| The following tributes to Gaye Christiansen (1912-2001) appeared in the Society's Newsletters: | |||
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| HRH The Duke of Gloucester KG GCVO | It became
apparent to anyone who met Gay Christiansen that she was of a strong
minded and formidable personality. Her love of Kensington, and
appreciation of the qualities of its various parts made her an able
campaigner against those who did not share her views and were more
inclined to follow commercial instincts. Her attitude inspired others to see the value of a collective expression of the desire to maintain the character of the Borough in the face of changes inspired by forces from outside. I recall her delight at the restoration of the Albert Memorial, which had previously been mothballed for some years by an uncaring Ministry of Environment. It was a consequence of her energy and the backing of the Kensington Society that many fine buildings were no longer threatened by wholesale redevelopment. If the cost of liberty is eternal vigilance so much more so is the cause of Architectural Conservation and her successors owe her acknowledgement for showing the way, and should follow her example. |
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| Sir John Drummond OBE | My first meeting with Mrs
Christiansen was at the memorial service for Alec Clifton Taylor, that
remarkable historian of architecture who became in the last years of his
life a close friend. Mrs Christiansen wanted to talk to me, and, in due
course, I went for the first time to the splendid John Stuart Mill house
in Kensington Square, where she lived. My first impression was of sharp
contrast between the authority she radiated and her diminutive stature.
Like many women of her generation, she always wore a hat, usually a sort
of turban scrunched down on her forehead. Her manner could be slightly
daunting and she was quite definitely not one for small talk or time
wasting. On this first occasion she came straight to the point. She wanted
me to take over as Chairman. I was immensely flattered, especially when I
discovered that she did not know that I had been born and lived almost all
my London life in Kensington and knew it well. Despite initial uncertainty. Gay was a person of warmth with a jolly sense of humour as well. I came to think of her as a friend, but I never doubted for a moment that she was someone used to being proved right. I had a small degree of sympathy for people who got in her way. She was never going to accept less than she thought Kensington deserved. Yet in spite of regular confrontations, she was much respected at the Town Hall notably by the Planning Department. She was a model of good citizenship and commitment to the things she believed in. She was also tireless in pursuit of her beliefs and the work of the several charities she supported, both in London and in her part of Kent. She worried a great deal about the future of the Kensington Society, which she had founded and whose activities she steered for so many years. Flatteringly, she thought I understood the values she represented and often telephoned to discuss the latest shortfall in what she had hoped for. She was in the literal sense tireless and even in old age went on fighting for what she believed in. For many years she single-handedly produced the Annual Report, in the opinion of Simon Jenkins the best of any conservation society in London. Having done so much on her own, she found it hard to understand why it took so many people to replace her! I count myself fortunate to have known her. I hope the standards of concern and commitment she embodied will continue to flourish in this new century. |
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The Chairman Robin Price |
I first met Gay
Christiansen only some 15 years ago. She had become, by then, a legendary
figure, so much identified with Kensington that in all our minds she was
Kensington. To meet her was an event. She and I soon discovered - inevitably, I suppose - that we had acquaintances and friends in common; but apart from that and a shared enthusiasm for all things Kensingtonian and for the maintenance and improvement of our splendid urban environment in all its phases, there the similarity ceased. For she was in every sense a totally dedicated enthusiast for quality and service in all things. Her drive not only founded the Kensington Society in 1953 in response to the usual impending conservation disaster - but in 1958 she also made time in the face of another impending disaster to found the Westminster Society. These two Societies continue as vigorous conservation forces. She was no lover of officialdom, and she fought deleterious proposals with immense and purposive - and often successful - vigour. She loved gardens, and that love found expression in honouring the memory of her old friends, among them the ever delightful and kindly Alec Clifton-Taylor, former President of the Kensington Society, whose memorial garden lies in a quiet and beautiful corner just behind Kensington High Street. Likewise, the Princess Alice of Athlone, for many years a close friend, whose memorial garden lies immediately below the Council Chamber of Kensington and Chelsea Town Hall. This she created and often tended herself before ill-health and waning energy transferred that loving care to