The Barbican in Brief

Brutalist masterpiece or everything wrong with urban planning?
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[@Trevor_Austin]

I worked as a cleaner in the Barbican in the early 90’s so much may have changed since then. But I doubt it. Much of my time was cleaning the walkways and public areas but I was also tasked with some interior cleaning. It is when you get inside you see some of the more interesting oversights. For example waste disposal. In each of the tall blocks (Cromwell, Shakespeare and Lauderdale) you could grind up your waste and dispose of it down the sink. The grinders regularly went wrong and blockages were not uncommon. The other method was placing your waste it in a small bag brown paper bag in a receiver with an internal and external door. The cleaner comes round and picks it the bag opening the external door, up dropping off new bags as they do so. The receptacle had to be small enough to prevent access. This happens a couple of times and week. It took ages because there are forty odd floors with three flats per floor and the residents wished to use the lifts (each resident has their own lift call button on a large four foot high, four foot diameter chrome domed and carpeted monstrosity known as a ‘Dalek”) as well. You were not popular as you monopolised a lift with your large rubbish bin. A better method would have been a rubbish chute but modifications like that are not possible. Another oversight was not being aware of pigeons in the original design. These creatures will get into any space available and need properly fitted and well maintained netting too keep them out. Removing 20-30 years of pigeon evidence is not a pleasant task (and neither is sweeping the entire emergency stairwell). I also wonder what is happening about the plumbing in this place. It was very obvious that there were problems with the buildings’ plumbing. Far worse was that the pipe work was embedded in the structure of the building so access for replacement was virtually impossible. Mmm. Interesting. Overall, one you have got used to the place it is a very impressive place. There are nice quiet areas and the water and plants give the place a nice feeling. This does come at a cost though. It takes ages to clean not because of the residents (they are pretty clean) but due to wind blown rubbish, the environment and feral/wild animals. The moment you clean one area is needs cleaning again. Lastly, if you look as the residents you might be lead to believe that it is a very egalitarian place. Arthur Scargill had a flat a few floors above Norman Tebbitt in the Shakespeare Tower. I remember that I was always totally ignored by Mr Scargill. Maybe I wasn’t working class enough. You are totally correct about the lack of “trouble” on the estate. Wealthy people appear not to enjoy robbery, burglary, mugging and fighting quite as much as they do on other estates in London. ps. The view from the roof of the Cromwell Tower is truly amazing.

[@corleth2868]

Another plus for the Barbican is that they didn't cover it with flammable cladding to either kill all the residents or cost them a fortune to have it removed.

[@tombrown407]

That's because the residents aren't poor.

[@limpfishyes]

They wanted to cover it with marble, but ran out of money. Another reason why the barbican isn't brutalism

[@johng5474]

What makes the Barbican special is that the original vision was seen through without major changes, there is sufficient money for its upkeep, and that over time it has been allowed to mature and settle without politicians mucking it about. It is a complete thing and does not need to 'fit in' with anything else. I'm still not sure if I like it but I am glad it's there. London has many other estates that, when properly looked after, show the architects and planners vision even to this day (Cranbrook estate in Bethnal Green comes to mind).

[@alanbudgen2672]

As a resident for most of my adult life, I love the place. I can watch a concert, a film or have a meal out, and be home in 2 minutes. The flats and car parks are secure from ne'er do wells. Residents love the walkways and gardens. We are also lucky to have a village like community.

[@pseydtonne]

Nice to know! ...now, level with us, please. Have you been a victim of a brutal(ist) insider trading (@09:48)? Show us on the wallet where they hurt you.

[@jamesieco-de2000]

As an Islington resident I love it, such a nice estate down, love a visit to the Barbican

[@emjackson2289]

N'eer do well needs to be used far more!

[@Lawsome1997]

I love the Barbican, partially because it's so hard to navigate. The elaborate nature of it means that even on the busiest days you can always find somewhere quiet, and as you visit it a few times and begin to get a grip on its layout, it feels like a reward. Residential areas aren't like transport networks, you don't need to make everything clear and well signposted because when people live somewhere, they get used to it's layout, residential areas SHOULD be a bit complex in their layout so that the people who are familiar with them can avoid tourists and visitors

[@theuncalledfor]

FINALLY SOMEONE GETS IT YES, ALL OF THIS, YES Sorry for yelling, I just had to.

[@nabilomar4631]

While I get the spirit of what you are saying, it's terrible in practice. Things like delivery drivers, emergency services, friends coming over etc are all reasons why they should be easy to find.

