Museum of London / Bastion House, City of London – Powell & Moya (1977)
The first post-war museum to be built in London and the largest urban history museum in the world, the Museum of London was designed when architects Powell & Moya were at the height of their reputation and prestige. Best known for the Skylon at the Festival of Britain they were one of the most significant practices in postwar Britain.
Housed within an angular and robust white-tiled concrete structure, the museum is skillfully placed on a considerably constrained site. Its solidity protects the interiors from the traffic noise outside and shelters a quiet courtyard garden, while a great dark brick-clad rotunda – referencing the nearby Roman city walls – rises from the centre of a busy roundabout, acting as an arrival point to the complex.
To the east is Bastion house, also by P&M, built as a speculative office development above the podium, as part of the new museum scheme. Standing on piers of biscuit-coloured concrete with Miesian bronzed curtain-walling, it is now a rare survivor of a hugely important part of the City of London’s post-war planning history. Both are now earmarked for demolition, as the museum prepares to move to a new cultural quarter in the renovated Smithfield Market and the City of London seeks to maximise the development potential on the vacated site, located on the corner of the Grade II listed Barbican Estate.
[C20 Society]
Estate of flats, maisonettes and terraced houses, hostel, girls' school, school of music and drama, and arts centre (with concert hall, theatre, studio theatre, cinemas, library, art gallery, conservatory, restaurants and offices), with underground car parking, pedestrian walks and canal. Designed 1955-59, arts centre element redesigned 1964-8; built with modifications in 1962-82 to the designs of Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (subsequently Chamberlin, Powell and Bon (Barbican)) for the Corporation of the City of London; engineers, Ove Arup and Partners.
[Historic England]
The name of the Barbican comes from the Low Latin word 'Barbecana' which referred to a fortified outpost or gateway: an outer defence of a city or castle or any tower situated over a gate or bridge which was used for defence purposes. The "Barbecana" was probably situated somewhere between the northern side of the Church of St. Giles Cripplegate and the YMCA hostel on Fann Street.
By the 1850s the City was composed of high, dark buildings and narrow streets with inadequate breadth to accommodate the increased volume of horse drawn traffic that endeavoured to pass along them. Above all, it was overcrowded; the population of the City was 129,000 and the number of people living in the parish of Cripplegate, the area now occupied by the Barbican, was 14,000. The Cripplegate area was, to a large extent, occupied by the 'rag trade' – which included anything from the buying and selling of cloth to tailoring and dressmaking.
During the Second World War the City suffered appalling damage and loss of life. The Cripplegate area was virtually demolished and by 1951 the resident population stood at only 48, with 5,324 in the whole City.
Discussions started in 1952 on what sort of redevelopment should take place on the devastated site. Many people involved with the City of London voiced their concern at the dwindling number of residents living within the Square Mile and plans were considered for returning a stable population. A report was presented and the Court of Common Council, of 19 September 1957, accepted as a matter of policy that there should be a genuine residential area created on the site.
[City of London]