The Scotsman

When we, the Great British Public, were asked to vote for our favourite building at the turn of the millennium, we plumped not for the secular pomp of a great castle or parliament building, nor for the domestic class of a crumbling country pile. Instead we chose the spiritual religiosity and intimacy of modern/mediaeval marvel Coventry Cathedral, almost destroyed after German bombing in the Second World War. Designed by Sir Basil Spence - perhaps the one 20th-century architect whose name the lay person with only a marginal interest in architecture would know, and the man conversely responsible for the recently demolished notorious high rise Gorbals housing blocks, Hutchesontown C - Coventry symbolised a nation coming to terms with the tragedies of the past, publicly resuscitating its dead and deciding never, ever to forget. Although he was arguably the most prolific and popular of the post-war architects rebuilding Britain, relatively little is known about Spence's body of work. That is set to change, following an award last month of almost £1 million Lottery money to the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland (RCAHMS). The money will finance the conservation of the archive of Spence's main London architectural practice, deposited at the commission in 2003 by Spence's family. It is arguably the most exciting 20th-century architectural archive to be acquired by the commission in recent times, and a testing ground for its new outreach arm.