Another plus for the Barbican is that they didn't cover it with flammable cladding to either kill all the residents or cost them a fortune to have it removed.
I worked as a cleaner in the Barbican in the early 90’s so much may have changed since then. But I doubt it. Much of my time was cleaning the walkways and public areas but I was also tasked with some interior cleaning. It is when you get inside you see some of the more interesting oversights. For example waste disposal. In each of the tall blocks (Cromwell, Shakespeare and Lauderdale) you could grind up your waste and dispose of it down the sink. The grinders regularly went wrong and blockages were not uncommon. The other method was placing your waste it in a small bag brown paper bag in a receiver with an internal and external door. The cleaner comes round and picks it the bag opening the external door, up dropping off new bags as they do so. The receptacle had to be small enough to prevent access. This happens a couple of times and week. It took ages because there are forty odd floors with three flats per floor and the residents wished to use the lifts (each resident has their own lift call button on a large four foot high, four foot diameter chrome domed and carpeted monstrosity known as a ‘Dalek”) as well. You were not popular as you monopolised a lift with your large rubbish bin. A better method would have been a rubbish chute but modifications like that are not possible. Another oversight was not being aware of pigeons in the original design. These creatures will get into any space available and need properly fitted and well maintained netting too keep them out. Removing 20-30 years of pigeon evidence is not a pleasant task (and neither is sweeping the entire emergency stairwell). I also wonder what is happening about the plumbing in this place. It was very obvious that there were problems with the buildings’ plumbing. Far worse was that the pipe work was embedded in the structure of the building so access for replacement was virtually impossible. Mmm. Interesting. Overall, one you have got used to the place it is a very impressive place. There are nice quiet areas and the water and plants give the place a nice feeling. This does come at a cost though. It takes ages to clean not because of the residents (they are pretty clean) but due to wind blown rubbish, the environment and feral/wild animals. The moment you clean one area is needs cleaning again. Lastly, if you look as the residents you might be lead to believe that it is a very egalitarian place. Arthur Scargill had a flat a few floors above Norman Tebbitt in the Shakespeare Tower. I remember that I was always totally ignored by Mr Scargill. Maybe I wasn’t working class enough. You are totally correct about the lack of “trouble” on the estate. Wealthy people appear not to enjoy robbery, burglary, mugging and fighting quite as much as they do on other estates in London. ps. The view from the roof of the Cromwell Tower is truly amazing.
As a resident for most of my adult life, I love the place. I can watch a concert, a film or have a meal out, and be home in 2 minutes. The flats and car parks are secure from ne'er do wells. Residents love the walkways and gardens. We are also lucky to have a village like community.
Nice to know! ...now, level with us, please. Have you been a victim of a brutal(ist) insider trading (@09:48)? Show us on the wallet where they hurt you.
What makes the Barbican special is that the original vision was seen through without major changes, there is sufficient money for its upkeep, and that over time it has been allowed to mature and settle without politicians mucking it about. It is a complete thing and does not need to 'fit in' with anything else. I'm still not sure if I like it but I am glad it's there. London has many other estates that, when properly looked after, show the architects and planners vision even to this day (Cranbrook estate in Bethnal Green comes to mind).
I love the Barbican, partially because it's so hard to navigate. The elaborate nature of it means that even on the busiest days you can always find somewhere quiet, and as you visit it a few times and begin to get a grip on its layout, it feels like a reward. Residential areas aren't like transport networks, you don't need to make everything clear and well signposted because when people live somewhere, they get used to it's layout, residential areas SHOULD be a bit complex in their layout so that the people who are familiar with them can avoid tourists and visitors
While I get the spirit of what you are saying, it's terrible in practice. Things like delivery drivers, emergency services, friends coming over etc are all reasons why they should be easy to find.
As far as brutalism goes, this definitely is one of the nicer looking ones. It doesn't have the depressing "soviet bomb shelter" look that most brutalism structures suffer from and actually seems kind of... nice even. In another way it kind of reminds me of something we'd build in Minecraft, with all the stone, pillars, and water
I can see the Minecraft resemblance. It actually does look quite nice, as I dislike brutalism and pretty much every thing it stands for. Why would I want to live in a grey concrete block
Sometimes buildings have to "grow on you"... Lots of post war buildings have been pulled down that would now be appreciated.. Eg Paternoster Square...Paternoster Square was quality restrained Brtish post war modern in the Georgian tradition of simplicity but human scale. As for ' brutalistism', as a child I hated the brutalist block of flats near King's X... It's now been (in a rather gaudy manner) painted in colours... Ruined it..
I really like the Barbican, and it's gotta be money and wealth of the tenants that has seen it not suffer from the social problems on many other estates.
Unfortunately true. The majority of council tenants are decent but just a small minority can ruin a whole estate with anti social behaviour. However, in addition, even the decent tenants are somewhat apathetic. Eg If old furniture is dumped on communal stairways.. It will be ignored.. No one will think to move it up the bin areas. It's left to the inefficient council management who leave it for months.. When I lived on a council estate I was thought most eccentric for washing down the stairs and lift myself.. Even more for planting trees & shrubs on bare lawn areas used as dog toilets. When I go back now, 30 years later, it's good to see the trees established... The lift smells tho'... 🙄
@@pyellard3013 Yep the dreaded pee smells and lighting that keeps going out every 3 days... been there done that 😂. We wash our balcony and the area infront of the lift down with a mop sometimes too!
I think when well done, brutalist estates and buildings can look futuristic, even when they are old (look at Stockwell Bus Garage). The Barbican, while it may not be a stunningly beautiful estate (I like it, but it does seem to divide opinion), is certainly interesting and, I think, has aged well. I'd argue it has aged better than the hundreds of brick and glass estates and skyscrapers being built now, the designs for which do seem largely mass produced.
I have a friend who was an early tenant of the Shakespeare Tower. He still lives there. He has had insane offers to sell his flat over the years. He loves living there the view from the 36th floor. On windy days you see the reflection from the ceiling lights move!
Many years ago, when I was living in the north Midlands, I applied for a job in London - that I didn't get. At the time, I looked into renting a studio in the Barbican for weeknights and have always liked it very much. Later, when my life had changed significantly and I moved to London, I was going through a bit of a rough patch and the one place that I found calming and peaceful was by the lake by the arts centre. I walked there often.
This is an (as ever) superbly accurate episode, but let me add a few bits of juicy insider knowledge. The unnamed hero of this entire story is Sir Cullum Welch, Lord Mayor 56/7, who commissioned the original Golden Lane Estate because, as Jago intimates, WWII had actually so decimated the City of London that its entire residential population had been reduced to a paltry few thousand. The cost and time overruns on the later Barbican complex, however, have far more nefarious reasons than the cited issue of industrial action. The entire building site became a closed shop where wastage was absolute colossal and quite notorious. The many thousands of fountain nozzles and specialist lightbulbs, for the lake immediately outside the Barbican centre, for sample, were wrongly purchased, had to completely be thrown out, and replaced, and all ended up in skips at the back. But the real closed shop element, contributing to the time overrun, was that you simple couldn’t get a job to work on the building site unless you were also a Freemason. God’s honest truth. So, daily, everyone knocked off at four to get to the local lodges, for example. Plasterer, chippie, electrician, bricklayer, if you weren’t “On The Square” there were no jobs to be had there.
As a dutch person that loves making videos about transport infrastructure, I love the fact that you can talk about a bit of concrete and steel fo over 11 minutes! and in a way that I keep watching too
I'd certainly not call it 'a bit of concrete'. It's quite vast, a complex in the broadest sense of the word. If you wonder about a bit in the complex, you fall from one astonishment into the other, it really is a full-blown housing concept put into reality. Many of these gangways have quite an eerie feel to it. Somehow it reminds me very much of the movie Logan's run.
