Preserving The Medieval Past - Saving The Curzon Cinema For The Future

Happy About The Cross Rail
The new Crossrail line running East-West across London, England, has provided a vertical peep into the past where stations are being created in a 'well', literally unearthing slices down into the past of different centuries, plus a horizontal tunnel across London, revealing one era geographically. The good news is that increasing co-oeration between archaeologists wanting to save the old, and engineers wanting to build the new, which will be called the Elizabeth line. (Yes, the pun on happy and cross is deliberate.)

The Elizabeth line is a tongue twister and at four syllables a nuisance, too long to say, although I have not had trouble saying Bakerloo. But to abbreviate it to the Liz line might offend purists, after all Liz is slang, and H M THE QUEEN is called Elizabeth not Liz. However, Liz line is neatly alliterative.

Problem
The serious question about the Crossrail line is how do you save and identify what's dug up by excavations?
How do save, should you save historic buildings such as the Curzon Cinema which will be destroyed by the new ticket office? Actor Stephen Fry is campaigning to save the Curzon.

The Americans are good at saving entire buildings and moving them along the street or even several miles. I remember first coming across this concept when it was new to the British, before the days of the internet. It could have been as long ago as the Sixties, or maybe the Nineties. I visited a famous home. It might have been the home of Molly Brown. I and the other visitors were told by the guide, "This is the exact same building, every stone of the structure, the desk and every item in the house is the same, but when it was in use it was 100 yards down the road. It was moved because of the railway (or road) being built.

So, I would like to see the Curzon Cinema saved. Those in charge of finance can decide whether it is more cost effective to move it entirely (losing its position in the nearby Curzon Street), or whether to preserve it as part of a new skyscraper building going up and down, and losing the exterior view from the road (unless it can be preserved by glass, like the glass being built around the Eiffel Tower).

Author, Angela Lansbury, see my books on Amazon and Lulu.com
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