Paul Keating
August 20th, 2011, 06:54 PM
We've just come back from Gamescom in Cologne, where we stayed in a
hotel that was built 100 years ago and is a fine example of the
architecture of the time, or will be, when they finish restoring it.
My wife was writing a review of the hotel and, pausing over a
particularly bad bit of Denglish, asked me "what's the proper English
for 'protected monument building'?" To which I replied, "Depends on
where you are. In England it would be a 'listed building' and in South
Africa it would be a 'national monument'. Haven't the faintest what
Americans would call it."
So, cousins, what do you call it, or is it a completely foreign
concept?
To save you all the trouble, Wikipedia says about the English version
"A listed building may not be demolished, extended or altered without
special permission from the local planning authority.... Owners of
listed buildings are, in some circumstances, compelled to repair and
maintain them and can face criminal prosecution if they fail to do so
or if they perform unauthorised alterations."
In Britain, depending on the degree of listedness, you might need to
consult the local authority even to repaint the facade the same colour
as it was before.
This is not just about such things as cathedrals and castles. In The
Hague there is even one square, Sweelinckplein
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sweelinckplein,+Den+Haag,+Nederland&hl=en&ll=52.079875,4.289045&spn=0.037399,0.059996&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.956293,61.435547&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=52.083159,4.283857&panoid=nYeiBAyPiGdWLvZ1qU17Jg&cbp=12,8.71,,0,0.17,
built in the 1890s, that consists of apartments and quiet offices,
where _every single building_ is protected. (I happen to know about
this one because that is where my dentist is.)
hotel that was built 100 years ago and is a fine example of the
architecture of the time, or will be, when they finish restoring it.
My wife was writing a review of the hotel and, pausing over a
particularly bad bit of Denglish, asked me "what's the proper English
for 'protected monument building'?" To which I replied, "Depends on
where you are. In England it would be a 'listed building' and in South
Africa it would be a 'national monument'. Haven't the faintest what
Americans would call it."
So, cousins, what do you call it, or is it a completely foreign
concept?
To save you all the trouble, Wikipedia says about the English version
"A listed building may not be demolished, extended or altered without
special permission from the local planning authority.... Owners of
listed buildings are, in some circumstances, compelled to repair and
maintain them and can face criminal prosecution if they fail to do so
or if they perform unauthorised alterations."
In Britain, depending on the degree of listedness, you might need to
consult the local authority even to repaint the facade the same colour
as it was before.
This is not just about such things as cathedrals and castles. In The
Hague there is even one square, Sweelinckplein
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=Sweelinckplein,+Den+Haag,+Nederland&hl=en&ll=52.079875,4.289045&spn=0.037399,0.059996&sll=37.0625,-95.677068&sspn=48.956293,61.435547&vpsrc=6&t=h&z=14&layer=c&cbll=52.083159,4.283857&panoid=nYeiBAyPiGdWLvZ1qU17Jg&cbp=12,8.71,,0,0.17,
built in the 1890s, that consists of apartments and quiet offices,
where _every single building_ is protected. (I happen to know about
this one because that is where my dentist is.)