Abstract

Conference The Victorian Society's Conference for 1976, 'The Victorian Building World' (Poly- technic of the South Bank, 10-12 September), was focused largely on London. Sir John Summerson set out on a chart-making exploration of a building world that archi- tects condescended to as a tradesman's world, but one that was very much alive, where the artisan was jostling the architect and making it possible to deliver an order for iron girders within two days. Mr E. W. Cooney investigated the problems confront- ing any attempt to write a general history of the building industry in the nineteenth century: an industry more resistant to change than the economy in general, but influ- enced by contemporary belief in the virtues of competition and by the development (outstandingly in London) of master builders able to undertake large-scale competitive tendering. Such firms enlarged the scale of their enterprises to make the fullest use of resources, especially their skilled clerks and foremen, and to maximise their personal gain. Thus Higgs & Hill, employing between 400 and 1,000 men, in 1876 made 30 per cent profit on their capital. Demand, however, was not purely utilitarian: the Victorians were prepared to pay for style, for 'delight';