Owned, funded and managed by the City of London Corporation, the Barbican Centre performing arts centre was officially opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II on 3 March 1982, and is renown for its striking brutalist architecture.
I paid a visit earlier this week, and it was sad to see that the coronavirus pandemic seems to be really hitting visitor numbers, with the place being pretty much deserted.
Although opinions remain sharply divided over the Brutalist architecture of the adjacent Barbican Estate, there’s no doubt that it makes for a striking landscape – although trying to navigate your way across the elevated walkways can be a real pain.
Constructed in an area devastated by World War II bombings, the Grade II listed brutalist estate is an upmarket residential complex of around 2,000 flats, maisonettes, and houses.
The estate also contains three of London’s tallest residential towers, at 42 storeys and 123 metres (404 ft) high, with the top two or three floors of each block comprising of three penthouse flats.
Here’s some views taken around the deserted Barbican Centre.
This blaze of colour passed me by.
Join in with the forum discussion
- The Barbican estate – what’s your verdict?
- Photos of Old Aldgate/Barbican before WW2
- The Barbican – I hate it!
Related posts:
A spring strut through the Barbican estate, London
A walk through the Barbican, London
Deserted London: the empty streets of Soho, Leicester Square, Piccadilly Circus, Chinatown and Trafalgar Square, June 2020
In photos: Imran Qureshi – Where the Shadows are so Deep, The Curve, Barbican
OMA Progress architecture exhibition at the London Barbican
In photos: the deserted streets of New York during the coronavirus lockdown, April 2020
St George Wharf Tower – the tallest residential building in the UK hits 50 floors
Wonderful Welsh surrealism with Bedwyr Williams’ The Gulch at the Barbican Curve, London
