Charles Brooking

 

Trying my hand at working

in museums

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 after leaving your job at British Rail?

Charles Brooking : I left British Rail in 1978, when I had an American girlfriend who encouraged me to write to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum.

The Ironbridge Gorge Museums

The Ironbridge Gorge Museums are in Coalbrookdale, Telford and are a series of museums along the valley next to the River Severn spanned by the world's first Iron Bridge. The museums celebrate the birthplace of industry where visitors can learn about the Industrial Revolution with demonstrations from fashioning china and glass to tile decorating.

Charles Brooking: I wrote to the Ironbridge Gorge Museum and with my girlfriend's encouragement me to take the job I was offered worked there on a job creation scheme from '78 to '79. I helped the Museum build up their Museum of Iron at the Ironbridge Gorge. It further made me aware of the differences in casting techniques in the Midlands, the development of the fire grates and ironmongery generally and an awareness of local vernacular styles in the Midlands and how brick and everything differed so much, even the size of bricks, and the detailing of windows. All fascinating stuff.

I left the Ironbridge Gorge Museum in 1979 with the idea of joining, through a friend who I had met at the Victorian Society (I went on the Victorian Society summer school in '79 and won a scholarship), who suggested I join the Historic Buildings Division at General London Council (GLC), as a Historian with my museum, which sounded a fantastic answer to my problems.

He was very nice and I think he wanted it to happen but I was kept on a long bit of string and it never actually happened. Through the summer and recession of the early 80's, (80/'81) I was at home hoping for something to happen, working on projects, but struggling financially. I had a big architectural detail collection by that time, a very large collection of several buildings in my parent's garden which caused them a lot of embarrassment!

Then my career took another direction when I went to join the Building Conservation Trust at Hampton Court Palace to help set up their museum of conservation and repair of buildings, aimed at surveyors. Typical faults in the building: leaking gutters, the effects thereof, rotting, lack of damp proof courses, using, not my collection, but things I'd rescued for them in the displays at Hampton Court Palace.

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charles-brooking54

A sketch of a damp proof course
with plinth

Example sketch of gutter on wall problems

A gutter on wall problems

buying-a-purpose-built-edwardian-flat-which-is-leasehold-or-shared-freehold

Dampness in old buildings

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

Cheap surveys or being wrongly advised by your building surveyor

Can you trust a Chartered Surveyors Valuation

Buying property at auction

Building surveys or structural surveys

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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