The list of Victorian society buildings at risk includes the amusement park

Victorian Society president Griff Rhys-Jones urged people to support the buildings.

“Look at the character shown here. They all add color and story to any urban landscape,” he said.

“Restoring and reusing them makes huge business sense. They are attractions in themselves. There are already destinations. It should be part of local pride.

“What do we want? Parking space? A faceless block in their place? A bunch of new carbon pollution?

“When they already have so much color, continuity and history on their side?”

The 10 Victorian buildings at risk on the 2024 list are:

Described by Historic England as “a large symmetrical building of seven sections”, Kennington Boys’ School was built in 1912 by TJ Bailey.

It has “complex roofs including spires”, red brick, stone and terracotta dressings, varied windows and “wall enrichment”.

The building later became the home of the Charles Edward Brooke School for Girls until it moved.

Water seeping into the building caused significant internal damage and no future user has been identified.

The Kursaal in Southend-on-Sea, Essex, opened in 1901 and is believed to be the world’s first purpose-built amusement park.

A circus, ballroom, arcade, dining hall, billiard room, zoo and ice rink were all available for public enjoyment before falling into permanent decline.

Designed by architect George Sherrin, the site is now occupied by a Tesco Express.

St Martins in Torrs Park was built in the Gothic style by WM Robbins of Ilfracombe, North Devon.

It was first listed in 1994.

A plaque above the entrance bears the date 1880 and is first mentioned in the 1881 census.

It has served as a girls’ school since 1885.

Formerly known as the Roslyn Hoe, it became a small hotel in the 1930s.

The house was described by a local architect as an “exercise in symmetry”.

St Luke’s Chapel was probably completed in September 1902 and was originally a private chapel for Nottingham prisoners and staff.

The site became the site of Nottingham Hospital and the chapel remained open for workers and patients, closing when a new one was opened.

After that, it was used as a warehouse for the hospital.

The chancel behind St Agnes Church in Greenbank, Liverpool was built in 1887 by Norman Shaw.

It is recognized for its stone jambs, canted windows and buried entrance.

Chances Glassworks in Smethwick was established in the early 19th century and made window glass, optical and specialist glass – including window glass for the Houses of Parliament.

Significant areas of archaeological survival are known to exist within the site, including the bases of up to six kilns and major tunnels and ducts, potentially providing the most extensive surviving area of ​​Victorian glass production in the country.

The former Derby Department of Education office was built in the Renaissance style in 1893.

Featuring molded architraves with pilasters and a truncated pyramidal roof covered with iron brattishing, the roof of the building is now dilapidated.

The former Bramcote Tennis Pavilion, built in Scarborough in 1885, is listed for both social and architectural interest.

Described as a “delightful” Arts and Crafts-influenced building, it is also a “particularly fine example of the late-Victorian and Edwardian period bungalow sports building”.

And as it has changing rooms for both sexes, the building illustrates “a particularly significant social historical aspect” of the sport.

Jesmond Dene Banqueting Hall in Newcastle, which originally had a water-powered pipe organ, was built for Lord William Armstrong by John Dobson in 1860.

Lord Armstrong wanted a hall large enough to entertain his many guests, both VIPs from around the world and his own workers.

It was later extended with a porch, reception hall and exhibition hall by Norman Shaw in the following decade.

The hall was last used for events in the 1970s and has been reserved for restoration by the Tyne & Wear Building Preservation Trust.

The first recorded million pound deal was made on the Coal Exchange.

The Stock Exchange closed in 1958, but the impressive architecture and early 20th century interiors remain, reflecting Cardiff’s important position in the coal trade.

It previously operated as a music venue but was declared unsafe and in imminent danger of collapse by Cardiff Council in 2013.

It reopened in March this year as a hotel.