I spent more time there than I had planned when I visited, as do many I imagine due its labyrinthine layout but I found it fascinating. Despite an unholy amount of concrete, it doesn’t feel like your average brutalist structure. There are actually *curves* (gasp) and the endless walkways make it feel very open in most areas (some are admittedly a little claustrophobic)-not the eastern block bomb shelter you usually associate with brutalist architecture. I agree that the separation of public and private spaces felt ill-defined in places and I often *felt* like I was trespassing and was going to be told to move along by a security guard at a any moment. Another great video and thank you for reminding of a great afternoon many years ago complete with an awesome concert, museums, churches, and lunch watching the ducks 🦆
I love it, it feels like a piece of the wacky futures depicted in 60's sci-fi come to life in our world. Like the world's in those movies, barbican feels like a place out of time, being both futuristic and nostalgicly retro
When I was a child, at Christmas my dad would take us to the children’s Christmas party at his work, and after getting off the train at Moorgate station we would walk through part of the Barbican’s upper walkways to get to the office
2003: “We’re voting the Barbican London’s worst building!” Also 2003: *proceeds to exclusively build poor quality new-builds from glass and sand brick* 💩🥴
I recall seeing a stage production of A Clockwork Orange at the Barbican centre back in either the late eighties or, early nineties. We left the theatre and wandered around the Barbican area feeling as if we were living in Burgess' nightmare world, wearily looking out for Alex and his droogs. I still ocassionally go wandering around there; so evocative! Well done Jago another well told tale.
Thank you, Jago. You have just taught me everything I know about Barbican: origin, definition, history, place in architecture, social status, and you even snuck a train in.
Britain needs to build more barbicans, and less tiny brick cubes packed together with 1cm of space between them so they can be marketed as a "detached family home". If living in a large housing complex like this didn't have the stigma of being only for "poor people", then the housing crisis could probably be solved. It's the way it is in most of Europe and Asia, and for a small densely populated island, it seems like the obvious solution. For some reason people would rather live in a miniscule ugly "house" that's half the size of a flat, so they can roleplay as Americans because they technically have a detached suburban house and a driveway and a 3x3 meter slab of concrete they call a back garden. Even if they can still hear their next door neighbours snoring and have one tree in their entire housing estate. At the very least they need to stop wasting space and just build terraced houses instead of pretending to have a enough space to build detached ones.
Yep. We tried that after the war. The estates all turned into crime ridden hellholes. (it's not only snobbery-brutalist architecture provides lots of hidey holes for muggers and drug dealers and the like, yet another example of the architechts'' idealism failing when confronted with actual human nature and society) You can debate the reasons, lack of investment, lack of opportunities and hope for young people but regardless-no one in the UK is eager to repeat the experiment. Perhaps one day the powers that be in the UK will work out why it works in other countries and didn't here (lack of money probably has a lot to do with it as indeed is mentioned in this video)
Also most of the terraced housing stock or at least a large proportion of it was demolished as slum clearance after the war. Because terraced houses were often slums they were demonized. Although terraced housing is not inherently bad, the problem was the people who owned them were usually poor and they fell into disrepair. But that is the reason why terraced houses are now rarer (and most of those cleared slum dwellers were the ones moved into the crime ridden failed experiment brutalist housing estates aforementioned)
Totally agree.. it's also absurd to pay ridiculous amounts of money to buy a converted Victorian flat which has nothing to look at out of the windows and feels like you're living in someone's loft
A little factoid: John Smith, leader of the Labour Party in the early 90s, was a resident of the Barbican until his death. Good example of the professional demographic the complex attracted.
Famously Arthur Scargill had an apartment that was paid for by the National Union of Mineworkers and he had a legal dispute with them because he said they had given it him for life!
I wandered around it one day in 2000 when going to a display at one of the exhibition halls. It looked as abandoned then as it did in this video. Absolutely no one in sight, wind blasting through and an absolute maze to navigate.
I love the Barbican. I used to go there all the time for free art exhibits or often to hang out as free music was often played in it's lobbies. It's walled off nature makes it a walled off citadel in the middle of the city, If you walk along the walkways on a hot summer day, when the gardens are in bloom and the the thrum of the waterfalls it feels like you r in some other place, you can see London around you but all is quiet and in peace. It does feel like the residents should be made to wear brightly coloured jump suits and have funny haircuts to complete the sci fi look. I must have a good sense of direction because I have never been lost in the Barbican.
I remember when the Barbican Centre opened in the early 80s, One of the main criticisms of It was that It was hard to navigate. Indeed, people had trouble getting in because they couldn't find the entrance. The solution was to paint yellow lines on the floor to lead you along the walkways. I wonder what Le Corbusier would have thiught about that. Still, I love the Barbican. And I'm glad we get to see what happens when you let modernists create a complete environment. And you look after It properly when they've finished.
I totally agree. I've only been there a few times and find it unfathomable to navigate. You can't get into it then once you do you can't find your way around it. Even being able to see where you are trying to get to doesn't help. Getting somewhere often seems to involve setting off in the wrong direction. Maybe it gets easier once you get to know it but I've no desire to spend any more time than necessary there.
Partly the point of the place - to avoid the monotony and excessive regularity that was often criticised about Modernism by emulating the higgledy-piggledy 'lanes' typical of older towns
Great video. Back in the 1980s, I went on a guided tour of the complex as part of a course I was doing when I was a lot younger. The tour guide (who was from the local local authority - if you know what I mean) explained that the fountains in the outside water features also served to regulate the temperature of the air condtioning system serving the complex. Years later, I attended a few conferences there; the highlight was lunch in the massive conservatory, complete with ponds and giant goldfish.
Population figures for the Barbican have to include the hundreds of people who have spent years wandering around the walkways looking for the exit. There are rumours that it's where IKEA got the inspiration for their store layout.
I’ve been a resident on the Golden Lane Estate for over 30 years and hardly ever use the Barbican walkways, I find it quicker to walk using the streets below.
I visited many years ago, and what struck me was not so much the brutalist architecture, but the emptiness of it. 2000 housing units and almost no people about. No one strolling or sitting in the open spaces, even on a nice day. It seems like they need to do something to enliven the open spaces, such as retail or cafes or something. Pulling everything up on elevated walkways deprives it of any sense of street life. People feel safer and more comfortable when there are plenty of other people around. During my lonely visit, I felt almost like an intruder and wanted to go find someplace more welcoming.
I often walk through the Barbican high walks and never tire of it. It's much better than walking at street level next to all that noisy traffic. The layout is fascinating and this short clip has shown me that there are plenty of other parts to investigate.
It’s been many years since I last went to the Barbican, indeed, my two visits - to see the up and coming actor Kenneth Branagh and romantic interest Emma Thompson in Henry V, and a follow up not long after to see a somewhat less memorable performance of Merry Wives of Windsor must have been very shortly after the arts complex opened, as the elderly family friend, who was determined that I would grow up to like Shakespeare (and yeah, that production of Henry V did finally sell it to me) died in 1986. Your talk of the roads being kept out was what really brought the memory back, as on the first visit our taxi in from StPancras took us right into the building, dropping us in some underground taxi rank that led right into part of the foyer of the arts complex (which of course spreads over several floors and was huge). For an 11 year old from the East Mids in the early 80’s that was serious London chic lol
When I was an art student in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania USA I lived in a smaller but similar type of brutalist housing/business area named Allegheny Center on the Northside just across the river from downtown Pittsburgh. As a young adult I loved it, I could see myself living in this Barbican place and enjoying it also.
I decided to have a wander through the Barbican when I visited the Museum of London a few weeks ago. Got some really good photos of the place at weird angles and stuff like that. It was really quiet in some places and kind of felt like I was in some 70's SciFi film but without the avant gard sound effects to go with it. I did like it though, there's just something pleasing to the eye about how it all fits together.
I like this part of London. it's a good place to meet friends, especially in, and on the large paved area outside, the café beside the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the conservatory is worth a look when it is open. And the Museum of London is right beside it too so it can make for a good day out. Great video as always Jago. Thank you.
That part of London at weekends can be amazingly quiet. I once had to work there on a Sunday, and I was half convincing myself that the city had been compulsorily evacuated and that they forgot to tell me !
