Comments on: At The Barbican

By: Lizzie Finn

Lizzie Finn — Sat, 28 Dec 2019 15:30:10 +0000

The ‘Distinctive Maroon floor tiles’. Does she mean the bricks or brick shaped tiles seen on all the walkways? or something else? There’s no photos of anything other than that in the book.

By: Phil Maxwell

Phil Maxwell — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 18:20:11 +0000

I remember visiting the Barbican Estate for the first time in 1981. I never saw it as ‘brutalist’ because it was a placed I loved immediately. The architecture is inventive and of it’s time: communal, spacious, well designed and pleasant for the people who live their. The use of wood for the interior fittings was inspirational. The flats are gorgeous. The Barbican has survived as a masterpiece of modern architecture because it has been well maintained and has excellent estate management. It’s a great pity that similar ventures in the UK have not received the care lavished on the Barbican. The Barbican model is not brutal, it’s enlightened. We need council housing all over the UK like the Barbican. We need a new age of enlightenment that rejects the idea that it’s normal for people to sleep and die on the street in the City of London next to the Barbican.

By: Peter Bradshaw Wilson

Peter Bradshaw Wilson — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 13:01:55 +0000

Thank you for publishing this. I lived for fourteen wonderful years in the Barbican; it is truly one of London’s most important architectural treasures – and a most perfect place to live

By: aubrey

aubrey — Sat, 20 Oct 2018 09:14:47 +0000

As one can see from these photographs, the columns which sustain these highrise homes were quite massive. The sizes of these columns (together with other elements of the building) is based upon the loadings which they sustain. The various loading patterns were calculated by the structural engineers who would have worked closely alongside the architects. It’s a pity that they were not mentioned in the interestng narrative.
I am always fascinated by the area whenever I walk along the elevated walkway on my way to the London Museum.

By: Marcia Howard

Marcia Howard — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 19:43:08 +0000

A great story and some wonderful images

By: Phyllis

Phyllis — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 18:21:38 +0000

I was lucky enough to take a guided tour of the Barbican about a year ago, it was fascinating and once inside it’s a really special place. I’d love to live there.

By: Jane Holland

Jane Holland — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 09:30:20 +0000

The link I have given as my website is a link to a page on one of my blogs about my Father, James Holland – long time friend of James Boswell (one of the three Jameses in fact), and also close friend of Jean and Jo Chamberlain and Christoph Bon. So what a delight to read today’s piece about the Barbican, the construction of which was a subject of interest when I was growing up. I have spent many weeks at le Mas Gouge, the last time a matter of days after Jean died in 1997. It is a very special place. The photos you have taken are also lovely.

By: Annie G

Annie G — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 08:21:07 +0000

What an interesting thing to read on a Friday morning. I have always loved the Barbican and remember well seeing it going up in the 70s. My father and I would drive into London from Sussex on hot summer mornings and you could see it so clearly as we drove through the southern suburbs. When I moved to London in 1977 it was just round the corner from where I lived and I was fascinated by it. Now it has had all these years to settle in it looks exactly right for that part of London. And the way it contains and protects ancient walls and St Giles church seems fitting. As that entire area was bombed flat, it is like a phoenix from the ashes.

By: Ian Silverton

Ian Silverton — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 07:57:39 +0000

Lived there for a short time,had a great indoor pool,which was used by residents,and shop owners,Pet Shop Boys,where neighbours,as was Clive James broadcaster,writer,still are we think,very modern clean lines,but always cold,shadowing walkways,and car basement,had a Italian Cafe,Hairsalons, Florist,Jewels, DIY,Fruit and Veg,etc shops on site,all very new and Posh!!!!! Nice living experience for a young East end Boy,from the slums via,Clifford’s Inn,now that was old but nice.

By: Paul Loften

Paul Loften — Fri, 19 Oct 2018 07:24:20 +0000

After I left school I briefly worked for a company called Nairn -Williamson whose office was in Aldersgate st opposite the Barbican site whilst it was being built. There was a long lasting building workers strike at the site and it turned very bitter when blacklegs were bussed in. One day I went out for lunch and as I stepped outside the front door of the building I was forced back by a line of police. A full scale riot had broken out . The scene was very violent with builders on the walls it was a pitched battle of hundreds of building workers against the police. The wall had a steep drop into the foundation excavation and to my horror I saw one of the strikers fall off the wall into the foundations. . I believe he was was seriously injured a recall the ambulance trying to get through the crowds. It was indeed a Battle of The Barbican and it was in the headlines of the papers the next day. The site is a London landmark but it has more history than just the planning