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Further information and updates The collection is composed of acetate negatives and their corresponding photographic prints, as well as a small number of colour transparencies.
Most of the English counties receive some coverage, with Greater London accounting for almost 40% of the total; northern counties receive only limited coverage. The predominance of London is probably due to projects undertaken by de Mare relating to the Thames and London's riverside. The national canal network is also covered.
The collection contains a wide range of building types and records both modern and historic architecture. Industrial buildings feature strongly, ranging from early factories and maltings to modern power generation plants. Images of post war architecture include both inner city and new town developments, with a strong emphasis on the housing estates and high rise blocks of the 1950s and 1960s.
The collection represented here is part of the life work of a prominent professional photographer and former contributor to the National Buildings Record, who operated from 1940s onwards. It was received from the photographer in batches of 100 negatives and prints between 1983 and 1986.
On receipt, each of the negatives was housed in glassine bags annotated with the photographer's original numbering scheme. Typewritten lists, produced by de Mare, give a brief description of each image in a particular batch.
The National Monuments Record Centre Red Box Collection holds further uncatalogued material received through earlier donations and purchases.
© Historic England Archive
Photographer: De Mare, Eric Samuel