Big fan of the Barbican, my office is nearby so I often walk through. I’ve been going there since I saw an Alvar Aalto exhibition when I was young, and seen many more since. Last year I had to rescue a lost duckling in the main lake and reunite it with its mother, which was quite stressful, but also meant I got access to the usually private area around the lake which was interesting.
Fascinating. My step daughters live in a building that is sandwiched between the Barbican estate and the Golden Lane estate. My wife and I just spent three weeks staying with them and so we did a lot of walking around the area.
I love the Barbican complex. It's got that quality of being near the heart of London, but still enabling you to nit see anyone for ages as you walk through the walkways and pedways. The complex is slowly great for traversing the distance between Moorgate and Barbican tube stations on foot. 👏🏾
Absolutely stunning photography here and a fascinating story behind this divisive yet increasingly outstanding development. When other brutalist building have long gone, The Barbican will remain as a beacon from a long lost age of optimism and ambition. Thanks for another cracking video.
I have stayed in the Thistle Hotel near Barbican a few times, so I have looked around the Barbican estate . It still looks quite impressive. Going off topic a bit, but in the days of the DDR, people in the west used to mock the acres of drab "plattenbau" blocks of flats in East Berlin. After reunification, developers came along, and they found that the build quality of these flats was surprisingly very good. After being given a lick of paint and modern kitchens etc. they are popular affordable places to live.
I think it depends which country they were built in. East Berlin was to some extent a show city (albeit not a very good one!) so more effort was made to show off the quality of DDR workmanship. Go somewhere like Halle (Saale) or across the border to somewhere like Most in the Czech Republic and the quality really wasn't as good.
When you exit the tube station, immediately climb the stairs and over the bridge to the gardens, many unfortunately discover the Barbican @ 3.46 by taking the tunnel under the Barbican and land at the Arts Centre!
My sister used to live in a flat in one of the towers. She loved her view of St Paul's but there were snags. Lots of the equipment for things in the flat such as blinds rubbish disposal doors etc had been supplied by obscure companies that had ceased trading soon after and thus repairing them was expensive and time consuming. The doors into the flats were very heavy and it was difficult to close them quietly, as far as I could tell very few ever tried. The noise echoed down the stairwells and always reminded me of the introduction to Porridge with the Judge's voice accompanied by the crashing of prison doors!
Are you sure it was a tower? The only stairwell in each tower is on the 'outside' of the building, separated by a pretty heavy-duty door - can't imagine any sound echoing down that
In 1965 when the group Unit 4+2 had a hit with Concrete and Clay, the background to the video they’d made was the Barbican when it was still a building site.
The theatre tour of the barbican is well worth doing, I think they're still running it, but it really gives you a further insight into the complex. I'd also recommend trying to catch an architecture foundation talk there, they're often in rooms deep into the complex so you get to go through lots of internal tunnels and walkways that give really interesting views of the conservatory at night. Sadly I think you're hitting the nail on the head when it comes down to why the barbican hasn't suffered the same fate as places like Thamesmead for example; even Park Hill in Sheffield which could be argued is a better example of the style, whilst restored now, was like you said treated as a dumping ground for problem tenants and allowed to run into the ground. Would very much recommend Concretopia by John Grindrod as a good read for more on the subject. Great video as always!
I have worked around Barbican and I love it’s unique design and concept, In theory, the issue is the heavy concrete and enormous costs to maintain it. The flats of colleagues are all tight and yet functionally efficient with space. Heating is communal and bonkers. In short I flip between love and hate, but mostly I enjoy the elevation and sense of discovery when I frequently take a wrong turn.
The Barbican was used in the Doctor Who serial 'Frontier In Space' that was filmed in late 1972 and shown in early 1973. Episode 3 aired the evening before I was born.
There's a haunting, almost macabre, beauty about the shots you have of the Barbican - which I imagine to be translated well from the experience of walking round it. I always feel a faint nostalgia for a time that never was when I view such brutalist high-rises and their aerial walkways, such as in Leeds, because the *ideas* were so positive but the execution and the concept doomed to fail. All of which is to say, really enjoyed this video, thank you!
There was even a public services building here originally called Milton Court. It included a fire station, a coroner’s court, a mortuary, the City’s weights and measures office, a disinfection station... as well as 13 maisonettes for City of London staff. Sadly demolished now...
My grandmother was one of the original tenants and bought her flat as soon as it was permitted. She was a prominent Londoner, having been the landlord of several pubs including No 15 St Mary Axe (where the gherkin is now). She went on to run a club in one of the chambers at Lincoln's Inn before retiring, well into her 90s.
Proud to see the Guildhall School namechecked and shown! There's a way out of there straight onto one of the Barbican highwalks, which was a crafty way for some double bass players to move between the two main college buildings without carrying their bass down too many stairs!
So fascinating, I go to the Barbican Centre occasionally and totally amazed at the size of the complex and I think it's something you either love or hate, but good to see it hasn't changed much and still has the 70's look of it all.
I am a member of the fabulous lending library in the Barbican. I think one of the biggest changes was when the YMCA moved out and their tower converted to flats. Most of the pubs have gone too. It’s a great link between the city and Farringdon. Long May it prosper.
Jago, your videos are an eye opener. I don’t live in London and has always thought “The Barbican” referred to the concert hall only. I didn’t know it was in effect a village in the city. I’ll pay it a visit next time I’m in town.
The mural tiles by Dorothy Annan at 5:58 used to face Farringdon Street near the Holborn Viaduct, on the Post Office Telephones building now demolished and new built for Goldman Sachs. They are listed GII.
Thank you for featuring my home (Bunyan Court) and acknowledging the Smithsons. Contrary to popular belief (and many comments here), Brutalism did not originate from the French word for concrete, “brut”. Smithson’s first Brutalist building was mainly glass and steel. It’s more-so the honest/brutal way a building is presented rather than trying to hide/polish everything which is more a Modernist architecture approach. Finally, Crescent House is shown when you mention Golden Lane Estate. Please note that this is phase 2 of the estate. Phase 1 starts from Golden Lane. It’s the reason why the estate is called Golden Lane rather Goswell Road Estate.
As a TV service engineer I have worked all over London from Thamesmead to the Barbican , the problem with the Barbican was parking and finding the flat , the problem with Thamesmead was would I still have a van when I got back . as an aside Kathy Kirby lived in the Barbican.
You can spot the Barbican in the new Star Wars TV series Andor. Some of the common areas were used as a filming location for Coruscant, with the backgrounds extended with CGI to make it look more sci-fi. You can easily recognise the tiled floors, concrete walls, and distinctive light fittings.
I visited the Barbican area for the first time just a few days ago and thought something along the lines of "I wonder when Jago will make a video about this?", and now here it is.
The Conservatory in the Barbican Centre which you showed a brief picture of, is amazing place, you can go there when it's open, well worth a look and cheaper than Kew Gardens. 🌺🌵🌴❤️ Interesting note that a flat in the Barbican, costs the same as a three bed semi-detached twenties house in North West London.
Thank you for this! You've talked about the Barbican in previous videos and I've been looking forward to a more compete tale. Even though I live thousands of kilometres away, I feel a connection to the place. In 1984 I was a very young graduate student in Canada, and I traveled to London the the 9th International Congress of Pharmacology, held at the Barbican Centre. At the time I was there, the Centre was practically brand new and it was very modern and impressive to this youngster from the Colonies 😀
I've only been to the Barbican a few times, but growing up in Portsmouth I was inevitably given flashbacks to the Tricorn. All that concrete, all those weird hidden corners that feel like they were supposed to have a purpose!
My great-great-grandfather was baptised at St Giles Without Cripplegate in 1817. The family lived in Golden Lane at the time, and it was a VERY poor area. I was quite surprised in the 1970s to find the church was still there despite the Luftwaffe and the redevelopment.
My God, how cool a video sequence you make!!! Compared to all other reviewers.After each of your videos, I get a complete picture of the place you're talking about!!!
