{"id":5252,"date":"2026-02-10T09:45:28","date_gmt":"2026-02-10T10:45:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/?p=5252"},"modified":"2026-02-20T08:57:42","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T08:57:42","slug":"londons-brutalist-southbank-centre-becomes-grade-ii-listed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/angesfinanciers.org\/index.php\/2026\/02\/10\/londons-brutalist-southbank-centre-becomes-grade-ii-listed\/","title":{"rendered":"London’s brutalist Southbank Centre becomes Grade II-listed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Southbank<\/div>\n

The Southbank Centre<\/a> in London<\/a>, which includes the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and Undercroft skatepark and was once voted “Britain’s ugliest building”, has been heritage listed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Completed along the River Thames in the 1960s, the post-war\u00a0landmark has now been Grade II-listed by the Department for Culture Media and Sport.<\/p>\n

The listing follows a 35-year-long battle by conservation group Twentieth Century Society<\/a>, with its recommendations being rejected on six occasions since 1991 in what the charity describes as “one of the longest running battles in British architectural heritage”.<\/p>\n

“The lack of listing had become a complete anomaly; it is admired as one of the best brutalist buildings in the world, so this decision is obviously very well deserved and long overdue,” director of Twentieth Century Society Catherine Croft said.<\/p>\n

\"Southbank
The Southbank Centre has been Grade II-listed by the Department for Culture Media and Sport<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Opened in 1967, the Southbank Centre’s brutalist structure was designed by a team led by architect Norman Engleback as head of the Greater London Council’s architecture department.<\/p>\n

Its brutalist structure sits in contrast to the neighbouring Royal Festival Hall, which was built in a modernist style and Grade I-listed in 1988.<\/p>\n

Defined by its board-marked concrete volumes wrapped in external walkways and terraces, the complex was voted as ‘Britain’s ugliest building’ by readers of the Daily Mail in 1967.<\/p>\n

However, Twentieth Century Society says the building is a “masterpiece”.<\/p>\n

“The complex is a highly sophisticated, sculptural masterpiece, with enormous richness of form and detail inside and out,” Croft said.<\/p>\n

“The experience it gives concert goers and gallery visitors is unlike any other venue in the country, its virtuoso spaces still unrivalled.”<\/p>\n