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.
Clough Williams-Ellis (1946) A circle or oval on a steep declivity is hard to design, the more so if it has to harbour a solemn enclosure. What height should the encircling walls have? If there is to be a level surface within, they must be shall...
Russell Jones (2006) Client: Clinton Greyn (1933-2019) Working at Paddington Library in 1984 I had no idea Clinton Greyn was a successful actor who had played a Victorian James Bond in the television series, Virgin of the Secret Service (1968) ...
MJ Long and Colin St John Wilson, 1965 Conduit Head Road, a wooded lane to the west of Cambridge, is full of architectural delights. Several 1920s villas, two by George Checkley and one by Justin Blanco White, line its southern stretch, while to t...
Richard Gilbert Scott, 1959 Biggin Hill sits atop an outcrop of the North Downs, now finding itself in the southernmost fringes of the London borough of Bromley, tucked just inside the M25. The parish church of St Mark’s originated in the early ...
Nicoll Russell, 1976-82 Between the late 1950s and the mid 1980s, the landscape of theatre in Britain was transformed by the construction of new theatres. From Inverness to Plymouth, Aberystwyth to Ipswich, these theatres were typically supported ...
Derek W Brown, 1963. by Lynn Pearson Why was Scunthorpe’s unusual and stylish co-op pharmacy totally ignored by all but the local press when it opened in 1963? Co-op buildings featured regularly in architectural journals between the wars, whe...
Black, Bayes and Gibson, 1965-67 by Valentino Danilo Matteis The Clore Pavilion for Small Mammals is one of the buildings that was planned during the rebuilding and modernisation of London Zoo, a process which began in 1956. The construction ha...
Lionel Brett (Lord Esher), 1967 At Christmas Common in the Chilterns sits a lofty house built for a lofty (yet always humble) figure, the architect and planner Lionel Brett, 4th Viscount Esher (1913-2004). James Lees-Milne, the queer architectural...
J. Sampson (Sam) Lloyd of Green, Lloyd and Adams, 1984-1990 The livery company halls that lie within the City of London comprise a remarkable collection of buildings, less well known than perhaps they should be. Their origins date back to the mediev...
German Architectural Federation (DBA) (architect-in-charge: Roland Korn), 1977-1990. In post-war Germany, the desire to rebuild “murdered cities” led urban planners, architects, and political figures in West and East Germany to propagate new com...
Russell Diplock Associates, 1964 Those arriving for the first time at Margate station often stare with disbelief at the 18-storey residential block which stands between them and the resort’s famous beach. The younger visitors (who tend to admire i...
Kodak House, Rathmines, Dublin by Donnelly, Moore and Keatinge (1930), with modifications by William Sedgewick Keatinge (1949-51) The inner suburb of Rathmines, Dublin, is an area in flux. Once host to a mix of light industrial units and housing, it...
Walter Gropius with Adolf Meyer (1924) by Alan Powers, trustee and former chairman of C20 Society Much has been said and written about the Bauhaus, not least in this centenary year of its foundation. The best way to judge the Bauhaus is by its prod...
With Richmond House under threat and the Palace of Westminster Restoration and Renewal project underway, eyes have once again turned to Portcullis House and Westminster Underground Station. Although the modifications are as yet unspecified, following...
This month, the noted author, historian and curator Neil Bingham writes about the Meeting House from the perspective of one using it for the purpose it was intended. For an hour, we sat in silence. Only twice was it broken, momentarily, when a Frie...
Le Corbusier, 1962-1967 Chandigarh, the modern capital of the truncated state of East Punjab, was born in the wake of India’s partition in 1947 that led to the creation of Pakistan and with it the loss of Lahore. Today, it is a well-known modern c...
Sir William Whitfield, 1982-84 When the Society was launched 40 years ago in the sumptuous Art Deco Ball Room of the Park Lane Hotel, the keynote speech was made by the veteran Parliamentarian Lord St John of Fawsley– then Mrs Thatcher’s Minist...
Mervyn Seal, 1976 These delightful and unique holiday homes were designed by the Torbay architect Mervyn Seal (1930-) in 1976 for Sladnor Park, a holiday camp at Maidencombe, just north of Torquay. Seal’s early housing in the area was well-known l...
Maguire & Murray, 1962-7 Millions of rail passengers travel through Crewe. Those who leave the station will find a railway town of nineteenth century redbrick terraced and semi-detached houses. Yet, about two kilometres away from the station, is...
Feliksas Vizbaras (1931-2) “We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us” - this famous phrase by Sir Winston Churchill could be applied to one of the unique stories of the 20th century, which comes from Lithuania in Northern Europe. It is...
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