[@Wahian1]

In the ‘70s, Richard Stilgoe wrote a song about getting lost in The Barbican.

[@hx0d]

This comment hit the nail on the head!

[@hx0d]

@@nabilomar4631 To be honest it's not too different from other estates, lots are huge.

[@nutsnproud6932]

I have a friend who was an early tenant of the Shakespeare Tower. He still lives there. He has had insane offers to sell his flat over the years. He loves living there the view from the 36th floor. On windy days you see the reflection from the ceiling lights move!

[@sunnyjim1355]

Your 'friend' should go by the moniker 'Nuts n Proud'; I'd snap their arms off taking that money and be out of there in a flash.

[@12boxes]

Many years ago, when I was living in the north Midlands, I applied for a job in London - that I didn't get. At the time, I looked into renting a studio in the Barbican for weeknights and have always liked it very much. Later, when my life had changed significantly and I moved to London, I was going through a bit of a rough patch and the one place that I found calming and peaceful was by the lake by the arts centre. I walked there often.

[@roseharvey2664]

I really like the Barbican, and it's gotta be money and wealth of the tenants that has seen it not suffer from the social problems on many other estates.

[@pyellard3013]

Unfortunately true. The majority of council tenants are decent but just a small minority can ruin a whole estate with anti social behaviour. However, in addition, even the decent tenants are somewhat apathetic. Eg If old furniture is dumped on communal stairways.. It will be ignored.. No one will think to move it up the bin areas. It's left to the inefficient council management who leave it for months.. When I lived on a council estate I was thought most eccentric for washing down the stairs and lift myself.. Even more for planting trees & shrubs on bare lawn areas used as dog toilets. When I go back now, 30 years later, it's good to see the trees established... The lift smells tho'... 🙄

[@hx0d]

I wouldn't say its necessarily wealth, more like no problem residents...

[@hx0d]

@@pyellard3013 Yep the dreaded pee smells and lighting that keeps going out every 3 days... been there done that 😂. We wash our balcony and the area infront of the lift down with a mop sometimes too!

[@roseharvey2664]

@@hx0d that too

[@stuartcastle2814]

I think when well done, brutalist estates and buildings can look futuristic, even when they are old (look at Stockwell Bus Garage). The Barbican, while it may not be a stunningly beautiful estate (I like it, but it does seem to divide opinion), is certainly interesting and, I think, has aged well. I'd argue it has aged better than the hundreds of brick and glass estates and skyscrapers being built now, the designs for which do seem largely mass produced.

[@samuelfellows6923]

When I was a child, at Christmas my dad would take us to the children’s Christmas party at his work, and after getting off the train at Moorgate station we would walk through part of the Barbican’s upper walkways to get to the office

[@michaeljames4904]

This is an (as ever) superbly accurate episode, but let me add a few bits of juicy insider knowledge. The unnamed hero of this entire story is Sir Cullum Welch, Lord Mayor 56/7, who commissioned the original Golden Lane Estate because, as Jago intimates, WWII had actually so decimated the City of London that its entire residential population had been reduced to a paltry few thousand. The cost and time overruns on the later Barbican complex, however, have far more nefarious reasons than the cited issue of industrial action. The entire building site became a closed shop where wastage was absolute colossal and quite notorious. The many thousands of fountain nozzles and specialist lightbulbs, for the lake immediately outside the Barbican centre, for sample, were wrongly purchased, had to completely be thrown out, and replaced, and all ended up in skips at the back. But the real closed shop element, contributing to the time overrun, was that you simple couldn’t get a job to work on the building site unless you were also a Freemason. God’s honest truth. So, daily, everyone knocked off at four to get to the local lodges, for example. Plasterer, chippie, electrician, bricklayer, if you weren’t “On The Square” there were no jobs to be had there.

[@Hollandstation]

As a dutch person that loves making videos about transport infrastructure, I love the fact that you can talk about a bit of concrete and steel fo over 11 minutes! and in a way that I keep watching too

[@dutmala]

Maar echt

[@andyrob3259]

Mate you’re selling your channel too hard. You’ve made the same comment on the last several videos I’ve watched

[@CreRay]

I'd certainly not call it 'a bit of concrete'. It's quite vast, a complex in the broadest sense of the word. If you wonder about a bit in the complex, you fall from one astonishment into the other, it really is a full-blown housing concept put into reality. Many of these gangways have quite an eerie feel to it. Somehow it reminds me very much of the movie Logan's run.

