The Victorian City of London’s financial centre expanded and renewed its building infrastructure virtually unimpeded by considerations of urban preservation, conservation, or public opinion. The next phase of massive re-building, during the long post-1945 boom, appeared likely to follow the same pattern. However, by the mid-1960s the freedom of City office owner-occupiers and developers to do as they wished with their buildings had become substantially constrained by rising conservationist sentiment. This article explores this process through the history of the design, building, and eventual aborted demolition of “Gibson Hall”, the Bishopsgate headquarters of the National Provincial Bank for over a century. The paper charts the life of Gibson Hall, in particular its conception, design and, ultimately, its attempted redevelopment. We also consider the longer-term consequences of the re-balancing between economic and conservation objectives for the nature of British urban redevelopment and the adoption of a “throw away” business headquarters style – to remove any risk of popular support for preservation.

中文翻译：

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“安静的胜利”：国家省、吉布森厅和 1960 年代伦敦从综合重建到城市保护的转变

维多利亚时代的伦敦金融中心扩建和更新其建筑基础设施，几乎不受城市保护、保护或公众舆论的影响。在 1945 年后的长期繁荣期间，大规模重建的下一阶段似乎可能遵循相同的模式。然而，到 1960 年代中期，市政府办公室业主自住业主和开发商按照自己的意愿处理建筑物的自由已受到日益高涨的环保主义情绪的极大限制。本文通过一个多世纪以来国家省银行 Bishopsgate 总部“吉布森大厅”的设计、建造和最终拆除的历史来探讨这一过程。这篇论文描绘了吉布森大厅的生活，特别是它的概念、设计以及最终的重建尝试。