Sometimes they come back several times to the commission’s panelled offices for what can be a gruelling experience.Ten days later, a letter reaches the architect in question, the client and, occasionally, the local press, with comments and advice. Architects whose plans are being examined have just 20 minutes to present and justify their proposals to a formidable selection of their eminent peers, including the architectural knights Michael Hopkins and Colin Stansfield Smith. Often penned in colourful prose by Lord St John himself, these letters don’t mince words. A recent example of his bombast concerned plans for a commercial development at Knightsbridge Green, opposite Harrods, which the commission described as an “architectural disaster” and a “blot on the landscape”.Getting into his stride, Lord St John continued: “Embedded in conservation areas, this site is part of one of our greatest thoroughfares. Surely London deserves better than this architecturally incoherent building, more suitable to a Midwestern town in the United States than to a prominent shopping and commercial centre in one of the greatest cities of the world.” This devastating salvo fired to Kensington & Chelsea Council’s planning committee, as it met to decide the development’s fate, had the desired effect – the plans were thrown out.Other timely interventions by the commission include proposals for an office building over the Waterloo International Terminal, which was scrapped, and the Inland Revenue building in Nottingham, where it persuaded the last government to hold a competition to find an architect after seeing the original “banal” proposals.All good deeds, no doubt. Buried deep within the Culture Secretary Chris Smith’s consultation paper on the arts, with its promise of free entry to museums, was the news of a review of the RFAC’s work, remit, even existence.Smith said he wanted to create a new “champion of architecture”, and invited comments on four options, ranging from abolition to a revamped and renamed Royal Architecture Commission.But, given the paper’s shyness about the proposals and the lack of general knowledge about the workings of the commission, it seems unlikely that the culturecrats are going to be inundated with responses.This seems a shame, given the importance and scope of the commission’s work – currently studying plans for a new shopping centre in the heart of historic Bath, the Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff Bay, and a cake house in London’s St James’s Park And “working on” is the correct phrase. Even less surprising is that the body’s grand name, the Royal Fine Art Commission, makes no reference to the subject.
But all that could be about to change.

Many people associate “modern” furniture with strong flat colours and hard lines. I want people to feel that these pieces will work, and that they can be added to an already established home.”Holloway’s approach is already paying off. Matthew Hilton’s choice of Bute Tiree upholstery for his Orwell sofa, and the soft, durable leather with which he has covered his Balzac armchair, is another case in point. They are functional, beautiful pieces, they have an important place in 20th-century design, and I think our customers are excited to see them here.”Holloway’s approach to contemporary design is refreshingly pragmatic.

“I look for pieces which are versatile, and this often comes down to the materials a designer has chosen to use,” she says, and cites a wenge wood writing desk by Antonio Citterio as an example, because the design is both modern and timeless: the dark, satin-smooth wood perfectly complements the strong, simple contours, and although clearly contemporary it would work as well in the sitting room of an Edwardian semi as in a state-of- the-art penthouse. In a country which generally pays scant regard to architecture, it probably comes as no surprise that there is only one organisation dedicated to enhancing design in the environment. Presided over by Lord St John of Fawsley, this is not another Establishment drinking club; it is the only official body with the right to comment on the nation’s architecture. And better still, the furniture is selling.Liberty is at 214 Regent Street, London W1 (0171-734 1234).

Every three weeks a distinguished group of architects, historians, property developers and artists gathers in London’s St James’s Square to discuss the merits, or otherwise, of prominent architectural proposals. Where once customers would loiter by the entrance before turning away, there is now a steady stream of visitors working its way through the gallery, stopping here and there to stroke a leather arm or read a biography. “Finding a plain fabric with a good texture that complements the shape of a piece is hard. Neither is the chaise longue by Le Corbusier or Eileen Grey’s side tables. “I’m not sure it’s so important to concentrate solely on the new and never-been-seen.