C20 Society

Dispatches: C20 President, Samira Ahmed - Architecture Today Award-winning journalist and broadcaster Samira Ahmed reflects on her passion for 20th century architecture, the role of storytelling in preservation, and her ambitions as the newly appointed Presiden...

From Newcastle and Bolton to Los Angeles and Persepolis: award-winning journalist and broadcaster @samiraahmeduk.bsky.social talks about her ambitions as the newly appointed President of the @c20society.bsky.social: architecturetoday.co.uk/dispatches-c...

I realised, talking to @architecturetoday.bsky.social, that taking my children on half term trips to look at 1960s civic centres, was probably a sign that I was a @c20society.bsky.social
woman. architecturetoday.co.uk/dispatches-c...

Particular credit must go to the extensive research of Prof. Richard Brook, member of C20’s Casework Committee and Director of Research at Lancaster School of Architecture, and the late Elain Harwood, in achieving a greater understanding of the UMIST campus and post-war higher education buildings.

Image © University of Mancheste

Image © Richard Brook

In addition, the entrance of the Renold Building contains an important mural by leading British abstract artist Victor Pasmore. ‘Metamorphosis’ was painted directly onto the plaster of the west wall and is a rare survivor of his architectural work.

Image © Lawrence Wright, University of Manchester

Image © lowefoto

Designed by Cruikshank & Seward (1960-62), the Renold Building is an innovative and influential example of British modernism. Its striking zig-zag facade, projecting stairwell, tower and podium configuration, and concave roof-top plant also reference SOM's Lever Building in NYC and Oscar Niemeyer.

Image © Mark Waugh

Image © Jon Sparks

NEWS: New York, Brasilia, Manchester?

We're delighted to announce that the Renold Building at the former University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST) has just been designated at Grade II, 20 years after C20's first listing application.

➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/manches...

The stairwell at the Renold Building, Manchester university UMIST campus, in a photo taken by Mark Waugh.

Very happy Manchester's Renold Building is grade-II listed, thanks to heroic efforts of @c20society.bsky.social, the late Elain Harwood and Richard Brook after — what else? — resistance by its owners. It only took 20 years' work.

‘Just ticking away in the background’: old Euston departures board lives on in millionaire’s Margate warehouse Board continues to show live updates in Jeremy Hosking’s storage space which will open to public next weekend

Remember the huge advertising sign debacle at Euston Station in 2022? Ever wondered what happened to the old departures board?

Wonder no more! It’s found a new home at a private railway collection in Margate, and still continues to show live train updates.

theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

Very sad news from Scotland. The Category B listed St Mungo’s Parish Church in Cumbernauld (Alan Reiach, 1963-64) has been destroyed by fire.

www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/scottis...

BDP’s revamp of James Stirling’s ‘Modernist jewel’ in Cambridge approved BDP’s revamp of James Stirling’s ‘Modernist jewel’ in Cambridge approved

BDP’s plans to restore James Stirling’s Grade II*-listed History Faculty Building at Cambridge University have been approved

Happy Yorkshire Day!

Here's one of our favourite C20 buildings in God's Own Country: The Grade II* listed Scargill House Chapel, by George Pace (1958-61)

The Scandinavian inspired chapel contains no pulpit, lecturn or stained glass, as Pace 'wanted the chapel to appear to grow out of the dale'.

NEWS: C20 is backing a campaign to save a pioneering 1980s Black community centre in London from redevelopment, and has supported a listing application. Bridge Park is a key example of the community architecture movement and adaptive reuse of industrial heritage.

➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/build-d...

C20 Magazine - Issue 2017/2 Features in this issue include: Bernat Klein: Design, architecture and the Scottish landscape A view from the drawing board: Brunswick Centre Labour of love: Re-roofing Stirling & Gowans Engineeri...

A small number of back issues are also available of C20 Magazine (2017-1), with a cover feature on Bernat Klein: Design, architecture and th Scottish landscape: shop.c20society.org.uk/products/c20...

Peter Womersley (Twentieth Century Architects) Author: Neil Jackson The latest title in our Twentieth Century Architects series. Published in his centenary year, a celebration of the life and work of the British architect Peter Womersley (1923-199...

