Latest news with #TwentiethCenturySociety
BBC News
30-05-2025
- General
- BBC News
Listed building attempt for Central London YMCA building
A heritage charity and a London campaign group have applied to list the building formerly home to the world's first purpose-built YMCA, following its closure earlier this Twentieth Century Society and the ExY Club have filed submissions with Historic England in an effort to protect the Brutalist structure on Great Russell Street.A spokesperson for the Twentieth Century Society said the listing would ensure that "whatever the future may hold, [the building's] undeniable architectural qualities would endure".The former YMCA was closed in February after being sold late last year to real estate firm Criterion Capital. The company was contacted for comment. The Central YMCA had been operating from its Great Russell Street base since 1977.A petition to save the premises received more than 8,000 signatures however it shut as planned on 7 February. The Twentieth Century Society and the ExY Club, formerly the Save the YMCA Club Committee, applied to Historic England to have the building ExY Club's detailed submission, which is intended to complement The Twentieth Century Society's submission, focuses on the building's design and purpose as a community and leisure complex."The building is the subject of a recent sale which may alter the interior layout and change the purpose and nature of the buildings [sic] historic function – a function that is intrinsic to its historic, communal and architectural value," the application Twentieth Century Society's submission said the "Brutalist concrete megastructure" had "considerable historic and architectural interest". 'Clear historic interest' A spokesperson for The Twentieth Century Society told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: "Bloomsbury's Brutalist landmark has clear historic interest as the site of the world's first YMCA, and its status as an Asset of Community Value demonstrates its importance to the members and community that frequented it until recently."Recognising the building with national listing would ensure that, whatever the future may hold, its undeniable architectural qualities would endure."A Historic England spokesperson confirmed they were in the process of assessing the building for listing."In due course we will submit our advice to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS), who will then make the final decision on the case," they said.
BBC News
12-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
The Futurist: Site of former Birmingham cinema gets listed status
The site of a "pioneering" former cinema has been granted listed status. The Futurist, on John Bright Street in Birmingham, survived two world wars and was the first in the city to show "talkies", according to Historic England, these were films with recorded dialogue played in sync with pictures, as opposed to the silent films played without chiefs said the building, which is now a Caribbean restaurant, gave an early example of cinema architecture with brick, stone and terracotta dressings. "Given its age, The Futurist still looks fantastic," said Historic England's Midlands director Louise Brennan. "It has an imposing presence befitting of its pioneering role. "It survived attack from the Luftwaffe [in World War Two] and the redevelopment of Birmingham." The Futurist was designed in 1914 and eventually opened five years later as construction was delayed by World War One. It was then damaged in an air raid in the Birmingham Blitz of November 1940, before reopening again three years later. Later, the building was known as the Cannon Cinema, before it eventually closed in September 1991. In subsequent years, the building has been converted into an adult club and then a bar and restaurant. Listed buildings are those of special architectural or historical interest. The Futurist has been granted Grade II status by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport on the advice of Historic Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society which campaigns to save outstanding buildings, said it had been a "real survivor". "Since closing as a cinema it's been an adult nightclub, shisha lounge, and a seafood restaurant," she said. "But no matter the times, the value and versatility of 20th Century heritage endures. "It's wonderful to see this handsome old gent of a building now recognised with national listing." Follow BBC Birmingham on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
11-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Former tax office to become new business school in Nottingham
A former Inland Revenue office block is to be turned into a business school for the University of Nottingham. The tax office was home to about 2,000 staff from 1994 after the Inland Revenue expanded outside London. In 2021, it was put up for sale for £36m after the Inland Revenue (now His Majesty's Revenue and Customs) moved to a new Unity Square block off Sheriff's Way, near Nottingham railway site was bought by the university, and in 2023 the city council granted planning permission for it to be used as a base for Nottingham University Business School. However, the university had to get special permission to begin work after the site was given Grade II listed status, following a campaign by the Nottingham Civic Society and Twentieth Century permission was granted by Nottingham City Council on Friday, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.
Time Out
04-05-2025
- General
- Time Out
The revolutionary high-tech London building named one of Britain's most at risk from demolition
Every year the Twentieth Century Society (C20) puts together a list of Britain's most at-risk 20th and 21st architectural marvels. Earlier this month it published the 2025 edition of its Risk List, with the included structures ranging from a Brighton synagogue with a stained glass Holocaust memorial to a Bauhaus-inspired department store in Bradford. C20's 2025 Risk List intended to highlight 'outstanding twentieth and twenty-first century buildings across the country that are at risk from demolition, dereliction or neglect'. Among the 10 selected structures is one from London – and there's every chance you haven't heard of it. The Patera Prototype in Newham is the only structure in the capital to feature in C20's 2025 At Risk list. So, what exactly is it? Well, for starters, here's what it looked like back in its 1980s heyday: The Patera was made as a prototype for a new type of industrial structure designed to be replicable and moveable. It's a significant example of 'high-tech architecture', a style that emerged in the 1970s with the aim of incorporating high tech industry and technology into building design. High-tech buildings are often identifiable for having visible beams, pipes and cables, as well as for being very flexible in use. Famous examples include stuff like Lloyd's of London in the City or Paris' Pompidou Centre. Anyway, back to the Patera. The structure that currently sits in Newham was made in 1982 by Michael Hopkins Associates and Anthony Hunt Associates and it's one of only two remaining prototypes (the other is part of the Hopkins office in Marylebone). C20 describes it as being 'a prefabricated off-the-peg industrial structure… envisaged as a form of 'High-Tech Nissen hut''. The Patera Prototype is undeniably a fascinating piece of design – but it could soon be lost as a document of architectural history. C20 says that the structure is currently threatened by the redevelopment of the Royal Docks. The Patera sits in a boatyard workshop on Albert Island, which is earmarked for a major £300 million development. The structure was rediscovered in 2020, and C20 had a listing application rejected in 2021. It has sat semi-dismantled since 2022. C20 isn't suggesting that the docks' redevelopment is halted by the Patera – just that it is relocated and restored. The charity reckons that 'this early relic of the High-Tech movement [could] become a cultural or creative venue'.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
'No plans' to demolish 'at risk' former pop museum
A former museum that became a students' union venue will not be demolished, its owners have said following fears that it was at risk. The charity Twentieth Century Society included the old National Centre for Popular Music in Sheffield on a national list of buildings vulnerable to neglect, dereliction or demolition. They said the site, now part of Sheffield Hallam University, was "extremely vulnerable" after an announcement last year that the union would relocate. The university told the BBC that they had no plans to raze the building and they were exploring alternative uses. A university spokesperson said: "The HUBS building where Hallam Union has been based for a number of years is used on occasions for teaching, learning and other activities. "We will be looking at several different options for the building in the longer-term as part of the next phase of our campus plan." The National Centre for Popular Music closed in June 2000, just 15 months after it opened. According to the city council, the £15m venture was funded to the tune of £11m by the National Lottery – at the time it was the fourth-largest grant given to a project outside London. The unique design of the building - four drums representing different aspects of music - attracted mixed reviews. Oli Marshall, campaigns director at Twentieth Century Society, said he hoped the building would be reused in the future. "The HUBS building may feel very young to be recognised as heritage, but it's now a quarter of century old and the product of an era where unprecedented public funding delivered some really ambitious and extraordinary projects, that are of national significance. "While the museum may have been 'Top of the Flops', the building itself has long been a Sheffield icon." Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North. Neglect fears over 'at risk' empty city store Sheffield Hallam University Twentieth Century Society
