Summary
Concrete Sculpture of a Man by Rudi Weber 1946.
Reasons for Designation
The Concrete Sculpture of a Man, Lippitts Hill, created 1946 by Rudi Weber is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Historic interest:
* as the principal memorial to the German prisoner of war camp at Lippitts HiIl;
* created by Rudi Weber, a Prisoner of War at the site, it provides an insight into the more domestic and humanistic presence adding a sense of warmth and creativity in the aftermath of conflict.
Architectural interest:
* its strong social realism creates a powerful artistic complement to the essentially utilitarian nature of the other structures on the site;
Group Value:
* for its strong group value with the Second World War Heavy Anti-Aircraft (HAA) gun emplacement, and the original accommodation units built by the War Office as part of the supporting infrastructure for military personnel serving the ZE7 Lippitts Hill HAA gun emplacement. The structures all survive remarkably well and allow a thorough appreciation of the wartime operation and chart the subsequent development of the military site.
History
Until just before the Second World War the site of Lippitts Hill, currently a Police Training Camp, was a rural setting of open fields bordered by the Owl public house and Pipers Farm on the east side. The 1882 1:2500 Ordnance Survey map shows a series of enclosed medieval fields on the site. By January 1940 a Heavy Anti-Aircraft battery known as ZE7 Lippitts Hill had been constructed to guard the eastern approaches of London. War Office documents record that the battery was operational in January 1940, and by January 1943 the battery was manned by American troops under the command of Major M F J Emanuel. In March 1944 Battery B, 184th Anti-Aircraft Artillery, equipped with Mark 1, 90mm guns, became the first American crew to fire in the defence of London.
In late 1944, the Americans moved to France and the site was converted by the British into a Prisoner of War camp. A reminder of this phase of use still exists on site today in the form of a concrete sculpture of a man carved by prisoner Rudi Weber in 1946 (NHLE 1390665). The Prisoner of War camp was closed in 1948. Sometime in 1951, or shortly afterwards, a Cold War Anti-Aircraft Operation Room (AAOR) was built on the site. It acted as a control centre for a number of anti-aircraft guns protecting the north of London. By 1956, with the advent of high flying jet bombers and evolving missile technology this role was obsolete and the system was abandoned.
In 1960, the site became a Metropolitan Police Training Area, a function retained until 2003. Following the murder of three police officers in West London in 1966, it was used as a centre for training police officers in the use of guns, although the construction of a new, pistol firing range was not approved until 1973. From 1976 Lippitts Hill became a base for police helicopters, which were loaned from the Army and operated over London. However, in 1980, faced by a change in flight requirements, the Metropolitan Police purchased their own aircraft, and in November that year, the Metropolitan Police Air Support Unit was officially launched and based at Lippitts Hill. Changes to the Metropolitan Police area in 2000 placed Lippitts Hill, and the surrounding area under Essex Police. The helicopter unit joined the National Police Air Service (NPAS) in 2014.
The Concrete Sculpture of a Man by prisoner of war Rudi Weber in 1946, the subject of this list entry, holds a strong historical association and group value with the Second World War HAA gun emplacement, and the original accommodation units built by the War Office as part of the supporting infrastructure for military personnel serving the ZE7 Lippitts Hill HAA gun emplacement. It is these buildings which were later adapted as a Prisoner of War Camp and where Rudi Weber would have resided. The structures all survive remarkably well and allow a thorough appreciation of the wartime operation and chart the subsequent development of the military site. The national importance of the site is firmly recognised by the scheduling of the HAA (NHLE 1019487) and its historic interest greatly enhanced by the contemporary accommodation blocks all of which are listed at Grade II.
Details
Concrete Sculpture of a Man by prisoner of war Rudi Weber in 1946.
Materials: the figure, sitting on a rectangular plinth is carved in mass concrete with exposed aggregate.
Exterior: the over life-sized male nude, draped in cloth and holding an unidentified object (possibly a diablo) in his left hand, is seated on a plinth. The carving is relatively finely detailed given the coarse nature of the medium. An inscription on the southern face of the plinth reads: THIS FIGURE WAS CUT OUT OF SOLID CONCRETE BY RUDI WEBER 540177 WHILST A PRISONER OF WAR AT THIS CAMP OCTOBER 1946. The inscription is worn and difficult to read but a metal plaque has been attached to the front of the sculpture with the inscription transcribed.
