Lovelock Mitchell’s Royal Approval

👸 35 Years ago today, Princess Diana opened the new Roundhouse Chimpanzee Breeding Centre at Chester Zoo, designed by Lovelock Mitchell. It was a rainy morning on April 11th 1989.

It was reported that Diana watched the chimps feeding in their new home, and then jokingly told a young admirer;

“I would have liked to bring my children. They would have loved it, but I think I would have left them behind in the chimp house” 🙊

As surprising as that might be, it was not the first time one of our projects had a Royal connection.

Five years earlier, in May 1984, Diana opened the Countess of Chester Hospital, a project we designed as The Architects Fellowship Chester, an architectural collaborative working alongside the Liverpool Regional Hospital Board architects.

70 years earlier, on 25 March 1914, our new Albert Wood Wing at Chester Royal Infirmary was officially opened by King George V and Queen Mary.

Then, in July 1943, their son George VI and Queen Elizabeth (the Queen Mother) were presented with the famous Abercrombie Plan for the rebuilding of London, designed by our former partner Sir Patrick Abercombie, pictured below.

Today, if you visit the Chimp House at Chester Zoo, you can still see the Lovelock Mitchell plaque near the front entrance. Other such plaques can be found across the city on our projects from that era!