GORDON Campbell Thomas and his friends at York Sustainable Development Limited are doing the people of this city no service whatsoever in calling for the Ryedale Building to be retained (Evening Press, January 2).
Whatever reservations people may have about Coppergate Riverside, one thing it has going for it is that the removal of the Ryedale Building is part of the scheme and Land Securities deserve credit for agreeing to sacrifice this massive asset.
The Ryedale Building is not brutal Sixties architecture because it does not display acres of grey, exposed concrete.
It is a banded building of alternate brick and glass - typical of many open plan office blocks of the time.
The problem with the building is not so much the materials, but its bulk and height.
This eight-storey structure has ruined the skyline of York for more than three decades.
It towers above the nearby law courts and Castle Museum complex, and no amount of re-cladding, balconies or roof gardens will change that!
Matthew Laverack,
Chartered architect,
Lord Mayor's Walk,
York.
...THE architect behind York's Copper-gate proposals must be taken to task over the stupidity of the project.
I remember coming to York in 1935 to watch the ugly, black prison walls pulled down which encircled the area.
What a wonderful sight we saw when Clifford's Tower, and all the other majestic buildings, were exposed for all to see.
How could anyone want to build so near to one of this country's most historic places?
There are the law courts, the debtors' prison and the fabulous Castle Museum, generously helped with the displays by Dr John Kirk in 1938.
Must all these wonderful buildings be spoilt by greed or ignorance from the various Coppergate planners?
If we don't stop it all now, the whole of this valuable historical area will be lost for ever.
Remove the car park and turn it into a pleasant garden and let visitors leave their cars outside York and travel in by single-deck buses.
Barbara Wright,
Manor Road,
The Bungalows,
Easingwold.
Updated: 10:42 Tuesday, January 29, 2002
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