C20 East Midlands group launched in Leicester

The inaugural meeting of the East Midlands group recently took place at the refurbished Leicester City Hall, which was built in the 1930s and designed by Liverpool architects Barnish and Silcock.

A lively group of around 20 people attended this first meeting, which included architects, academics, artists, planners, civic society members and the just curious. Chris Matthews gave a presentation on some of the most notable architectural features of the region, which include the Boots site, the University of Leicester, the work of Sam Scorer and the Express Lift Tower.

This was followed by a group discussion about members’ interests, latest news, ideas for events and the establishment of a committee group. The first committee group meeting will take place in May, whereupon the exact boundary, responsibilities and plans will be set out. Watch this space.

Grant Butterworth, the Head of Planning at Leicester City Council, then led an informative tour around City Hall. Members really enjoyed the wonderful modernist murals of electrical items – the building was originally a municipal electricity showroom. To finish off, a swift half was enjoyed at the Ale Wagon over the road, a 1930s neo-Georgian pub on Charles Street – itself a telling reminder of the city’s remarkable interwar architectural pluralism.

A full report of the latest news regarding the twentieth century buildings of the region will be published in the next issue of C20 magazine.

Chris Matthews