6:11pm Wednesday 25th April 2007
By Pat Stannard
MICHAEL Polledri and Guy Davis are big players in the business and construction scene in Waltham Forest.
You might therefore expect them to take a purely hard-headed approach to all their dealings.
But get them on to the subject of the old Leyton Town Hall, and you soon realise that in this case they have put considerable money where their hearts are.
Certainly, they are determined to make the venture pay. They say that no business is worth it if it is doomed to collapse.
At the same time, they are revelling in the opportunity to take a wonderful Grade II listed building and bring back its glory.
The marbles and mosaics give particular joy to Mr Polledri.
He is the grandson of a man who grew up in an area of Italy where marble was mined before coming to England in the early 20th century.
"He was a marble polisher by trade, using a series of stones to carry out the work by hand. There were no machines then," said Mr Polledri.
That man has clearly passed down to his grandson his love of the hard crystalline rock in its many colours and forms and the uses to which it can be put.
Mr Polledri describes the work as the LMO building as a voyage of discovery.
"We have been stripping lino from floors and taking away boarding and wall coverings to reveal beautiful patterned floors, mosaics and fireplaces as well as beautiful panelling. Floors like just don't exist any more," he said.
Guy Davis, for his part, has been a fan of the old town hall since he lived across the road from it as a student 20 years ago.
"Every day, I would see it and think it one of the most beautiful buildings in Waltham Forest," he said. "I would never have dreamed in a million years being involved in a regeneration scheme here."
Mr Davis sounds a bit like a child let loose in a toy shop as he talks about it.
"When the floor covering came off, we found a beautiful wooden floor in a state of disrepair. We are putting that right.
"There was an absolutely hideous wall covering that went up in the 1970s. That has come off. We are trying to get rid of decades of cigarette smoke and finding, for example, that a wall that looked a dirty brown has turned out to be a beautiful green."
Mr Davis, the son of musicians, recalls visiting the Wigmore Hall regularly as a child and he says it would thrill him to see a concert in the Great Hall, for which it would be a perfect setting.
Mr Polledri's company, Lee Valley Estates, is not a stranger to the business of restoring old buildings and putting them back into productive use.
In Waltham Forest, it has restored Forest Place, the new name for the main building of Hawker Siddeley in Fulbourne Road, and Uplands House in Blakhorse Lane. The RSA Island Centre, formerly the Royal Small Arms Factory, is Enfield is also part of its portfolio. But Mr Polledri is in no doubt when he says: "The LMO is the jewel in the crown".
© Copyright 2001-2012 Newsquest Media Group
http://www.guardian-series.co.uk