Letters from readers, June 1960

N.B. – Opinions expressed are those of our correspondents and “Motor Sport” does not necessarily associate itself with them. – Ed.

Is it an eyesore?

Sir,

For what must be a pleasant change I am compelled to take issue with you on a subject different from that on which you are usually challenged.

You refer in the April issue of Motor Sport (“Rumblings”) to Castrol House as the “finest and most modern building in London.” As one who lives some distance from, but within sight of, Castro! House, I must beg to differ. It is to me an eyesore and a blot on the landscape. Even from the middle of Regent’s Park, where, surrounded by trees and greenery, one might be excused for getting a sense of the open air, this building scars the landscape, and it is no relief to know that after dark it will present a panorama of hideous green luminescence.

Interior-wise it may be no exaggeration to claim that it has every modern convenience, but for those of us who have to see it regularly from the outside it follows the regrettable modern tendency to design buildings looking like a rather neat pile of match boxes. For those who may argue that style and beauty must give place to functional considerations, I would suggest that they take a look a little farther along Marylebone Road, where, in the Woolworth building, they can see an example of the combination of the graceful and the functional.

Incidentally, the implication in the article that the upward trend in building is to the advantage of traffic, in that more room is left for roads, is, regrettably, unfounded. The real reason that buildings are now becoming taller is because land is so extremely valuable and for the same reason there is never likely to be as much space as necessary for traffic.

I am, Yours, etc.,

London, N.W.8. – R. Dowell.

[The Editor, having an old-fashioned outlook, can appreciate our correspondent’s point of view, but as he does not live in London this aspect does not directly concern him. However, whatever is thought of the building, it does not detract from the quality of Castrol oils. – Ed.]