By William Mills
The Wall of Windows exhibition has opened at Brighton University’s Art Gallery in Grand Parade Brighton, and was attended by the Mayor at the invitation of sponsors Brighton and Hove Heritage Commission.
Roger Amerena, Heritage Commissioner said;
This exhibition is truly quite remarkable and the Commission is very pleased to have been part of the ingredient in getting the collection here to Brighton and part of its launch in the UK. Thirty members have given their time to help this exhibition being a great success.
A key display from the prestigious Venice Architecture Biennale is being exhibited at the Brighton University Gallery. The Venice Biennale is the World’s leading exhibition for architecture and in 2014 its Curator the internationally renowned architect Rem Koolhaas addressed the “Fundamentals” of architecture – from ceilings to corridors.
But it was the “Wall of Windows” provided by the Brooking National Collection, that captured the imagination of tens of thousands of visitors, and it became very much the face of the Biennale.
The Brooking National Collection is displaying four centuries worth of windows, ranging from a 17th century wrought-iron casement window from a Hampshire farmhouse up to a 1960s window from the Tricorn Centre, Portsmouth designed by Sir Owen Luder.
Sixty eight key items were shipped to Venice for the display including a pine window from Windsor Castle designed by Sir Jeffry Wyatville, a Gothic Revival window from the Tower of London and details associated with well-known figures such as Sir Alfred Hitchcock and celebrated actor and playwright, David Garrick.
The founder, Charles Brooking, has amassed this great collection over five decades, often rescuing these precious details from buildings that face demolition.
Charles Brooking is an architectural historian and consultant based in Cranleigh, Surrey.
 
