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olimarshall.bsky.social
London by way of Yorkshire | Campaigns Director at @C20Society.bsky.social
18 posts 312 followers 806 following
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‘Homenaje a México’ - an extraordinarily beautiful 325 sqm geometric stained glass window, at Parroquia del Señor de la Resurreccion church in Mexico City. Created by op-artist Victor Vasarely in 1974. #StainedGlassSunday

NEWS: From John Lewis to Lewis Hamilton? C20 has welcomed bold new plans that would see the vacant Norco House department store in Aberdeen converted into a multi-level indoor go-karting circuit. The brutalist ziggurat was featured in C20’s 2023-24 Risk List ➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/from-jo...

NEWS: C20 and @c20cymru.bsky.social are celebrating the 5th Leisure Centre to be listed as a result of our ongoing campaign, and the first example in Wales. Wrexham Waterworld (1967-70) is known for its hyperbolic paraboloid roof, one of the largest ever built. ➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/wrexham...

Mexican functionalism, blue sky, and cacti. Bliss. Museo Casa Estudio Diego Rivera y Frida Kahlo | Juan O’Gorman, 1931-32

A remarkable 1936 sculptural frieze by Isamu Noguchi, his first public commission, on the fate of the worker amid rapid industrialisation and the global rise of fascism. It covers a 72ft wall in a rather forgotten upstairs space at the Abelardo Rodríguez Market in Mexico City.

The stunning Morisco (or Moorish) Kiosk. Created as Mexico’s pavilion for the 1884 World’s Fair in New Orleans, it moved to Chicago and on to the 1902 St Louis Exposition, before finding a permanent home at Santa Maria la Ribera in Mexico City. It was declared a National Artistic Monument in 1972.

NEWS: C20 has renewed its 35 year-long campaign to designate the Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall, and Purcell Rooms at the Southbank Centre, as a Certificate of Immunity from listing the brutalist arts complex expires. ➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/if-not-...

‘This is the building which often prompts the response “I can’t believe it’s not listed”. Our message for DCMS and the heritage minister, Chris Bryant MP, is: do the right thing.’ C20 in @theguardian.com on the Southbank Centre campaign. www.theguardian.com/culture/2025...

Angel Square Islington, before and after. The previous building wasn’t perfect, but with upgrading and an activated street frontage, it had more to give. What a waste.

NEWS: C20 Society has applied to list the first UK building by David Chipperfield Architects. Built 1987-89, their former studio and offices in Camden combines influences from Le Corbusian-style modernism and traditional Japanese architecture. ➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/listing...

‘Such murals are wonderfully creative, visually rich chapters of our national story that have for too long been overlooked,’ C20 in World of Interiors on the restoration of Gülsün Erbil’s Equality-Harmony mural at the Broadwater Farm Estate. www.worldofinteriors.com/story/equali...

Never forget the horror-show of when they filled it with sand and shrubs to become a porcupine enclosure.

🐧 Happy World Penguin Awareness day! Here’s the Grade I listed Penguin Pool at London Zoo (Berthold Lubetkin and Tecton with Ove Arup, 1934), as painted by artist Alfred Thompson. Sadly, the modernist icon hasn’t had any avian residents since the early 2000s.

Working breakfast ☕️

New year, new job? C20 is looking for an Events Manager to join our small team, supporting and developing our burgeoning programme of tours, walks, and lectures - both in the UK and Internationally. The deadline for applications is midnight on Sunday 26 January. ➡️ c20society.org.uk/work-with-us

Happy 130th Birthday to the @nationaltrust.bsky.social, founded #OnThisDay in 1895. Their iconic and enduring sprig of oak-leaves emblem was designed by Arts & Crafts wood carver Joseph Armitage in 1935, it was subtly modernised by David Gentlemen in 1982, and refreshed by Wolff Olins in 2009.

🚴‍♂️ Fantastic to see the former Richard Dunn Sports Centre site back in use for the National Cyclo-Cross Trophy at the weekend, to kick-off Bradford 2025. C20 & Ian Chalk Architects have proposed the Grade II building as a national home for skateboarding and wheelsports - here was the perfect taster!

NEWS: C20 has called for the listing of two historic 213m longwave radio masts at the Droitwich Transmitting Station in Worcestershire. The 1930s masts played a pivotal role in the D-Day landings, and have broadcast the Shipping Forecast and Test Match Special. ➡️ c20society.org.uk/news/c20-cal...

Rock archaeology news: the brutalist monolith from the iconic, 2001: A Space Odyssey-esque ‘Who’s Next’ album cover has finally been rediscovered! The concrete drainage shaft is buried on a spoil heap near Chesterfield, with only the top now visible in a farmers field. Time to excavate, surely?

