The latest Buildings at Risk List from the Twentieth Century Society (C20) is an intriguing mix of Modernist gems, pre-Premier League football architecture and the first designs of the Millennium.
Sunwin House department store brought Bauhaus flavour to the streets of Bradford, West Yorkshire, in 1936, but it’s been empty for 14 years and is at risk of ‘creeping neglect’. C20 hopes Bradford’s 2025 UK City of Culture status might spark a revival of interest. Much interior detailing, including brass Art Deco handrails, survives.
Sunwin House has been empty for more than a decade and is now at risk of 'creeping neglect'.
In Lancashire, Blackpool’s Grand National Rollercoaster (1935), one of the last and ‘most innovative and evocative’ of pre-war wooden rollercoasters, is under threat of demolition. Newcastle United’s Brutalist east stand at St James’ Park, built in the 1970s, is also vulnerable, with the club’s owners looking to redevelop or rebuild.
When it opened in 2000, the National Wildflower Centre, Knowsley, Merseyside, was an expression of Millennium-era optimism, but its operating company went into liquidation in 2017. With no alternative use, the council wants to demolish; C20 director Catherine Croft describes it as ‘the product of an era where unprecedented public funding delivered some ambitious and extraordinary projects’.
The National Wildflower Centre in Merseyside (2000) is at risk of demolition because of cost and safety concerns.
Sheffield's National Centre for Popular Music was cited as 'extremely vulnerable' following news that the previous occupants, Sheffield Hallam University's student union, was relocating.
More positively, in the 80th-anniversary year of the liberation of Auschwitz, C20 is celebrating Historic England’s award of Grade II-listed status to Brighton and Hove Reform Synagogue.
The Society had long championed the building, with its stained glass windows that the National Portrait Gallery’s chief curator Alison Smith describes as ‘one of the great religious artworks of the 20th century’, but which had faced demolition. No longer thought to be at risk, it becomes only the second post-war listed synagogue in England.
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'Fences have blocked wildlife corridors, causing the wildebeest migration to collapse from 140,000 individuals to fewer than 15,000': Is the opening of the Ritz-Carlton in Kenya’s Masai Mara National Reserve a cause for celebration or concern?In Kenya's iconic Masai Mara region tourism is an important and necessary part of the economy, but the arrival os several large hotel groups — including Ritz-Carlton — have some on edge.
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‘I get all twitchy when I see people wearing something that really doesn’t belong’: A watch for every summer occasionThere’s a watch for every social summer occasion, from the Mediterranean to muddy festivals. Chris Hall selects some of his favourites.
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The gorgeous Somerset home of the designer behind one of Glastonbury's chicest spotsThe Manor in Hinton Blewitt is a glorious Georgian home that ticks every box.
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826 years of history, painstaking restoration and 'a garden like no other' at this former National Trust house which has come to the market in KentA blooming property in Kent showcases the original garden of England. Penny Churchill takes a look.
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A wisteria-clad delight with lawns running down to the Thames at the prettiest riverside home for sale in London todayDeodar Road, near Putney High Street, offers unrivalled views of the Thames and is characterful in excess.
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Five of the most majestic properties for sale in Britain today, from a 1,700-acre estate to a private island, as seen in Country LifeOur look at the best homes to come to the market via Country Life this week includes some genuinely breathtaking places.
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Save me: A castle on the Isle of Wight designed by James Wyatt is up for saleNorris Castle Estate also comes with 225 acres of gardens and grounds, and needs a little TLC
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The 1,800-acre estate of the man who bought Stonehenge has come up for sale at £25 millionThe Bapton Manor Estate, in the beautiful Cranborne Chase National Landscape, seeks a new owner. Penny Churchill takes a look.
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A meticulously restored Scottish estate for sale, dripping with history, character and wildlifeThe Craigengillan Estate in Ayrshire sits in 2,850 acres above the valley of the River Doon.
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Sir Michael Caine's former home on the Thames is a testament to idyllic living and good tasteAt Rectory Farm House, luxury and modern convenience blend seamlessly with rural England. Is this the house that Jaws 4 built?
