"The so-called concrete monstrosities of the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and its skatepark undercroft have finally been Grade II-listed by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Traditionalists may be spitting feathers, but as football pundits are apt to assert: It was the right result. However, it turned out to be a very long and very tetchy game."
"Constructed between 1949 and 1968 in an uncompromisingly brutalist style, the Southbank Centre was once voted Britain's ugliest building. Since 1991, the Twentieth Century Society (C20), champions of all things modern, and Historic England had recommended listing on six separate occasions, yet their advice was rejected by successive secretaries of state. Until now. The decision brings to an end an unprecedented 35-year-long impasse, one of the longest-running battles in British architectural heritage."
"The lack of listing had become a complete anomaly, said Catherine Croft, C20's director. The Southbank Centre is admired as one of the best brutalist buildings in the world, so this decision is obviously very well deserved and long overdue. The arts complex is a highly sophisticated sculptural masterpiece, with enormous richness of form and detail inside and out. The experience it gives concert-goers and gallery visitors is unlike any other venue in the country, its virtuoso spaces still unrivalled."
The Southbank Centre, including the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Room, Queen Elizabeth Hall and its skatepark undercroft, has been given Grade II listing by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The complex was constructed between 1949 and 1968 in a brutalist style and was once voted Britain's ugliest building. Historic England and the Twentieth Century Society (C20) recommended listing on six occasions since 1991, but successive secretaries of state previously rejected the advice. The decision ends a 35-year impasse and recognizes the complex as a highly sophisticated sculptural masterpiece with rich form, interior detail and unmatched performance and gallery spaces.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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