The first entry of C20’s Building of Month was published nearly 25 years ago, in October 2001. Then chairman, Gavin Stamp, decided to write about a derelict building instrumental to the foundation of C20 as the Thirties Society in 1979 – Oliver Hill’s modernist Midland Hotel, Morecambe (1933). In 2008, this vast sea fronting complex was refurbished and restored to its original use.
Since Stamp’s article, Building of the Month has developed into an invaluable platform to document and ultimately help save countless twentieth century buildings in the UK and globally. In the archive below, you will find over 250 entries spanning more than 30 countries.
For pitches, or to discuss ideas, please contact: mark@c20society.org.uk
Mark Bessoudo is editor of Building of the Month. He is a writer, researcher and architectural historian and a C20 volunteer.
Paddington Library, Porchester Hall, Bayswater - Herbert Shepherd, 1923-29 by Clare St George Paddington Library is at the end of my road. It is no Bibliothèque Nationale, nor Biblioteca Vasconcelos, but it is an essential part of civic life i...
Villa Ottolenghi, Lake Garda, Verona, Italy - Carlo Scarpa, 1974-78 Entry by Irma Delmonte Villa Ottolenghi is not a mansion retreat, but an experiment of how much domestic architecture can be theatrical even before it stops being a house at all....
Valhallabadet, Gothenburg, Sweden Nils Olsson, 1948-56 Entry by Veronica Hejdelind Images: Jonathan Hökklo Valhallabadet is a public bath and swimming hall in Gothenburg, Sweden. Opened in 1956, it represents an extraordinarily well-pres...
Entry by Mark Bessoudo Chapel of Reconciliation, Berlin Reitermann and Sassenroth, 2000 No other city treats memory so architecturally as Berlin. As the unofficial capital of memorials, its monuments confront the city’s — and some of hum...
Bùi Quang Hanh and Nguyễn Hữu Thiện, 1971 Nested within a torrent of motorbikes flooding through the centre of Ho Chi Minh City sits an urban modernist oasis, the General Science Library. The building exemplifies the overlooked architectura...
Faris School, Egypt Hassan Fathy, 1957 Entry by Zaina Abou Seif What does it mean for architecture to teach – for it to shape shelter so profoundly that it becomes a vessel for belonging, memory, and identity? This question pulses quietly wi...
The Church of Ave Maria, Florida Harry L. Warren with Tom Monaghan, 2005-08 Entry by Alan John Ainsworth Located on drained swamps and abandoned tomato fields in central Florida just 4 miles from Immokalee—the town seared into American consc...
Mole Manor, Westonbirt, Gloucestershire (1982-87) Arthur Quarmby In 1980, Stuart Bexon, a marketing consultant, had his proposal to build a new house in the garden of his Gloucestershire home refused by the local authority. When Bexon discovered ...
La maison à gradins, 26 rue Vavin, Paris (1912-14) Henri Sauvage and Charles Sazarin By Alan Ainsworth 26 rue Vavin in Paris’ sixth arrondissement is a large proto-modernist apartment building by Henri Sauvage (1873–1932) and his partner ...
Lanternhouse, Ulverston, Cumbria Francis Roberts, 1998 In November 1999, Francis Roberts described himself in a letter to the Managing Editor of Architecture Today as ‘a rather traditional Roman Catholic architect.’ The King (writing as Princ...
Congress House, Great Russell Street - David du Rieu Aberdeen, 1948-57 The November 2024 Building of the Month is an expanded and updated version of the October 2002 entry on Congress House, Bloomsbury, headquarters of the Trades Union Congress (T...
Since 2023, and in the face of the growing climate catastrophe, Building of the Month has focused on twentieth century buildings that were designed with energy efficiency as a major consideration. The architects of these buildings variably addressed ...
Since 2023, and in the face of the growing climate catastrophe, Building of the Month has focused on twentieth century buildings that were designed with energy efficiency as a major consideration. The architects of these buildings variably addressed ...
Since 2023, and in the face of the growing climate catastrophe, Building of the Month has focused on twentieth century buildings that were designed with energy efficiency as a major consideration. The architects of these buildings variably addressed ...
July’s Building of the Month is a special entry by Christopher Turner, Keeper of Art, Architecture, Photography and Design at the Victoria & Albert Museum, and curator of its exhibition ‘Tropical Modernism: Architecture and Independence’. T...
Since 2023, and in the face of the growing climate catastrophe, Building of the Month has focused on twentieth century buildings that were designed with energy efficiency as a major consideration. The architects of these buildings variably addressed ...
Since 2023, and in the face of the growing climate catastrophe, Building of the Month has focused on twentieth century buildings that were designed with energy efficiency as a major consideration. The architects of these buildings variably addressed ...
Since 2023, and in the face of the growing climate catastrophe, Building of the Month has focused on twentieth century buildings that were designed with energy efficiency as a major consideration. The architects of these buildings variably addressed ...
Since 2023, and in the face of the growing climate catastrophe, Building of the Month has focused on twentieth century buildings that were designed with energy efficiency as a major consideration. The architects of these buildings variably addressed ...
Since 2023, and in the face of the growing climate catastrophe, Building of the Month has focused on twentieth century buildings that were designed with energy efficiency as a major consideration. The architects of these buildings variably addressed ...
Look for past Buildings of the Month by entering the name of an individual building or architect or browsing the drop down list.
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