Want to know more about the life and work of architect Peter Womersley (1923-1993)? Our definitive monograph by author Neil Jackson and @livunipress.bsky.social is available to buy now from the C20 shop: shop.c20society.org.uk/products/pet...

Image credit: Iain Masterton

💥The Bernat Klein Studio has been saved! This morning the coalition of Scottish heritage organisations secured the property at auction with a winning bid of £279,000.

The studio will now be restored and brought back into public use, creating a new venue for creative arts in the Scottish Borders.

The Monument to the Mersey Tunnel in Birkenhead (1934) - Grade II listed in 1998

The Monument to the Mersey Tunnel in Liverpool (1934)

The column on the Liverpool side was removed in the 1960s due to major road layout changes and subsequently lost. The one on the Birkenhead side remains and was Grade II listed in 1998. The recreated monument is made from reinforced concrete, polished to closely resemble the original black granite.

The recreated Monument to the Mersey Tunnel in Liverpool (2025)

The Monument to the Mersey Tunnel in Liverpool (1934)

Here's an exclusive shot of the faithfully recreated Monument to the Queensway (Mersey) Tunnel in Liverpool, which topped out in recent days.

The 60ft Art Deco light beacon was originally one of a pair, designed by Herbert Rowse in 1934 to celebrate the engineering and construction of the tunnel.

Nope, the real deal! We refuse to use AI on a matter of principle.

🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Three Lionesses on a House

Congratulations England, European Champions!

📷 John Morrison

‘The City of London Corporation should not give planning permission to the application now in front of it’

@rowanmoore.bsky.social on Liverpool Street Station and the ‘never-ending battle between heritage and development’. Time for a third way?

observer.co.uk/culture/arch...

Image © John East

Image © Historic England

Images © Historic England

EVENT: As part of Birmingham Heritage Week, join C20 Society for a walking tour of William Mitchell's Hockley murals. Designed in 1968, Grade II listed in 2022, and more recently finding use as a brutalist climbing wall!

🗓️ Sat 20 Sep 2025, 3:00-4:30pm
🎟️ secure.c20society.org.uk/Default.aspx...

Image credit: Bernat Klein Foundation

Image credit: Phil Wilkinson

NEWS: C20 Society is backing a coalition of leading Scottish heritage and design organisations that have joined forces to save and restore the Bernat Klein Studio (Peter Womersley, 1972), as it is put up for sale by public auction at the end of the month.

➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/c20-bac...

A national listing system that took social or community value into account would be useful.

Hi Lucy, we'll DM you.

Image credit: The Modern House

NEWS: The leasehold sale of the Regency Café in Pimlico (founded 1946) has just been announced, for an undisclosed sum. C20 Society explored the possibility of a listing application, however it was concluded that the tiled facade and signage, a key feature, was not original but a recent facsimile.

'Cannabis farm found in former department store': Not quite we had in mind with 'Reuse Them or Lose Them'!

Featured in C20's Risk List, the Grade II listed Sunwin House in Bradford (1935-36) had been empty for 20 years and is in need of new ideas and investment.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

Image © Historic England

Image © Historic England

Image © RIBAPix

Parents and teachers at the Grade II listed Brandlehow Primary (1950-51) in Putney, Wandsworth, have launched an urgent appeal. One of only three schools in the UK designed by Erno Goldfinger, they're crowdfunding £20,000 to repair the ageing and leaking roof.

Click here to donate! t.co/Fhwy1aFayg

Rather enthralled by the mass of cooling towers looking over East Midlands Parkway Railway Station @c20society.bsky.social

Return ticket: Can Herzog & de Meuron make a Liverpool Street comeback? Return ticket: Can Herzog & de Meuron make a Liverpool Street comeback?

Could an audacious bid by Herzog & de Meuron and developer Sellar to get reappointed to one of the capital’s most high-profile jobs come off? And might this unexpected ‘third way’ include towers on stilts?

Image courtesy of Living Archive Milton Keynes

🎙️"Cultural erasure disguised as progress?"

Sahiba Chadha and Mike Althorpe (aka The London Ambler) discuss the ongoing battle to save The Point in Milton Keynes, in this weeks episode of The Brief by @opencity-uk.bsky.social

open-city.org.uk/podcast