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.
Smithfield Poultry Market, architect T. P. Bennett and Son, engineer Ove Arup, 1961-3 Nothing special from the outside, the Smithfield Poultry Market is just a row of loading bays, but the interior, with its single, vast, shell concrete dome roof nev...
The Brunswick Centre, Marchmont Street, London, WC1 Designed by Patrick Hodgkinson, 1966-71, listed Grade II Text by Stuart Tappin Patrick Hodgkinson began to develop the concept for the design of The Brunswick Centre with his study of the Loughborou...
The Barcelona Pavilion by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe Photographs and text by Jonathan Duff There aren't many temporary buildings that last very long but this one has not only stood the test of time, it has set the highest standards for Modern movement ...
A colour filled 20th Century meditational ‘shrine’ in the heart of Sussex: Basil Spence’s Meeting House on the grounds of the University of Sussex Owing to growing secularisation, there was a noticeable shift during the 20th century, from a con...
Walter Gropius, 1925-6 Written by Martin Eilers Building work on the famous Bauhaus Building in Dessau started in 1925 and was completed in 1926, following the relocation of the Bauhaus from Weimar to Dessau. At the same time, a short distance away, ...
Designed by Robert Harvey, 1955 Built by Harvey, family and friends, 1955-57, as a family home Written by Gérard Mermoz Stonecrop was designed in 1955 by Coventry-born and Birmingham-trained architect Robert Harvey (1919-), after a frustrating inter...
Written by Jonathan Duff, Twentieth Century Society Member living in Brussels Down a quiet, leafy footpath in the Côte d’Azur hides perhaps the most modest piece of interesting architecture of any historical period and yet it was designed by one o...
Written by Adrian Maddox Black and white photograph Phil Nicholls The Tea Rooms in Museum Street is a kind of evanescent EveryCafe most notable for its refraction of two previous centuries of cafe architecture: 19C Lyons Tea House hall and 30s Milk B...
Congress House, (Trades Union Congress Memorial Building), Great Russell Street, London WC1. Architect David du R. Aberdeen, engineers Ove Arup and Partners, designed 1948, built 1953-7 Tucked into a side street in Bloomsbury, Congress House is one o...
Space House, East Grinstead, West Sussex Text by Kate Sclater with background information provided by Richard Constable of Foggo Associates (www.foggo.com) and sales information and images provided by Mike Sparks at Hamptons International. Space Hous...
Extension to the School of Architecture, Cambridge Chosen and written by artist Daniel Edwards, whose new work ‘F series’ is on show in the building this month On 11 June 1959, Le Corbusier and Henry Moore attended the inaugural opening of a new ...
Chert, 44 Castle Court, St Lawrence, Ventnor, Isle of Wight by Kate Sclater, designer/editor of the society's website The house then Built between 1967 and 1970, 'Chert' was the retirement home for two women - Miss Koo Haddock MBE and Miss Connie McD...
Coventry Cathedral, collaborations in art and architecture - Cassie Herschel-Shorland, Committee member and Hon Events Secretary Current Celebration The 40th anniversary of the consecration of the new Coventry cathedral was celebrated in May 2002. A ...
Greenwich Millennium Village, London, chosen by Sophie Johnson BA (Hons) MA (RCA) In 1999 work began on the Greenwich Millennium Village (GMV), which is located on the peninsula in North Greenwich next to the dome. The GMV will have 1377 dwellings ra...
The Silhouette Corset Factory, Market Drayton, Shropshire, chosen by David Davidson, Deputy Casework Convenor for the Society In August 2000 an unusual building was added to the List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest. The for...
Miramonte, New Malden, Kingston, Surrey: Maxwell Fry, 1936-37, Grade II, chosen by Eva Branscome, Caseworker for the Society When the winter newsletter a year ago last reported on the dilemma of this seminal modernist building, the house had already ...
Birmingham Post and Mail building, chosen by Eva Ling, member of the main and casework committee. Text by Andy Foster. The Birmingham Post and Mail building was designed in 1960 by John H.D. Madin and Partners (partner in charge, D.V. Smith, project ...
Harlow Water Gardens, chosen by David Davidson, Deputy Casework Convenor for the Society In July 2001, members of the Society visited Harlow to look at the architecture and planning of Sir Frederick Gibberd (see C20 Newsletter autumn 2001). The event...
Shakespeare Royal Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon, chosen by Annie Hollobone, Honorary Secretary of the Society The Grade II* listed Shakespeare Royal Theatre was designed by Elisabeth Scott, a cousin of Sir Giles, as a winning competition entry in 1928...
The Rose Seidler House by Harry Seidler Chosen by Duncan Bainbridge, Committee member The house that was to become the beginning of his Australian career was strongly influenced by his work on a house with Breuer called the Thompson House. Never buil...
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