[@OneBentMonkey]

I spent more time there than I had planned when I visited, as do many I imagine due its labyrinthine layout but I found it fascinating. Despite an unholy amount of concrete, it doesn’t feel like your average brutalist structure. There are actually *curves* (gasp) and the endless walkways make it feel very open in most areas (some are admittedly a little claustrophobic)-not the eastern block bomb shelter you usually associate with brutalist architecture. I agree that the separation of public and private spaces felt ill-defined in places and I often *felt* like I was trespassing and was going to be told to move along by a security guard at a any moment. Another great video and thank you for reminding of a great afternoon many years ago complete with an awesome concert, museums, churches, and lunch watching the ducks 🦆

[@stevejones3635]

I’ve been a resident on the Golden Lane Estate for over 30 years and hardly ever use the Barbican walkways, I find it quicker to walk using the streets below.

[@johnkent2178]

La Corbusier would be most disappointed...

[@andrewhead6267]

I agree it’s easier walk around it not up and across it, unless you have somewhere to go on the Barbican estate, there is no need to use the walkways.

[@KingAethlelWulf]

A little factoid: John Smith, leader of the Labour Party in the early 90s, was a resident of the Barbican until his death. Good example of the professional demographic the complex attracted.

[@davidbull7210]

Yes, he had his heart attack here before being rushed to hospital.

[@TheChrisEMartin]

Famously Arthur Scargill had an apartment that was paid for by the National Union of Mineworkers and he had a legal dispute with them because he said they had given it him for life!

[@mikeholmes621]

I love it, it feels like a piece of the wacky futures depicted in 60's sci-fi come to life in our world. Like the world's in those movies, barbican feels like a place out of time, being both futuristic and nostalgicly retro

[@rfinean]

To my teenage self in the 80s I loved being in a sci-fi world like Logan's Run. So much traffic-free public space to run around and explore :)

[@sampletexthere]

a part of a star wars series was filmed there, in fact!

[@cjayos7654]

It doesnt matter how many times I visit the Barbican, I will never, ever, ever be able to navigate my way around it.

[@JohnADoe-pg1qk]

Maybe there's an app for your phone for that now. 😉

[@richardmcgowan6383]

I remember when the Barbican Centre opened in the early 80s, One of the main criticisms of It was that It was hard to navigate. Indeed, people had trouble getting in because they couldn't find the entrance. The solution was to paint yellow lines on the floor to lead you along the walkways. I wonder what Le Corbusier would have thiught about that. Still, I love the Barbican. And I'm glad we get to see what happens when you let modernists create a complete environment. And you look after It properly when they've finished.

[@David8n]

I totally agree. I've only been there a few times and find it unfathomable to navigate. You can't get into it then once you do you can't find your way around it. Even being able to see where you are trying to get to doesn't help. Getting somewhere often seems to involve setting off in the wrong direction. Maybe it gets easier once you get to know it but I've no desire to spend any more time than necessary there.

[@petitkruger2175]

always loved following the lines on the floor… brings you out at cool random places

[@martinseiffarth6408]

Partly the point of the place - to avoid the monotony and excessive regularity that was often criticised about Modernism by emulating the higgledy-piggledy 'lanes' typical of older towns

[@thesteelrodent1796]

As far as brutalism goes, this definitely is one of the nicer looking ones. It doesn't have the depressing "soviet bomb shelter" look that most brutalism structures suffer from and actually seems kind of... nice even. In another way it kind of reminds me of something we'd build in Minecraft, with all the stone, pillars, and water

[@sabersz]

I can see the Minecraft resemblance. It actually does look quite nice, as I dislike brutalism and pretty much every thing it stands for. Why would I want to live in a grey concrete block

[@pyellard3013]

Sometimes buildings have to "grow on you"... Lots of post war buildings have been pulled down that would now be appreciated.. Eg Paternoster Square...Paternoster Square was quality restrained Brtish post war modern in the Georgian tradition of simplicity but human scale. As for ' brutalistism', as a child I hated the brutalist block of flats near King's X... It's now been (in a rather gaudy manner) painted in colours... Ruined it..

[@Pesmog]

I worked right beside it for a few years in Moorgate. My boss always described the Barbican as the "Acceptable face of brutalism".

[@ZGryphon]

@@Pesmog It's still a boot stamping on a human face forever, but at least it's a _Gucci_ boot.

[@julianshepherd2038]

It's vile

[@jammin023]

Population figures for the Barbican have to include the hundreds of people who have spent years wandering around the walkways looking for the exit. There are rumours that it's where IKEA got the inspiration for their store layout.