John Bickel, and eventually to the Town Hall gardeners. That garden was paid for in part by herself; and, through her energies, by contributions from all over the world. Not content with that, she found time to be in at the formation of the Spastics Society, whose activities have brought incalculable benefits to so many. Her private generosities - for she was essentially a very private person - were many, and were wholly in line with her Gurney and Fry ancestry; but not so much ancestral as personal to her, and deeply-felt and lived. Of her there is much to be said and much to be recalled with great affection. She would, I think, not much have enjoyed a hugely glowing tribute, since the act was sufficient in itself. A truly generous spirit. But I may be permitted to recall that not only did she run the Kensington Society virtually single-handed in all its planning aspects for many years, but she also found time to organise a wonderful programme of privileged visits both within and without London. And she produced only until about 18 months ago the widely-acclaimed Kensington Society Annual Report, full of historical and literary and illustrative gems, beautifully produced, and always a delight to read. And she kept in touch with a host of Kensington personalities, so that one felt that a telephone call, or more dangerously, a letter, from her would sound the immediate curfew or even death-knell to any neglect, or to any over-ambitious and tasteless plan private or public. The terror she inspired on the part of conservational miscreants was legendary. She was a force to be reckoned with. We are reliably assured by a biblical writer that Paradise is bedecked with rubies, emeralds and diamonds; its walls are adamantine, and its buildings of gold and silver, liberally encrusted with chrysoprase, beryl, chalcedony, topaz and amethyst. Notwithstanding all that, we would like to think of Gay Christiansen dealing summarily with any neglect - even in those Elysian fields - on the part of Dominions, Principalities and Powers, and setting up Committees, frequently selected by herself, of Archangels and Angels, to bring them to account. They wouldn't get away with it. Gay Christiansen: we love, respect and admire you and all the work you have initiated and wrought among us. Yours was a qualitative Christian work in a Christian Borough. We are deeply grateful to you. Your work continues, and we shall make sure that it does. We shall miss you far more than we can put into words. "May you rest in peace." Robin Price |
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| Barnabas Brunner (Council Member) | Along with other past and
present members of the Kensington Society's Executive Committee I
travelled to Ashford, Kent, on Wednesday, 8th August, to attend Gay
Christiansen's funeral at St John the Baptist Mersham where we were joined
by Sir John Drummond, our former President, and by John Bickel, Gay's
adopted son. The funeral service was remarkable for its quiet dignity and
warmth of sentiment. George Pole read the lesson. Tim Wilmot and Robin
Price spoke eloquently of Gay's background and many achievements. Here in Kensington we best remember Gay for her 45 years as Honorary Secretary of the Kensington Society which she founded in 1953. For most of this time the Committee would foregather in the dining room of her home at 18 Kensington Square. A glass of sherry was usually on offer. Joining the Committee in the early seventies, I was immediately struck by Gay's passionate advocacy of good architecture and planning within the Royal Borough. Gay expected the Committee to be (like her) crusaders in the cause of preserving and improving Kensington's amenities for the public benefit. Just occasionally we would be found wanting in the required zeal. Allied to her passion, Gay demonstrated great skill in recruiting expert advice (legal, architectural or simply local) to the Committee, thus ensuring informed decision making and persuasive negotiations with the Council's Planning Committee. Not all battles were won but enough to ensure the Society would be treated with respect when it chose to oppose developments of questionable merit. Last but not least, I recall Gay's warm heart even among the afflictions of old age. Many were the recipients of her kindnesses. Thus it was not at all surprising that so many of Gay's former colleagues in the Society gathered together at Mersham to salute the achievements of her long life. |
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| A Lifetime of Conservation | Mrs Gay Christiansen was
by all standards a remarkable and steadfast character. In 1953 she began
by trying to prevent the destruction of several rather beautiful houses in
Young Street. Despite her endeavours, they were knocked down and replaced
by a multi-storey car park! However, she succeeded in preventing the building by the Russian Government of a Kremlin-like structure in Kensington Palace Gardens. But the developers got the better of her over the demolition of the old Town Hall which, at the time, gave rise to great controversy. Her continuing vigilance concerning all major proposals for development in the Royal Borough made her a person to be reckoned with. The Society will sorely miss her and will do its best to follow her example. |
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