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.
-
'True waterfront homes are finite... miss one and it could be years before you see another like it again': Why the best waterfront property always hits the spotThere’s no denying the appeal of waterfront property, which now sells for some 51% more than its inland equivalent, finds Knight Frank. Annabel Dixon explores the shore.
-
Beyond Royal Portrush: Castles, country houses and ancient towers in the other dimension of golf in IrelandRory McIlroy's history-making exploits and The Open arriving at Royal Portrush have made 2025 a banner year for Irish golf — but there's far more to golf on the island of Ireland than those headline-grabbers, as Toby Keel finds out.
-
'True waterfront homes are finite... miss one and it could be years before you see another like it again': Why the best waterfront property always hits the spot
There’s no denying the appeal of waterfront property, which now sells for some 51% more than its inland equivalent, finds Knight Frank. Annabel Dixon explores the shore.
-
19 charming homes for sale, from picture-perfect cottages to beachside retreats, as seen in Country LifeThis week's selection of some of the best homes to come to the market via Country Life this week.
-
Tim Burton is selling the house he shared with Helena Bonham-Carter, a sublime home on the Thames that comes with three private islandsMill House in Sutton Courtenay, Oxfordshire, might just be the perfect English country home.
-
A spectacular tower for sale that's a blend of Victorian folly, architectural marvel and 21st century family homeHadlow Tower has space, and a back story of love, jealousy and intrigue.
-
A spectacular, light-filled home on the Isle of Wight where you can see the water from practically every windowPenny Churchill takes a look at the grand and impressive Fishbourne Quay House.
-
The former stables — and recording studio for the Pet Shop Boys — transformed with a magical blend of city and country aesthetic, now seeking a new ownerIn the heart of Clerkenwell, what was once a Victorian industrial unit is now a beautiful home.
-
The Good Life 2025? A development promising 'Britain's greenest homes' blends zero carbon, organic allotments and a touch of luxury in the Kent countrysideHartdene Barns, sitting on a disused dairy farm in Kent, is a vision of what sustainable living one day mean for all of us.
-
Breathtaking views and gardens that run down to the water's edge at this delightful home in CornwallThe Garden House in Polruan sums up the appeal of waterside living. Penny Churchill steps inside.
