3 JANUARY 1958, Page 29

COLUMBIA MARKET SIR,—This (Mr. Fleet's letter on Columbia Market) is

very odd. Tower Bridge, Buckingham Palace and the Daily Express building are all good in their several styles, and so is Columbia Market. It begins to look as though our new criterion is to be that of adequately designed mediocrity. I've walked up to Columbia Market from both sides and respect and admire it as a bold-spirited gesture, something we arc badly in need of today; at the same time I failed to find anything modern within half a mile of Columbia Market that rose above competent but completely soulless cliché-mongering, and that on excursions when I was really trying to find good modern architecture. I'm no neo-Victorian, but any taste is better than no taste, even in the middle of a hangover, which is where I am at the moment.— Yours faithfully, IAN NAIRN Architectural Review, London, SW 1.