 1790.

My visits have, however, led me to form considerable reservations about three aspects of Somerset House: the terrace, the courtyard and the North block. With the construction of the Embankment and the growth to maturity of the plane trees, the terrace no longer has quite the Venetian quality that it once had, but it is still in a very attractive setting, close both to Trafalgar Square and the National Gallery, and the more modern cultural complex on the South Bank. I am at present studying how it could again be made available to the public.

There is a minor problem of reciting the floodlights, to which the hon. Member for Smethwick referred, and there are slightly more serious structural problems regarding the strength and safety of the terrace and the security of the Probate Registry, the windows of which are at ground floor level.

I will report the result of those studies to the House as soon as they are complete. I do not want to delay any longer than is necessary the day when the hon. Member for Smethwick can fulfil his recently expressed ambition to invite my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for Education and Science to stroll along the terrace with him by moonlight; but whether my right hon. Friend will accept is, of course, a matter for her to decide.

The courtyard of Somerset House is one of the finest in London. As the hon. Member said, it is at present mainly used as a car park and, as such, is no doubt convenient to those who use it. It is, of course, open to the public. It is, however, arguable, as the hon. Member argued, that it could be used, at least on special occasions, for Son et Lumiére or similar activities, and I should welcome suggestions on this account.

My chief concern is about the North block, overlooking the Strand. This was completed to the design of Sir William Chambers in 1780, as my hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, West said, but unlike the rest of Somerset House which was purpose-built as offices, the North block was designed to provide accommodation for learned societies, notably the Royal Academy, the Royal Society and the Society of Antiquaries. Those bodies occupied it until 1837 when they moved out, finding the premises too restricted for their purposes.

In the North block there are seven fine rooms, six on the first floor and one, the old Royal Academy room, on the second floor. One of these rooms, looking on to the courtyard, is the Registrar-General's office and the second serves as his conference room. In between there is a library, which is now intersected by registry bookshelves to a point which makes enjoyment of it impossible. The three rooms opposite and the Royal Academy room above have been well maintained, I admit, but are used as what I can only describe as a caricature of open-plan clerical offices in a series of clerical pools intersected by filing cabinets. This is a prostitution of the use to which such fine rooms should be put.

I have discussed the whole matter with my colleagues concerned and they have agreed that those four rooms, with the Library, should cease to be used for clerical and registry purposes as soon as alternative accommodation can be found for the staff concerned. The Government will then consider how these five rooms, along with the Registrar's office and conference room—seven rooms in all—could be used, having regard to the enjoyment of the public as well as to the efficiency of the public services.

A number of suggestions have been made on this score: that these rooms might be used as a museum or gallery, that they might return to their original purpose and serve as accommodation for learned societies—for their conferences, lectures and receptions—or for specific and temporary exhibitions.

Yet another possibility is that, along with some of the adjoining accommodation, they might serve as a cultural centre, whether in the national or the European context. I am grateful for what my hon. Friend suggested about the possibility of a European use for them.

In due course—I hope that that will be soon—the Government will consult interested bodies as to what would be the best solution. Meanwhile, we would welcome expressions of opinion from the public at large.

As a first step, I am arranging for those right hon. and hon. Members who have formed a Somerset House Committee to visit the premises themselves and let me have the benefit of their advice.

Before the Minister sits down. He has already indicated that the South Block contains many fine rooms which are occupied by the Registrars. Would it not be infinitely preferable for those courts to be closer to the Queen's Building and the Royal Courts of Justice than situated at the back of Somerset House which is inconvenient not only for practitioners but for the courts themselves? Documents have to be taken from the Principal Probate and Divorce Registry over to the Queen's Building and the Royal Courts of Justice. This is a great inconvenience, particularly when dealing with cases requiring great expedition—injunctions, and so on. Are these not points worthy of consideration?

Certainly I will look into and discuss with my colleagues the hon. Gentleman's suggestion. I am not closing my mind to any variation of use to which they could be put. At the moment I think that there is a good argument in favour of them remaining as courts. They are in a fine setting. Courts should have a certain majesty about them and an impressive character. They provide for this. However, it may be that a better use could be found for them. They are not of the same category of quality as the rooms in the North Block, but I will bear the hon. Gentleman's suggestion in mind.

Although, as the Minister said, they are courts, they are not open to members of the public since nearly all the hearings which take place in them are in camera.

One other point which concerns hon. Members deeply is the hope that my right hon. Friend will have consultations with his right hon. Friend the Paymaster-General about some of the difficulties of our museum needs in this capital city which has the greatest opening for museums in the world. I hope that he will mention to his right hon. Friend some of the problems connected with the proper exhibition of British art, British sporting art, theatre collections which so badly need exhibition, the Dutch marine pictures at Greenwich and a large selection of sculptures which, unbelievably in this day and age, are part of the applied art exhibition at the Victoria and Albert museum.

I am already in close touch with the Paymaster-General on some of these matters. I am grateful to my hon. Friend for his suggestions. He was not able to attend with the deputation which came to see me on behalf of the Somerset House Committee, but I am always available to him for suggestions in this matter. We must work out between us the best possible use of these fine rooms. What I am announcing today is that they will no longer be used for the scandalous purpose to which they are put today. This will be changed. It will perhaps be some weeks before we can find alternative accommodation for the staff concerned, and in those weeks we must decide what is the best use to which the accommodation can be put. This is not a matter on which I or the Government would wish to lay down the law or dictate to the House. We would like opinions from all sides, to discuss among ourselves, to discuss with learned societies and others, and to come forward at the end with constructive proposals which I hope will be generally acceptable.

11.45 p.m.

I was not sure, Mr. Deputy Speaker, whether I was in order in trying to catch your eye so late in this remarkable Adjournment debate, when we have had the pleasure of seeing the Secretary of State come in to hear his Minister and when nearly 20 hon. Members are present on this remarkable evening for a remarkable debate on this subject, which has been received with such a remarkable reply from my right hon. Friend.

It only goes to show that when the House sets its mind to an important subject, feeling the pressure of public opinion behind it, it does not fail to stir the conscience or the activity of members of the Government. My right hon. Friend is strongly supported by his adventurous Secretary of State, who has joined him tonight. We are most grateful.

I thank you, Mr. Deputy Speaker for letting me draw your attention to what the House has done this evening.

Question put and agreed to.

Adjourned accordingly at fourteen minutes to Twelve o'clock.