Thanks for pointing out the absence of a gas supply to the Barbican. It is worth noting that, from the early 1990s the Barbican has benefitted from a district heating scheme. The set up uses waste heat from a small power station based in the old Port of London Authority building opposite Smithfield Market.
I don't think that's true, the service charge is definitely based on all-electric central heating with a single wholesale contract for the entire complex (as has been the case since construction)
@@louis1952 Probably just the arts centre then - and possibly Frobisher Crescent, only converted later; interesting to know. The rest of the estate's heating system is electric, dry, underfloor heating.
I’ve always loved the Barbican. Used to work near enough to spend my lunchtimes wandering around it, and still fit in a visit when I’m back. Plus - pedways, which have been expanded with the London Wall developments recently.
Our town centre is supposedly "brutalist". And, on that basis, I have always assumed, having never visited it, that I wouldn't like the Barbican. But you've changed my mind. Cheers
you must go to the Barbican at least once, although there is so much to do there. even just sit outside by one of the cafes having a coffee and listen..
I really enjoyed your video. Did you intentionally make sure no people were in your shots, or was it really that quiet? The lack of people gave it an almost eerie air
Brilliant mini-documentary. As good if not better than any 'official' film or even the sort of thing we once enjoyed from 'One Foot in The Past'. Bravo.
Thank you. I am a big fan of brutalist architecture, and this goes definetly on my to-visit list in the summer when I will be there after Crossrail has opened. Might have missed out otherwise.
Just visited Barbican today, and honestly its much, much, MUCH better than I thought it would be, without a doubt one of my most favourite places in London
One problem with the Library Is , I think, the closure of three local libraries. one opp entrance to Barbican 2 venue, one near one of the lanes to the south of London Wall and there was another one I cannot recall where, which meant a longer walk for me to try to find useful study books when I could not get them from the college library
I love your estate videos...I love all your videos, but the estate ones are fascinating... nope, all your videos are fascinating. If you're looking for suggestions.... The Estates in North Kensington, the William Sutton was the first, I think, in that area. Do you dare take on the story of the Becontree Estate? The little I know is really interesting. I'll watch whatever you do. Brilliantly researched, great shots and footage and I love your delivery. As a bored teenager with a friend who lived atop a thirties office block in Moorgate, little was more fun than spending the day at the Barbican Centre, roaming around and seeing how surprisingly easy it was to gain access (just by opening doors, no dodgy stuff) to areas that were meant to be off limits. Just mooching around. The only time we were challenged, we'd gained access to one of the theatres, the bloke to challenged us turned out to be surprisingly easy to talk into a personal tour of the orchestra pit, practice rooms and studios as well as other areas usually off limits to bored teenagers mooching around and playing lift racing. Thanks for another great video!
I attended the first public preview of the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican (and a few weeks earlier had managed to see the final performance at the Aldwych). It was a mostly thrilling performance.
You didnt really notice the many conseiges. Basically each (Semi underground) Car Park has a general attendant 24/7. They will take in parcels for residents if you ask them nicely, (proper londoners, probably ex miliary guys) , otherwise the Royal Mail has delivery carts stored in them. They have a master key to the Lowest Ground Floor door - and lift call - I used them to deliver items to the internal residences which saved using the door call systems at the public entrances.
An excellent film, Jago. You've taken some really nice shots and video of the Barbican. I used to work nearby, back in the day, and was a regular visitor to its library, cinemas, theatre, and restaurants and pubs. I thinks its rather glorious!
If they never built it as such, we wouldn't know about its shortcomings. You are blessed with a very easy to listen to voice. I can think of a few you tubers who would benefit from diction lessons from you.
I have a love/ hate relationship with it. I admire it’s ambition and what it tried to be, along with the sheer scale and complexity is interesting. Brutalism though should never come back. It’s not missed.
Don't get me started on brutalist architecture, but many thanks for giving St Giles, Cripplegate, an airing. May I humbly recommend this little church to subscribers as the best small concert hall in London. It's used mainly for chamber concerts and recordings, but its resonant acoustics make any music sound as though it's coated in honey. Well worth a visit.
I spent a fortnight as a stand in site engineer on one of the Barbican building contracts covering a holiday spell. This would have been 1969 and in the design office I was tasked with design calculations for one of the staircase structures in the Guildhall School of Music while I was working for what was then the Ove Arup and Partners Consultancy. My tiny contribution has, of course, failed to enter the history books but I have an equally small germ of proprietary interest in the site.
Thanks for making this video. I quite like these walkways, one can walk or run here continuously without stopping at red lights. There is a another small lake behind the museum. I spent lot of my afternoons walking here during the lunch time.
Le Corbusier might have _believed_ in practical design, but I've sat on one of his chairs and their only practical use would be as a medieval torture device.
Gorgeous. Given how many failed planned communities we've seen on this channel, this is a nice change of pace. I've heard that British intelligence worked to confuse the Germans into attacking parts of London they felt were less vital, even met a person once whose family suffered when a bus refueling was hit as a result of this, killing many. I wonder if Cripplegate suffered from similar efforts.
No, the general idea was to stop the Germans from getting to central London at all; ideally the disruption to the German targeting system should have meant they dropped their bombs over open country, but it wasn't often that successful so it was the suburbs which got hit instead. Given the vagaries of "precision" bombing at the time (a term which even today means "to within a few hundred metres or so" rather than the "hit a specific building" many people assume it means), Cripplegate could well have ended up being the recipient of bombs intended for the City or even the Docks. Central London really isn't that big, so even a quarter-mile off target would take the bombers over another area.
@@atraindriver Not sure why you start your post with a no, when it sounds like you agree with me. I was thinking it was more about shifting the aim for the V1 and V2, rather than what a plane flying over would see.
Another plus for the Barbican is that they didn't cover it with flammable cladding to either kill all the residents or cost them a fortune to have it removed.
That's because the residents aren't poor.
They wanted to cover it with marble, but ran out of money. Another reason why the barbican isn't brutalism
I worked as a cleaner in the Barbican in the early 90’s so much may have changed since then. But I doubt it. Much of my time was cleaning the walkways and public areas but I was also tasked with some interior cleaning. It is when you get inside you see some of the more interesting oversights. For example waste disposal. In each of the tall blocks (Cromwell, Shakespeare and Lauderdale) you could grind up your waste and dispose of it down the sink. The grinders regularly went wrong and blockages were not uncommon. The other method was placing your waste it in a small bag brown paper bag in a receiver with an internal and external door. The cleaner comes round and picks it the bag opening the external door, up dropping off new bags as they do so. The receptacle had to be small enough to prevent access. This happens a couple of times and week. It took ages because there are forty odd floors with three flats per floor and the residents wished to use the lifts (each resident has their own lift call button on a large four foot high, four foot diameter chrome domed and carpeted monstrosity known as a ‘Dalek”) as well. You were not popular as you monopolised a lift with your large rubbish bin. A better method would have been a rubbish chute but modifications like that are not possible. Another oversight was not being aware of pigeons in the original design. These creatures will get into any space available and need properly fitted and well maintained netting too keep them out. Removing 20-30 years of pigeon evidence is not a pleasant task (and neither is sweeping the entire emergency stairwell). I also wonder what is happening about the plumbing in this place. It was very obvious that there were problems with the buildings’ plumbing. Far worse was that the pipe work was embedded in the structure of the building so access for replacement was virtually impossible. Mmm. Interesting.
Overall, one you have got used to the place it is a very impressive place. There are nice quiet areas and the water and plants give the place a nice feeling. This does come at a cost though. It takes ages to clean not because of the residents (they are pretty clean) but due to wind blown rubbish, the environment and feral/wild animals. The moment you clean one area is needs cleaning again.
Lastly, if you look as the residents you might be lead to believe that it is a very egalitarian place. Arthur Scargill had a flat a few floors above Norman Tebbitt in the Shakespeare Tower. I remember that I was always totally ignored by Mr Scargill. Maybe I wasn’t working class enough. You are totally correct about the lack of “trouble” on the estate. Wealthy people appear not to enjoy robbery, burglary, mugging and fighting quite as much as they do on other estates in London.
ps. The view from the roof of the Cromwell Tower is truly amazing.