Monstrosities Mon Amour: episode 2 of my podcast is out. Join @helenbarrett.bsky.social in her love for the optimistic Americana of Swindon, with a side helping of Status Quo johngrindrod.substack.com/p/monstrosit...

Wonderful new glasshouse at Cliffe Castle in Keighley. Originally built 1875, demolished in the 1950s, and recreated in 2017 as part of a £4.5 million renovation project. Local museums for the win! @bradfordmuseums.bsky.social

Oli Marshall, campaigns director at @c20society.bsky.social explains why the old Waterloo Eurostar terminal must be listed

💥That was the year that was! Presenting C20's heritage highlights of the buildings and sites we helped to get listed in 2024. From outsider art to a cabman shelter, a Finnish Olympic sauna to a Scottish skatepark, not forgetting the Egyptian-style house - now the youngest listed building in Britain.

Ironic tip-of-the-hat to M&S for the impressive transformation of their historic Art Deco store in Brixton. Restoring heritage features, while radically modernising retail spaces. Rather than demolition, this is EXACTLY what they should be doing to Orchard House on Oxford St.

📮For #PostboxSaturday here's a C20 favourite: the streamlined Type N, designed by Sir Kenneth Grange in 1996-99 as a 21st century version of the humble rural postbox. Nicknamed 'Bantam' for its resemblence to the fuel tank on a GPO Bantam motorcycle, it was the last model to be made in cast-iron.

Terrific to see some of the recent restoration work by @avantiarch.bsky.social on Lubetkin’s Grade I listed Finsbury Health Centre - one of the most important modern buildings in Britain. Just look at those glass bricks, ooof!

⛏️ Miners' Modernism: Pithead Baths They brought European architectural modernism to working communities across the country, and delivered widespread health and welfare benefits 20 years before the founding of the NHS, yet Britain’s pioneering Pithead Baths have been almost completely forgotten...🧵

BREAKING NEWS //Angela Rayner has granted permission to demolish M&S Oxford St, overturning a decision by the previous Secretary of State. The chance to set a vision for a more sustainable and creative Britain that reuses its built-heritage, has been squandered. Green growth? Not on this evidence.

Oyster bar door handle, neon sign.

“Yes, it’s a genocide. And once you come to this conclusion you cannot remain silent.” - Amos Goldberg, Israeli Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies (Location: Parliament Square, London. Read full statement below)

‘What connects Huddersfield’s 1990s football stadium and Notre Dame? Beauty.’ ‘From a rail terminal to a high-tech house, modern buildings now eligible for listing are a delight anyone can enjoy – even traditionalists.’ Rowan Moore in today’s Observer on C20’s #ComingOfAge campaign.

A remarkable stat: Heidi Alexander’s appointment as Transport Secretary means the cabinet is now 100% state-educated for the first time in history.

UPDATE: Another extremely disappointing decision, as Historic England recommend not to list Bury Market Hall (1969-71), following an application by C20. Closed abruptly in Oct 2023 after RAAC concrete was found, we now urge the council to proceed with a repair project and allow traders to return.

Another day, another pod… The quest to relocate Future Systems Ingenium classroom taking big strides forward. Watch this space!

Michael Craig Martin ‘Street Life’ tile mural at Woolwich Arsenal DLR Station (2009). How the Elizabeth Line could have done with some equally colourful artistic interventions.

OTD 40 years ago. GLC-funded. (Via Crystal Palace Bowl, Instagram)

UPDATE: Disappointing news that C20’s application to list three site-specific dinosaur play sculptures at Teessaurus Park in Middlesbrough, has been rejected by Historic England. Designed by Geneviève Glatt in 1977-79, they represent a rare major 20th.C public-art commission for a female artist.

Always loved these Gothic arched doorways to Greengarden House in St Christopher’s Place W1. Boat hull-esque architecture for a truly sodden day.

🏊 Great news that Saltdean Lido (1938) has been removed from Historic England's At Risk Register! The UK’s only Grade II* coastal Lido was almost lost 14 years ago, and has just finished an extensive £11 million restoration. Check out the next issue of C20 Magazine to read all about it.

🎈 Now That's What I Call Architecture! 1994 C20's new #ComingofAge campaign celebrates 10 of the best British buildings as they turn 30 years old, and so become eligible for national listing. Why wait until the bulldozers are poised, when we could run an annual 'birthday honours' list?

Good to see the @c20society.bsky.social case for preservation given ample space in the NY Times. www.nytimes.com/2024/11/12/w...

Excellent news! @c20society.bsky.social is here! The big guns are moving onto Bluesky. Please welcome them with a follow if you're interested in C20 #architecture, #heritage and #history.