Proposals for the rebuilding of the Pearl Assurance building to the rear of the Sir John Soane Museum have provoked violent opposition from the Royal Fine Art Commission.
Commission chairman Lord St John of Fawsley believes that the new building would “constitute a blackout as far as the museum is concerned, and destroy the element of light which is an essential part of this unique building”.
The RFAC has called for the effect of the new building on the major rooms at the museum to be thoroughly examined at the public inquiry and asked for the plans to be amended. It also fears that the setting of the Soane Museum will be “unacceptably compromised” by the higher roof of the Pearl building when seen from Lincoln’s Inn Fields.