As a resident for most of my adult life, I love the place. I can watch a concert, a film or have a meal out, and be home in 2 minutes. The flats and car parks are secure from ne'er do wells. Residents love the walkways and gardens. We are also lucky to have a village like community.
Nice to know!
...now, level with us, please. Have you been a victim of a brutal(ist) insider trading (@09:48)? Show us on the wallet where they hurt you.
As an Islington resident I love it, such a nice estate down, love a visit to the Barbican
N'eer do well needs to be used far more!
What makes the Barbican special is that the original vision was seen through without major changes, there is sufficient money for its upkeep, and that over time it has been allowed to mature and settle without politicians mucking it about. It is a complete thing and does not need to 'fit in' with anything else. I'm still not sure if I like it but I am glad it's there. London has many other estates that, when properly looked after, show the architects and planners vision even to this day (Cranbrook estate in Bethnal Green comes to mind).
I love the Barbican, partially because it's so hard to navigate. The elaborate nature of it means that even on the busiest days you can always find somewhere quiet, and as you visit it a few times and begin to get a grip on its layout, it feels like a reward. Residential areas aren't like transport networks, you don't need to make everything clear and well signposted because when people live somewhere, they get used to it's layout, residential areas SHOULD be a bit complex in their layout so that the people who are familiar with them can avoid tourists and visitors
FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT
YES, ALL OF THIS, YES
Sorry for yelling, I just had to.
While I get the spirit of what you are saying, it's terrible in practice. Things like delivery drivers, emergency services, friends coming over etc are all reasons why they should be easy to find.
In the ‘70s, Richard Stilgoe wrote a song about getting lost in The Barbican.
This comment hit the nail on the head!
@@nabilomar4631 To be honest it's not too different from other estates, lots are huge.
As far as brutalism goes, this definitely is one of the nicer looking ones. It doesn't have the depressing "soviet bomb shelter" look that most brutalism structures suffer from and actually seems kind of... nice even. In another way it kind of reminds me of something we'd build in Minecraft, with all the stone, pillars, and water
I can see the Minecraft resemblance.
It actually does look quite nice, as I dislike brutalism and pretty much every thing it stands for. Why would I want to live in a grey concrete block
Sometimes buildings have to "grow on you"... Lots of post war buildings have been pulled down that would now be appreciated.. Eg Paternoster Square...Paternoster Square was quality restrained Brtish post war modern in the Georgian tradition of simplicity but human scale.
As for ' brutalistism', as a child I hated the brutalist block of flats near King's X... It's now been (in a rather gaudy manner) painted in colours... Ruined it..
I worked right beside it for a few years in Moorgate. My boss always described the Barbican as the "Acceptable face of brutalism".
@@Pesmog It's still a boot stamping on a human face forever, but at least it's a _Gucci_ boot.
It's vile
I really like the Barbican, and it's gotta be money and wealth of the tenants that has seen it not suffer from the social problems on many other estates.
Unfortunately true. The majority of council tenants are decent but just a small minority can ruin a whole estate with anti social behaviour. However, in addition, even the decent tenants are somewhat apathetic. Eg If old furniture is dumped on communal stairways.. It will be ignored.. No one will think to move it up the bin areas.
It's left to the inefficient council management who leave it for months.. When I lived on a council estate I was thought most eccentric for washing down the stairs and lift myself.. Even more for planting trees & shrubs on bare lawn areas used as dog toilets. When I go back now, 30 years later, it's good to see the trees established... The lift smells tho'... 🙄
I wouldn't say its necessarily wealth, more like no problem residents...
@@pyellard3013 Yep the dreaded pee smells and lighting that keeps going out every 3 days... been there done that 😂. We wash our balcony and the area infront of the lift down with a mop sometimes too!
@@hx0d that too
I think when well done, brutalist estates and buildings can look futuristic, even when they are old (look at Stockwell Bus Garage). The Barbican, while it may not be a stunningly beautiful estate (I like it, but it does seem to divide opinion), is certainly interesting and, I think, has aged well.
I'd argue it has aged better than the hundreds of brick and glass estates and skyscrapers being built now, the designs for which do seem largely mass produced.
I have a friend who was an early tenant of the Shakespeare Tower. He still lives there. He has had insane offers to sell his flat over the years. He loves living there the view from the 36th floor. On windy days you see the reflection from the ceiling lights move!
Your 'friend' should go by the moniker 'Nuts n Proud'; I'd snap their arms off taking that money and be out of there in a flash.
Many years ago, when I was living in the north Midlands, I applied for a job in London - that I didn't get. At the time, I looked into renting a studio in the Barbican for weeknights and have always liked it very much. Later, when my life had changed significantly and I moved to London, I was going through a bit of a rough patch and the one place that I found calming and peaceful was by the lake by the arts centre. I walked there often.
This is an (as ever) superbly accurate episode, but let me add a few bits of juicy insider knowledge.
The unnamed hero of this entire story is Sir Cullum Welch, Lord Mayor 56/7, who commissioned the original Golden Lane Estate because, as Jago intimates, WWII had actually so decimated the City of London that its entire residential population had been reduced to a paltry few thousand.
The cost and time overruns on the later Barbican complex, however, have far more nefarious reasons than the cited issue of industrial action. The entire building site became a closed shop where wastage was absolute colossal and quite notorious. The many thousands of fountain nozzles and specialist lightbulbs, for the lake immediately outside the Barbican centre, for sample, were wrongly purchased, had to completely be thrown out, and replaced, and all ended up in skips at the back.
But the real closed shop element, contributing to the time overrun, was that you simple couldn’t get a job to work on the building site unless you were also a Freemason. God’s honest truth. So, daily, everyone knocked off at four to get to the local lodges, for example. Plasterer, chippie, electrician, bricklayer, if you weren’t “On The Square” there were no jobs to be had there.
As a dutch person that loves making videos about transport infrastructure, I love the fact that you can talk about a bit of concrete and steel fo over 11 minutes! and in a way that I keep watching too
Maar echt
Mate you’re selling your channel too hard. You’ve made the same comment on the last several videos I’ve watched
I'd certainly not call it 'a bit of concrete'. It's quite vast, a complex in the broadest sense of the word. If you wonder about a bit in the complex, you fall from one astonishment into the other, it really is a full-blown housing concept put into reality. Many of these gangways have quite an eerie feel to it. Somehow it reminds me very much of the movie Logan's run.
I spent more time there than I had planned when I visited, as do many I imagine due its labyrinthine layout but I found it fascinating. Despite an unholy amount of concrete, it doesn’t feel like your average brutalist structure. There are actually *curves* (gasp) and the endless walkways make it feel very open in most areas (some are admittedly a little claustrophobic)-not the eastern block bomb shelter you usually associate with brutalist architecture. I agree that the separation of public and private spaces felt ill-defined in places and I often *felt* like I was trespassing and was going to be told to move along by a security guard at a any moment. Another great video and thank you for reminding of a great afternoon many years ago complete with an awesome concert, museums, churches, and lunch watching the ducks 🦆
I love it, it feels like a piece of the wacky futures depicted in 60's sci-fi come to life in our world. Like the world's in those movies, barbican feels like a place out of time, being both futuristic and nostalgicly retro
To my teenage self in the 80s I loved being in a sci-fi world like Logan's Run. So much traffic-free public space to run around and explore :)
a part of a star wars series was filmed there, in fact!
When I was a child, at Christmas my dad would take us to the children’s Christmas party at his work, and after getting off the train at Moorgate station we would walk through part of the Barbican’s upper walkways to get to the office
2003: “We’re voting the Barbican London’s worst building!”
Also 2003: *proceeds to exclusively build poor quality new-builds from glass and sand brick* 💩🥴
I suspect there have been lots of 'beer-holding' moments since that vote.
I thought the British Library was the perennial winner ?
I'm surprised it wasn't simultaneously voted London's best building.
