His routes have been selected to complement Jersey Heritage’s series of What’s Your Street Story talks which look at the history of specific areas through archival records.
Each month from now until October Mr Fell will be featuring the chosen streets in his own exploration of buildings which stand out. Although architectural history will be part of his agenda, Mr Fell has an ambition which goes much further.
‘Our aim should be to make the place beautiful again, to find all the spots that don’t work for some reason and rise to the challenge. It has always prompted me to think why is no one looking to repair St Helier and make it much better by finding the weak spots that cause you to be disappointed and fix them,’ he said.
The first stage in his mission is to raise awareness, and inspire the public to discuss buildings and the contribution they make to their surroundings.
His first excursion takes place this Sunday afternoon, when he will meet participants at 2.30pm at one of St Helier’s most interesting junctions – the meeting place of King Street and New Street. There he will point out what he describes as ‘one of the most architecturally varied and satisfying streets in town with a very good pair of 1930s buildings and some early-19th-century idiosyncrasies’ but he warns that he will also be on the lookout for some of the worst examples of modern commercial architecture.
He added: ‘It’s very difficult to say why some can feel very different from other. It’s not just about historic buildings but any buildings that you experience and how they are used. St Helier has very few streets that don’t have quite remarkable buildings.
‘An important aspect is why some good streets have been spoiled, some just in odd spots which you can live with, but some have been spoiled quite seriously.’
But it would be wrong to suppose that Mr Fell’s walks are only about the past.
‘When Almorah Crescent was built, it must have been a monster of a building but we don’t see it that way now, so we have to be tolerant of the new and people need to be helped at least to understand the language of modern architecture,’ he said.
The remaining walks in the series take place on 25 April, 23 May, 27 June, 25 July, 29 August, 26 September and 24 October.
They last for between an hour and 90 minutes, and are free but reserving a space in advance is essential because numbers are limited to 12. Bookings can be made by visiting eventbrite.com and searching for St Helier town walks.
