Barbican Estate

Frieze recovered from Bryers and Sons building at 53 and 54 Barbican. The building survived wartime bombing but was demolished to make way for the redevelopment. The Frieze was preserved as a monument

During World War II, the City suffered serious damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate ward was virtually demolished[8] and by 1951 the resident population of the City stood at 5,324 of whom 48 lived in Cripplegate.[9] Discussions began in 1952 about the future of the site, and the decision to build new residential properties was taken by the Court of Common Council on 19 September 1957.[10]

To accommodate the estate, 500 metres (550 yards) of the Metropolitan line was realigned between Barbican and Moorgate stations between 1963 and 1965.[11][12][13]

The estate was built between 1965 and 1976, on a 35-acre (14 ha) site that had been bombed in World War II. The complex was designed by architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, whose first work was the ground-breaking Golden Lane Estate immediately north of the Barbican. Unlike its northern neighbour, however, the Barbican Estate was not social housing. Rather, it was designed and built for affluent City professionals and their families, with all flats let out at commercial rents by the Corporation of London.[14] To help let out the flats, brochures were produced, advertising the Barbican Estate as containing the perfect residences for well-heeled professionals and international businesspeople.[15]

This Barbican Estate brochure from the late 1970s, produced by the Corporation of London, shows the envisaged target market for the flats

Indeed, in its early years, a substantial number of high-profile politicians, lawyers, judges, and bankers made their home here (see famous residents).

The Barbican was never 'council housing' in the conventional sense, as flats were targeted at professionals and let at 'market' rents, i.e. for similar prices to equivalent private homes in Central London. It was, however, owned and managed by the Corporation of the City of London, considered a local authority under the Housing Act 1980. This meant that Right to Buy applied to it, and, as a result, almost all flats are now privately owned, although a few continue to be let out by the City of London at market (non-subsidised) rents.[16]

The first building on the 40 acres (16 ha) estate, Speed House, was officially opened in 1969, though extensive industrial disputes in the 1970s led to the last building, Shakespeare Tower, only being completed in 1976. It is now home to around 4,000 people living in 2,014 flats.[10] The flats reflect the widespread use in Britain in the 1960s and 1970s of concrete as the visible face of the building. The complex is also characteristic for its total separation of motor vehicles from pedestrians throughout the area. This is achieved through the use of 'highwalks' - walkways of varying width and shape, usually located 1-3 stories above the surrounding ground level. Most pedestrian circulation takes place on these highwalks, while roads and car parking spaces are relegated to the lower level.

The central public court of the Barbican, Lakeside Terrace, features a café area.

The Minister for the Arts, Tessa Blackstone, announced in September 2001 that the Barbican complex was to be Grade II listed. It has been designated a site of special architectural interest for its scale, its cohesion and the ambition of the project.[17] The complex is architecturally important as it is one of London's principal examples of concrete brutalist architecture and considered a landmark.

Various garden features punctuate the brutalist architecture, including a community-run wildlife garden.[18]

Part of the estate viewed from above

These are grouped around a lake and green squares. The main buildings rise up to seven floors above a podium level, which links all the facilities in the Barbican, providing a pedestrian route above street level. Some maisonettes are built into the podium structure. There is no vehicular access within the estate, but there are some car parks at its periphery. Public car parks are located within the Barbican Centre.

The terrace blocks are named:[19]

• Andrewes House – named after Lancelot Andrewes a 16th-century English bishop and scholar
• Breton House – named after Nicholas Breton a 16th-century English poet and novelist
• Bryer Court – named after W. Bryer & Sons gold refiners and assayers premises were Numbers 53 and 54 and demolished to make way for the building[20]
• Bunyan Court – named after John Bunyan, a 17th-century English writer and Baptist preacher
• Defoe House – named after Daniel Defoe
• Frobisher Crescent – named after Martin Frobisher, an English seaman and privateer
• Gilbert House – named after Humphrey Gilbert
• Ben Jonson House – named after Ben Jonson, an English playwright, poet and actor
• Thomas More House – named after Thomas More
• Mountjoy House – named after Christopher Mountjoy a French wig-maker who let a room to William Shakespeare[21]
• Seddon House – named after George Seddon, an English cabinetmaker
• Speed House – named after John Speed, an English cartographer and explorer
• John Trundle Court – named after John Trundle
• Willoughby House – named after Catherine Willoughby

Lauderdale Tower

The estate also contains three of London's tallest residential towers, at 42 storeys and 123 metres (404 ft) high. The top two or three floors of each block comprise three penthouse flats. The towers are (east to west):

• Cromwell Tower, completed in 1973 – named after Oliver Cromwell[22]
• Shakespeare Tower, completed in 1976 – named after William Shakespeare[23] and
• Lauderdale Tower, completed in 1974 – named after the Earls of Lauderdale[24]

Once the tallest residential towers in London, they were surpassed by the Pan Peninsula development on the Isle of Dogs.