“The Past being over and done with now falls prey to our invention,” wrote Walter Benjamin. His statement is called upon by Rachel Lichtenstein, who in her book On Brick Lane (fascinating according to The Guardian) recognises that whilst London’s East End has today been reinvented by the creative sector, Lichtenstein’s personal motive tries to preserve what memories she can of its past. So let’s see what Rachel makes of the former (Pedley Street) Shoreditch Station…

There are 108 illustrations listed in the book. None feature Shoreditch Station. The book is 352pages long and mentions “Shoreditch Station” four times on pages 66, 255, 299, 338. All mentions are one sentence references to the Station in terms of locating, e.g p66: “we walked together back down Brick Lane, past Shoreditch Station and a row of shops before turning into a narrow alleyway next to a café, which ended in a iron stairwell”. The contribution of Shoreditch Station to the Conservation Area can be rigorously identified (away from rose-tinted anecdotal evidence) to being one of an urban locator, a sign post. If, since 2006, the heritage setting around the Station has changed dramatically particularly with the installation of the new ELL steel truss bridge which towers over the former Station, then the Station needs to reassert itself as a way finder, a beacon which heralds arrival into Allen Gardens and links the new High Line green park proposed for BishopsGates GoodsYard (which, unlike the Station, was Listed). Context is everything, but if the context changes then Lichtenstein reminds us in her introduction to chapter 12 ‘Disappearances’: “Each person effectively shapes the place by his or her story a thread in thread in the meaning of place and also has to come to terms with the many layers of the story that already exist in a given location.” Layering is a verticalised strategy for comprehending memory (Underground, Ground, Overground)  and is preferred over the ‘train wreck’ that is horizontal juxtaposition. Layering, not juxtaposition, is the architectural strategy. This is why the proposal is a verticalised layering, a palimpsest of the new NOT next to the old but the new UPON the old. Layering reinforces heritage: architecture can be archeology! Furthermore, to really engage in Sustainable Heritage the proposal has to be of a size to socially, economically and ecologically sustain the local Conservation Area neighbourhood that is Allen Gardens and Spitalfields Farm, if not the local ukelele shop… Bob Mazzer’s book ‘Underground’ features no imagery of Shoreditch Station.