Millfold House, Rotherham

Demolition of Millfold House in Rotherham Town Centre:

https://rotherham.planportal.co.uk/?id=RB2020/0088

In all honesty, no one will rue the loss of this building apart from the hardcore conservationists. Of which I am one.

Built in 1936, I am fond of this building because it represents the last wave of industrial buildings that also attempted to integrate into townscape. These workshops have a better frontage that most modern commercial buildings, which is quite a feat for the town of Rotherham. The buildings demonstrate that the lost art of industrial architecture remained with us until relatively recently.

I’d like to see this building retained because it is meaningful; it encloses an important corridor into the town centre as industry transforms into civic architecture. The building shows that there is an answer to the desolate inner-city rim that plagues post-industrial urban centres.

Props to the developer who commissioned a heritage statement for the building. I’ve seen much more important buildings reduced to rubble without such consideration.