[@LucySoo1]

😂😂

[@mongoliandude]

2003: “We’re voting the Barbican London’s worst building!” Also 2003: *proceeds to exclusively build poor quality new-builds from glass and sand brick* 💩🥴

[@AndyG73]

I suspect there have been lots of 'beer-holding' moments since that vote.

[@stephendavies6949]

I thought the British Library was the perennial winner ?

[@TheClunkingFist]

I'm surprised it wasn't simultaneously voted London's best building.

[@Jubair194]

I used to live in Aldersgate street, enjoyed the Barbican area very much!

[@brucewilliams8714]

Thank you, Jago. You have just taught me everything I know about Barbican: origin, definition, history, place in architecture, social status, and you even snuck a train in.

[@ZonkerRoberts]

Trivia: The term "brutalism" comes from "beton brut", French for "raw concrete".

[@rodjones117]

Correct

[@highpath4776]

Works in a drier, sunnier place, like most of france. In dreer Sheffield ...

[@Iain1962]

@@highpath4776 Nope, it doesn't work there either. It's ugly no matter where you put it.

[@stephendavies6949]

The French do love their concrete: eg, the arch at La Defense

[@sunnyjim1355]

Good to know, as it just adds another confirmation (as if anyone needed another one) that all ideas that come out of France are bad ones.

[@Raky2427]

I love the Barbican. It’s so fun to explore!

[@TheExcellentVideoChannel]

One of my favourite places. The whole estate was originally designed to be clad in those white tiles you see around the Museum of London but they deemed it too expensive. They instead opted for the stippled concrete finish you see today. In the bowels of Barbican there are sample surfaces with the various different stipplings they were considering. The stippling ended up being more expensive than if it had been tiled. The internals of the flats are Bauhaus with movable partitions instead of walls to create as much flexibility of space utilisation as possible. You can see similar ideas in Erno Goldfingers house at the edge of Hampstead heath.

[@olivercuenca4109]

Man with the tiles I bet it would really have been pretty awesome to look at. The towers would have looked like shiny teeth!

[@paulcookson5005]

As a non Londoner I was aware of the Barbican Centre but didn't know it was such a big area and so residential. Another very entertaining episode

[@wadeguidry6675]

When I was an art student in Pittsburgh , Pennsylvania USA I lived in a smaller but similar type of brutalist housing/business area named Allegheny Center on the Northside just across the river from downtown Pittsburgh. As a young adult I loved it, I could see myself living in this Barbican place and enjoying it also.

[@capabilityred3606]

I recall seeing a stage production of A Clockwork Orange at the Barbican centre back in either the late eighties or, early nineties. We left the theatre and wandered around the Barbican area feeling as if we were living in Burgess' nightmare world, wearily looking out for Alex and his droogs. I still ocassionally go wandering around there; so evocative! Well done Jago another well told tale.

[@johnd6487]

It’s been many years since I last went to the Barbican, indeed, my two visits - to see the up and coming actor Kenneth Branagh and romantic interest Emma Thompson in Henry V, and a follow up not long after to see a somewhat less memorable performance of Merry Wives of Windsor must have been very shortly after the arts complex opened, as the elderly family friend, who was determined that I would grow up to like Shakespeare (and yeah, that production of Henry V did finally sell it to me) died in 1986. Your talk of the roads being kept out was what really brought the memory back, as on the first visit our taxi in from StPancras took us right into the building, dropping us in some underground taxi rank that led right into part of the foyer of the arts complex (which of course spreads over several floors and was huge). For an 11 year old from the East Mids in the early 80’s that was serious London chic lol

[@matthewmurphy101]

I decided to have a wander through the Barbican when I visited the Museum of London a few weeks ago. Got some really good photos of the place at weird angles and stuff like that. It was really quiet in some places and kind of felt like I was in some 70's SciFi film but without the avant gard sound effects to go with it. I did like it though, there's just something pleasing to the eye about how it all fits together.

[@yourmom4398]

Visited London from America by myself last summer and came upon the Barbican by the Museum of London side. Had no clue what this giant structure was but it seemed well fortified from a pedestrian on the road's perspective so I wanted to find a way in and "sneak" around inside. Took some pictures and was in awe just wandering around. Hop onto youtube some months later and stumble across this video explaining what I found, awesome!

[@davidjames579]

Funnily enough once you get inside it does seem like you're not supposed to be there, as there's lots of unpopulated corridors and walkways. But amazingly they are public access spaces.

[@Liggie55821]

I had the same experience two decades ago. I had to cross through the Barbican to get to the Museum of London, and the place was such a maze, I had to rely on colored stripes in the walkways to find the museum. Otherwise, I might still be wandering the walkways.

