Talk:Ernest Berry Webber

Piccadilly Gardens, Manchester
Given the state to which the gardens have descended, it is something of a municipal tragedy that his museum wasn’t built! KJP1 (talk) 16:54, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Have they really? How sad! This was Webber's vision of it, which looks quite Lutyens-esque in terms of its layout, combined greenery and memorials (EBW did intend for it to be a WW1 memorial, after all). Poor Ernest, he had an unfortunate habit of winning competitions, but never actually rewarded with the building of them.  His offering in the former Southern Rhodesia looks wonderful, but I can find no trace of it ever being built. Which is a shame.  Although Mugabe would only have pulled it down anyway.   Cassianto Talk  17:59, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * - The gardens are now notorious for drug-dealing and violence and I encounter many of its denizens! It’s got so bad, the police have considered closing them permanently in the current situation. They really are a sad but valuable lesson in how poor architecture/bad urban planning/municipal mismanagement can make a difficult environment truly awful. KJP1 (talk) 18:16, 6 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Thanks for help on this, as always. Re Dagenham Civic Centre and it being the "best building by far"; not a difficult competition to win, in my experience. Looking at the fire station on Google Street View, it appears very modern (I only count 4 bays and not 5) and I suspect, sadly, that EBW's effort was reduced to rubble a few years ago.   Cassianto Talk  07:36, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Yes - I found a Google article that was headed "Barking and Dagenham fire service move into new home" so I fear you're probably right. And I think Pevsner was with you on the, generally rather low, quality of Dagenham's buildings! KJP1 (talk) 07:44, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * It looks like the fire station was rebuilt in 2014; assuming this is the rebuild there doesn't seem to be anything left of the original. To be honest it looks like it was an absolutely generic urban fire station rather than anything distinctive. As with virtually everything in LBBD, from restaurants to tube stations to pubs to supermarkets, the "Barking good, Dagenham bad" rule applies to buildings as well. Valence House (for Dagenham) and Fulham Palace (for Hammersmith) may well have some books on Webber; local history museum gift shops tend to be a treasure-trove of dusty books on local civic figures, often so long out of print that Amazon hasn't picked them up. &#8209; Iridescent 08:42, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I think this,, shows us old and new. I prefer Webber's. KJP1 (talk) 08:59, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

- On an unrelated point, William Curtis Green. Belatedly got round to checking out what Pevsner has to say on The Wolseley. While he likes it, he prefers Curtis Green's National Westminster Bank, Nos. 63-65 on the other side. Does it need a bit more in his article? You mention it in the third para. of Early years. KJP1 (talk) 07:57, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * I've singled out the NatWest building, just underneath the Wolseley mention, and I've given it the basis for a supporting quote, if would be so kind.  We had the Wolseley booked until things went mad and everything shut down.   Cassianto Talk  08:35, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Will do, something a bit awry there but think it's sorted now. KJP1 (talk) 08:36, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Now - what I can't get my head round is how to put the book cite into the Note. - Given your habit of using Riley's crappy old referencing style rather than the shiny . Shall keep trying. Another aside - Liz Walder is given as a book source, but I'm missing her in the references? KJP1 (talk) 08:49, 7 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Now fixed.  Cassianto Talk  09:06, 7 April 2020 (UTC)

Looking really good!
Well, this is looking fantastic; what a progress from Stub in a matter of days. Many congrats. KJP1 (talk) 15:30, 8 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Thank you, and I owe you a glass (or several) of Pinot noir on the next jaunt to the Wehwalt arms for all your Pevsner bothering. Much appreciated.  It's good to have seen it go from this to this.  And thanks to  for starting it.   Cassianto Talk  16:24, 8 April 2020 (UTC)
 * Outstanding effort. Starting this sort of article is easy, getting it to this sort of standard involves hard work. Edwardx (talk) 10:22, 9 April 2020 (UTC)