I recall seeing a stage production of A Clockwork Orange at the Barbican centre back in either the late eighties or, early nineties. We left the theatre and wandered around the Barbican area feeling as if we were living in Burgess' nightmare world, wearily looking out for Alex and his droogs. I still ocassionally go wandering around there; so evocative! Well done Jago another well told tale.
As a non Londoner I was aware of the Barbican Centre but didn't know it was such a big area and so residential. Another very entertaining episode
Thank you, Jago. You have just taught me everything I know about Barbican: origin, definition, history, place in architecture, social status, and you even snuck a train in.
Britain needs to build more barbicans, and less tiny brick cubes packed together with 1cm of space between them so they can be marketed as a "detached family home". If living in a large housing complex like this didn't have the stigma of being only for "poor people", then the housing crisis could probably be solved. It's the way it is in most of Europe and Asia, and for a small densely populated island, it seems like the obvious solution. For some reason people would rather live in a miniscule ugly "house" that's half the size of a flat, so they can roleplay as Americans because they technically have a detached suburban house and a driveway and a 3x3 meter slab of concrete they call a back garden. Even if they can still hear their next door neighbours snoring and have one tree in their entire housing estate. At the very least they need to stop wasting space and just build terraced houses instead of pretending to have a enough space to build detached ones.
@PGH Engineereat my ass
@PGH Engineer No need to be rude
Yep. We tried that after the war. The estates all turned into crime ridden hellholes. (it's not only snobbery-brutalist architecture provides lots of hidey holes for muggers and drug dealers and the like, yet another example of the architechts'' idealism failing when confronted with actual human nature and society) You can debate the reasons, lack of investment, lack of opportunities and hope for young people but regardless-no one in the UK is eager to repeat the experiment. Perhaps one day the powers that be in the UK will work out why it works in other countries and didn't here (lack of money probably has a lot to do with it as indeed is mentioned in this video)
Also most of the terraced housing stock or at least a large proportion of it was demolished as slum clearance after the war. Because terraced houses were often slums they were demonized. Although terraced housing is not inherently bad, the problem was the people who owned them were usually poor and they fell into disrepair. But that is the reason why terraced houses are now rarer (and most of those cleared slum dwellers were the ones moved into the crime ridden failed experiment brutalist housing estates aforementioned)
Totally agree.. it's also absurd to pay ridiculous amounts of money to buy a converted Victorian flat which has nothing to look at out of the windows and feels like you're living in someone's loft
A little factoid: John Smith, leader of the Labour Party in the early 90s, was a resident of the Barbican until his death. Good example of the professional demographic the complex attracted.
Yes, he had his heart attack here before being rushed to hospital.
Famously Arthur Scargill had an apartment that was paid for by the National Union of Mineworkers and he had a legal dispute with them because he said they had given it him for life!
I wandered around it one day in 2000 when going to a display at one of the exhibition halls. It looked as abandoned then as it did in this video. Absolutely no one in sight, wind blasting through and an absolute maze to navigate.
I love the Barbican. I used to go there all the time for free art exhibits or often to hang out as free music was often played in it's lobbies. It's walled off nature makes it a walled off citadel in the middle of the city, If you walk along the walkways on a hot summer day, when the gardens are in bloom and the the thrum of the waterfalls it feels like you r in some other place, you can see London around you but all is quiet and in peace. It does feel like the residents should be made to wear brightly coloured jump suits and have funny haircuts to complete the sci fi look. I must have a good sense of direction because I have never been lost in the Barbican.
It doesnt matter how many times I visit the Barbican, I will never, ever, ever be able to navigate my way around it.
Maybe there's an app for your phone for that now. 😉
I remember when the Barbican Centre opened in the early 80s, One of the main criticisms of It was that It was hard to navigate. Indeed, people had trouble getting in because they couldn't find the entrance. The solution was to paint yellow lines on the floor to lead you along the walkways. I wonder what Le Corbusier would have thiught about that.
Still, I love the Barbican. And I'm glad we get to see what happens when you let modernists create a complete environment. And you look after It properly when they've finished.
I totally agree. I've only been there a few times and find it unfathomable to navigate. You can't get into it then once you do you can't find your way around it. Even being able to see where you are trying to get to doesn't help. Getting somewhere often seems to involve setting off in the wrong direction. Maybe it gets easier once you get to know it but I've no desire to spend any more time than necessary there.
always loved following the lines on the floor… brings you out at cool random places
Partly the point of the place - to avoid the monotony and excessive regularity that was often criticised about Modernism by emulating the higgledy-piggledy 'lanes' typical of older towns
Great video. Back in the 1980s, I went on a guided tour of the complex as part of a course I was doing when I was a lot younger. The tour guide (who was from the local local authority - if you know what I mean) explained that the fountains in the outside water features also served to regulate the temperature of the air condtioning system serving the complex. Years later, I attended a few conferences there; the highlight was lunch in the massive conservatory, complete with ponds and giant goldfish.
Population figures for the Barbican have to include the hundreds of people who have spent years wandering around the walkways looking for the exit. There are rumours that it's where IKEA got the inspiration for their store layout.
😂😂
I’ve been a resident on the Golden Lane Estate for over 30 years and hardly ever use the Barbican walkways, I find it quicker to walk using the streets below.
La Corbusier would be most disappointed...
I agree it’s easier walk around it not up and across it, unless you have somewhere to go on the Barbican estate, there is no need to use the walkways.
I visited many years ago, and what struck me was not so much the brutalist architecture, but the emptiness of it. 2000 housing units and almost no people about. No one strolling or sitting in the open spaces, even on a nice day. It seems like they need to do something to enliven the open spaces, such as retail or cafes or something. Pulling everything up on elevated walkways deprives it of any sense of street life. People feel safer and more comfortable when there are plenty of other people around. During my lonely visit, I felt almost like an intruder and wanted to go find someplace more welcoming.
I often walk through the Barbican high walks and never tire of it. It's much better than walking at street level next to all that noisy traffic. The layout is fascinating and this short clip has shown me that there are plenty of other parts to investigate.
‘The British national sport’- so true. I started work during this period and worked on the construction fit-out of similar London Projects.
I used to live in Aldersgate street, enjoyed the Barbican area very much!
It’s been many years since I last went to the Barbican, indeed, my two visits - to see the up and coming actor Kenneth Branagh and romantic interest Emma Thompson in Henry V, and a follow up not long after to see a somewhat less memorable performance of Merry Wives of Windsor must have been very shortly after the arts complex opened, as the elderly family friend, who was determined that I would grow up to like Shakespeare (and yeah, that production of Henry V did finally sell it to me) died in 1986.
Your talk of the roads being kept out was what really brought the memory back, as on the first visit our taxi in from StPancras took us right into the building, dropping us in some underground taxi rank that led right into part of the foyer of the arts complex (which of course spreads over several floors and was huge). For an 11 year old from the East Mids in the early 80’s that was serious London chic lol
When I was an art student in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania USA I lived in a smaller but similar type of brutalist housing/business area named Allegheny Center on the Northside just across the river from downtown Pittsburgh. As a young adult I loved it, I could see myself living in this Barbican place and enjoying it also.
I love the Barbican. It’s so fun to explore!
"One of the poorest parts of London has now become one of the most expensive."
Barbican, meet Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn, Barbican.
I lived there as a kid back in the mid 80’s. Fond memories of it. I was in Shakespeare Tower. It flet very futuristic back then.
I decided to have a wander through the Barbican when I visited the Museum of London a few weeks ago. Got some really good photos of the place at weird angles and stuff like that. It was really quiet in some places and kind of felt like I was in some 70's SciFi film but without the avant gard sound effects to go with it. I did like it though, there's just something pleasing to the eye about how it all fits together.
I like this part of London. it's a good place to meet friends, especially in, and on the large paved area outside, the café beside the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the conservatory is worth a look when it is open. And the Museum of London is right beside it too so it can make for a good day out. Great video as always Jago. Thank you.
That part of London at weekends can be amazingly quiet. I once had to work there on a Sunday, and I was half convincing myself that the city had been compulsorily evacuated and that they forgot to tell me !
Big fan of the Barbican, my office is nearby so I often walk through. I’ve been going there since I saw an Alvar Aalto exhibition when I was young, and seen many more since. Last year I had to rescue a lost duckling in the main lake and reunite it with its mother, which was quite stressful, but also meant I got access to the usually private area around the lake which was interesting.
ANY video about a bunch of stuff connected by walkways, I'M WATCHIN. I can't tell you why I love that crap so much
Trivia: The term "brutalism" comes from "beton brut", French for "raw concrete".
Correct
Works in a drier, sunnier place, like most of france. In dreer Sheffield ...
@@highpath4776 Nope, it doesn't work there either. It's ugly no matter where you put it.
The French do love their concrete: eg, the arch at La Defense
Good to know, as it just adds another confirmation (as if anyone needed another one) that all ideas that come out of France are bad ones.
Fascinating. My step daughters live in a building that is sandwiched between the Barbican estate and the Golden Lane estate. My wife and I just spent three weeks staying with them and so we did a lot of walking around the area.
I love the Barbican complex. It's got that quality of being near the heart of London, but still enabling you to nit see anyone for ages as you walk through the walkways and pedways. The complex is slowly great for traversing the distance between Moorgate and Barbican tube stations on foot. 👏🏾
Absolutely stunning photography here and a fascinating story behind this divisive yet increasingly outstanding development. When other brutalist building have long gone, The Barbican will remain as a beacon from a long lost age of optimism and ambition.
Thanks for another cracking video.
I have stayed in the Thistle Hotel near Barbican a few times, so I have looked around the Barbican estate . It still looks quite impressive.
Going off topic a bit, but in the days of the DDR, people in the west used to mock the acres of drab "plattenbau" blocks of flats in East Berlin. After reunification, developers came along, and they found that the build quality of these flats was surprisingly very good. After being given a lick of paint and modern kitchens etc. they are popular affordable places to live.
I think it depends which country they were built in. East Berlin was to some extent a show city (albeit not a very good one!) so more effort was made to show off the quality of DDR workmanship. Go somewhere like Halle (Saale) or across the border to somewhere like Most in the Czech Republic and the quality really wasn't as good.
When you exit the tube station, immediately climb the stairs and over the bridge to the gardens, many unfortunately discover the Barbican @ 3.46 by taking the tunnel under the Barbican and land at the Arts Centre!
My sister used to live in a flat in one of the towers. She loved her view of St Paul's but there were snags. Lots of the equipment for things in the flat such as blinds rubbish disposal doors etc had been supplied by obscure companies that had ceased trading soon after and thus repairing them was expensive and time consuming. The doors into the flats were very heavy and it was difficult to close them quietly, as far as I could tell very few ever tried. The noise echoed down the stairwells and always reminded me of the introduction to Porridge with the Judge's voice accompanied by the crashing of prison doors!
We feel constrained to give you the maximum sentence allowed for these offences. You will go to the Barbican for five years.
Are you sure it was a tower? The only stairwell in each tower is on the 'outside' of the building, separated by a pretty heavy-duty door - can't imagine any sound echoing down that
In 1965 when the group Unit 4+2 had a hit with Concrete and Clay, the background to the video they’d made was the Barbican when it was still a building site.
The theatre tour of the barbican is well worth doing, I think they're still running it, but it really gives you a further insight into the complex. I'd also recommend trying to catch an architecture foundation talk there, they're often in rooms deep into the complex so you get to go through lots of internal tunnels and walkways that give really interesting views of the conservatory at night.
Sadly I think you're hitting the nail on the head when it comes down to why the barbican hasn't suffered the same fate as places like Thamesmead for example; even Park Hill in Sheffield which could be argued is a better example of the style, whilst restored now, was like you said treated as a dumping ground for problem tenants and allowed to run into the ground. Would very much recommend Concretopia by John Grindrod as a good read for more on the subject.
Great video as always!
I have worked around Barbican and I love it’s unique design and concept, In theory, the issue is the heavy concrete and enormous costs to maintain it. The flats of colleagues are all tight and yet functionally efficient with space. Heating is communal and bonkers. In short I flip between love and hate, but mostly I enjoy the elevation and sense of discovery when I frequently take a wrong turn.
The Barbican was used in the Doctor Who serial 'Frontier In Space' that was filmed in late 1972 and shown in early 1973. Episode 3 aired the evening before I was born.
There's a haunting, almost macabre, beauty about the shots you have of the Barbican - which I imagine to be translated well from the experience of walking round it. I always feel a faint nostalgia for a time that never was when I view such brutalist high-rises and their aerial walkways, such as in Leeds, because the *ideas* were so positive but the execution and the concept doomed to fail. All of which is to say, really enjoyed this video, thank you!
There was even a public services building here originally called Milton Court. It included a fire station, a coroner’s court, a mortuary, the City’s weights and measures office, a disinfection station... as well as 13 maisonettes for City of London staff. Sadly demolished now...
My grandmother was one of the original tenants and bought her flat as soon as it was permitted. She was a prominent Londoner, having been the landlord of several pubs including No 15 St Mary Axe (where the gherkin is now). She went on to run a club in one of the chambers at Lincoln's Inn before retiring, well into her 90s.
Proud to see the Guildhall School namechecked and shown! There's a way out of there straight onto one of the Barbican highwalks, which was a crafty way for some double bass players to move between the two main college buildings without carrying their bass down too many stairs!
Love the Barbican and was waiting for this video for so long, thanks for exploring this subject!
So fascinating, I go to the Barbican Centre occasionally and totally amazed at the size of the complex and I think it's something you either love or hate, but good to see it hasn't changed much and still has the 70's look of it all.
I am a member of the fabulous lending library in the Barbican. I think one of the biggest changes was when the YMCA moved out and their tower converted to flats. Most of the pubs have gone too. It’s a great link between the city and Farringdon. Long May it prosper.
Fantastic video thank you! Did an architectural tour some years back, brings back lots of memories.
Jago, your videos are an eye opener. I don’t live in London and has always thought “The Barbican” referred to the concert hall only. I didn’t know it was in effect a village in the city. I’ll pay it a visit next time I’m in town.
The mural tiles by Dorothy Annan at 5:58 used to face Farringdon Street near the Holborn Viaduct, on the Post Office Telephones building now demolished and new built for Goldman Sachs. They are listed GII.
Thank you for featuring my home (Bunyan Court) and acknowledging the Smithsons. Contrary to popular belief (and many comments here), Brutalism did not originate from the French word for concrete, “brut”. Smithson’s first Brutalist building was mainly glass and steel. It’s more-so the honest/brutal way a building is presented rather than trying to hide/polish everything which is more a Modernist architecture approach.
Finally, Crescent House is shown when you mention Golden Lane Estate. Please note that this is phase 2 of the estate. Phase 1 starts from Golden Lane. It’s the reason why the estate is called Golden Lane rather Goswell Road Estate.
As a TV service engineer I have worked all over London from Thamesmead to the Barbican , the problem with the Barbican was parking and finding the flat , the problem with Thamesmead was would I still have a van when I got back . as an aside Kathy Kirby lived in the Barbican.
You can spot the Barbican in the new Star Wars TV series Andor. Some of the common areas were used as a filming location for Coruscant, with the backgrounds extended with CGI to make it look more sci-fi. You can easily recognise the tiled floors, concrete walls, and distinctive light fittings.
I visited the Barbican area for the first time just a few days ago and thought something along the lines of "I wonder when Jago will make a video about this?", and now here it is.
The Conservatory in the Barbican Centre which you showed a brief picture of, is amazing place, you can go there when it's open, well worth a look and cheaper than Kew Gardens. 🌺🌵🌴❤️
Interesting note that a flat in the Barbican, costs the same as a three bed semi-detached twenties house in North West London.
Thank you for this! You've talked about the Barbican in previous videos and I've been looking forward to a more compete tale. Even though I live thousands of kilometres away, I feel a connection to the place. In 1984 I was a very young graduate student in Canada, and I traveled to London the the 9th International Congress of Pharmacology, held at the Barbican Centre. At the time I was there, the Centre was practically brand new and it was very modern and impressive to this youngster from the Colonies 😀
I've only been to the Barbican a few times, but growing up in Portsmouth I was inevitably given flashbacks to the Tricorn. All that concrete, all those weird hidden corners that feel like they were supposed to have a purpose!
My great-great-grandfather was baptised at St Giles Without Cripplegate in 1817. The family lived in Golden Lane at the time, and it was a VERY poor area. I was quite surprised in the 1970s to find the church was still there despite the Luftwaffe and the redevelopment.
Great video! Lived in barbican for a year when I was a student in uni, didn't realise it was famous until I moved out. Miss that place!
Awwww, my old building at 1:05
My God, how cool a video sequence you make!!!
Compared to all other reviewers.After each of your videos, I get a complete picture of the place you're talking about!!!
Another excellent piece of social commentary, that distinguishes Jago from some other commentators.
Thanks for pointing out the absence of a gas supply to the Barbican. It is worth noting that, from the early 1990s the Barbican has benefitted from a district heating scheme. The set up uses waste heat from a small power station based in the old Port of London Authority building opposite Smithfield Market.
I don't think that's true, the service charge is definitely based on all-electric central heating with a single wholesale contract for the entire complex (as has been the case since construction)
@@martinseiffarth6408 The Barbican is definitely on the hot water piping circuit. Could be that just the Arts Centre benefits.
@@louis1952 Probably just the arts centre then - and possibly Frobisher Crescent, only converted later; interesting to know. The rest of the estate's heating system is electric, dry, underfloor heating.
I’ve always loved the Barbican. Used to work near enough to spend my lunchtimes wandering around it, and still fit in a visit when I’m back. Plus - pedways, which have been expanded with the London Wall developments recently.
Our town centre is supposedly "brutalist". And, on that basis, I have always assumed, having never visited it, that I wouldn't like the Barbican. But you've changed my mind. Cheers
you must go to the Barbican at least once, although there is so much to do there.
even just sit outside by one of the cafes having a coffee and listen..
@@dang373 I went to college in and around London in the early 80s. Not been back since!
The Barbican is a far cry from Cumbernauld, that's for sure.
@@robertoceferino1456 Yer right there pal! ;-)
Fourteen Million budget and One hundred and Sixty million cost. So a normal British Council contract.
Thanks
I really enjoyed your video. Did you intentionally make sure no people were in your shots, or was it really that quiet? The lack of people gave it an almost eerie air
I filmed early on a Sunday morning, when all respectable people are in bed with a hangover.
Brilliant mini-documentary. As good if not better than any 'official' film or even the sort of thing we once enjoyed from 'One Foot in The Past'.
Bravo.
Thank you Jago for making this ! I had never seen this area before and it is very different from what I have seen before . Cheers from California !
Thank you. I am a big fan of brutalist architecture, and this goes definetly on my to-visit list in the summer when I will be there after Crossrail has opened. Might have missed out otherwise.
Just visited Barbican today, and honestly its much, much, MUCH better than I thought it would be, without a doubt one of my most favourite places in London
One problem with the Library Is , I think, the closure of three local libraries. one opp entrance to Barbican 2 venue, one near one of the lanes to the south of London Wall and there was another one I cannot recall where, which meant a longer walk for me to try to find useful study books when I could not get them from the college library
When i worked in the area I used the Library there, also the sim-tropical garden.
Love your potted architectural guides Jago.
Obviously as well as the more rail centric ones which are also excellent.
I love your estate videos...I love all your videos, but the estate ones are fascinating... nope, all your videos are fascinating. If you're looking for suggestions.... The Estates in North Kensington, the William Sutton was the first, I think, in that area. Do you dare take on the story of the Becontree Estate? The little I know is really interesting. I'll watch whatever you do. Brilliantly researched, great shots and footage and I love your delivery. As a bored teenager with a friend who lived atop a thirties office block in Moorgate, little was more fun than spending the day at the Barbican Centre, roaming around and seeing how surprisingly easy it was to gain access (just by opening doors, no dodgy stuff) to areas that were meant to be off limits. Just mooching around. The only time we were challenged, we'd gained access to one of the theatres, the bloke to challenged us turned out to be surprisingly easy to talk into a personal tour of the orchestra pit, practice rooms and studios as well as other areas usually off limits to bored teenagers mooching around and playing lift racing. Thanks for another great video!
I attended the first public preview of the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Barbican (and a few weeks earlier had managed to see the final performance at the Aldwych). It was a mostly thrilling performance.
You didnt really notice the many conseiges. Basically each (Semi underground) Car Park has a general attendant 24/7. They will take in parcels for residents if you ask them nicely, (proper londoners, probably ex miliary guys) , otherwise the Royal Mail has delivery carts stored in them. They have a master key to the Lowest Ground Floor door - and lift call - I used them to deliver items to the internal residences which saved using the door call systems at the public entrances.
An excellent film, Jago. You've taken some really nice shots and video of the Barbican. I used to work nearby, back in the day, and was a regular visitor to its library, cinemas, theatre, and restaurants and pubs. I thinks its rather glorious!
That was extremely interesting. Having walked, cycled, staggered and run through the Barbie I always did wonder what the story was. Excellent.
If they never built it as such, we wouldn't know about its shortcomings.
You are blessed with a very easy to listen to voice. I can think of a few you tubers who would benefit from diction lessons from you.
It must be the Montrealer in me being so desensitized, but I think "not that bad really" when I saw shots of the Barbican.
I have a love/ hate relationship with it. I admire it’s ambition and what it tried to be, along with the sheer scale and complexity is interesting. Brutalism though should never come back. It’s not missed.
Don't get me started on brutalist architecture, but many thanks for giving St Giles, Cripplegate, an airing. May I humbly recommend this little church to subscribers as the best small concert hall in London. It's used mainly for chamber concerts and recordings, but its resonant acoustics make any music sound as though it's coated in honey. Well worth a visit.
I spent a fortnight as a stand in site engineer on one of the Barbican building contracts covering a holiday spell. This would have been 1969 and in the design office I was tasked with design calculations for one of the staircase structures in the Guildhall School of Music while I was working for what was then the Ove Arup and Partners Consultancy. My tiny contribution has, of course, failed to enter the history books but I have an equally small germ of proprietary interest in the site.
One of my favourite places in London. So unique, lots of nice tours through the estate which are bookable online! Great video
Thanks for making this video. I quite like these walkways, one can walk or run here continuously without stopping at red lights. There is a another small lake behind the museum. I spent lot of my afternoons walking here during the lunch time.
Now try it in a wheelchair
Le Corbusier might have _believed_ in practical design, but I've sat on one of his chairs and their only practical use would be as a medieval torture device.
My favorite video on the Barbican. A must see next time I´m in London.
Gorgeous. Given how many failed planned communities we've seen on this channel, this is a nice change of pace.
I've heard that British intelligence worked to confuse the Germans into attacking parts of London they felt were less vital, even met a person once whose family suffered when a bus refueling was hit as a result of this, killing many. I wonder if Cripplegate suffered from similar efforts.
No, the general idea was to stop the Germans from getting to central London at all; ideally the disruption to the German targeting system should have meant they dropped their bombs over open country, but it wasn't often that successful so it was the suburbs which got hit instead.
Given the vagaries of "precision" bombing at the time (a term which even today means "to within a few hundred metres or so" rather than the "hit a specific building" many people assume it means), Cripplegate could well have ended up being the recipient of bombs intended for the City or even the Docks. Central London really isn't that big, so even a quarter-mile off target would take the bombers over another area.
@@atraindriver Not sure why you start your post with a no, when it sounds like you agree with me.
I was thinking it was more about shifting the aim for the V1 and V2, rather than what a plane flying over would see.
It's a "community" for the middle class.