[@martincurrie6243]

I love the Barbican. I used to go there all the time for free art exhibits or often to hang out as free music was often played in it's lobbies. It's walled off nature makes it a walled off citadel in the middle of the city, If you walk along the walkways on a hot summer day, when the gardens are in bloom and the the thrum of the waterfalls it feels like you r in some other place, you can see London around you but all is quiet and in peace. It does feel like the residents should be made to wear brightly coloured jump suits and have funny haircuts to complete the sci fi look. I must have a good sense of direction because I have never been lost in the Barbican.

[@clintondowling]

I wandered around it one day in 2000 when going to a display at one of the exhibition halls. It looked as abandoned then as it did in this video. Absolutely no one in sight, wind blasting through and an absolute maze to navigate.

[@c208driver6]

I lived there as a kid back in the mid 80’s. Fond memories of it. I was in Shakespeare Tower. It flet very futuristic back then.

[@Truthseeker1515]

When you exit the tube station, immediately climb the stairs and over the bridge to the gardens, many unfortunately discover the Barbican @ 3.46 by taking the tunnel under the Barbican and land at the Arts Centre!

[@Wahian1]

In 1965 when the group Unit 4+2 had a hit with Concrete and Clay, the background to the video they’d made was the Barbican when it was still a building site.

[@andrewweitzman4006]

It must be the Montrealer in me being so desensitized, but I think "not that bad really" when I saw shots of the Barbican.

[@idot3331]

Britain needs to build more barbicans, and less tiny brick cubes packed together with 1cm of space between them so they can be marketed as a "detached family home". If living in a large housing complex like this didn't have the stigma of being only for "poor people", then the housing crisis could probably be solved. It's the way it is in most of Europe and Asia, and for a small densely populated island, it seems like the obvious solution. For some reason people would rather live in a miniscule ugly "house" that's half the size of a flat, so they can roleplay as Americans because they technically have a detached suburban house and a driveway and a 3x3 meter slab of concrete they call a back garden. Even if they can still hear their next door neighbours snoring and have one tree in their entire housing estate. At the very least they need to stop wasting space and just build terraced houses instead of pretending to have a enough space to build detached ones.

[@uzybeens6748]

@PGH Engineereat my ass

[@olivercuenca4109]

@PGH Engineer No need to be rude

[@luornu]

Yep. We tried that after the war. The estates all turned into crime ridden hellholes. (it's not only snobbery-brutalist architecture provides lots of hidey holes for muggers and drug dealers and the like, yet another example of the architechts'' idealism failing when confronted with actual human nature and society) You can debate the reasons, lack of investment, lack of opportunities and hope for young people but regardless-no one in the UK is eager to repeat the experiment. Perhaps one day the powers that be in the UK will work out why it works in other countries and didn't here (lack of money probably has a lot to do with it as indeed is mentioned in this video)

[@luornu]

Also most of the terraced housing stock or at least a large proportion of it was demolished as slum clearance after the war. Because terraced houses were often slums they were demonized. Although terraced housing is not inherently bad, the problem was the people who owned them were usually poor and they fell into disrepair. But that is the reason why terraced houses are now rarer (and most of those cleared slum dwellers were the ones moved into the crime ridden failed experiment brutalist housing estates aforementioned)

[@jackflap]

Totally agree.. it's also absurd to pay ridiculous amounts of money to buy a converted Victorian flat which has nothing to look at out of the windows and feels like you're living in someone's loft

[@patrickjmorgan]

‘The British national sport’- so true. I started work during this period and worked on the construction fit-out of similar London Projects.

[@mrcellophane99]

I was told once that the Barbican was the last major project to use Imperial measurements.

[@oc2phish07]

I like this part of London. it's a good place to meet friends, especially in, and on the large paved area outside, the café beside the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and the conservatory is worth a look when it is open. And the Museum of London is right beside it too so it can make for a good day out. Great video as always Jago. Thank you.

[@Pesmog]

That part of London at weekends can be amazingly quiet. I once had to work there on a Sunday, and I was half convincing myself that the city had been compulsorily evacuated and that they forgot to tell me !

[@jah2724]

I visited many years ago, and what struck me was not so much the brutalist architecture, but the emptiness of it. 2000 housing units and almost no people about. No one strolling or sitting in the open spaces, even on a nice day. It seems like they need to do something to enliven the open spaces, such as retail or cafes or something. Pulling everything up on elevated walkways deprives it of any sense of street life. People feel safer and more comfortable when there are plenty of other people around. During my lonely visit, I felt almost like an intruder and wanted to go find someplace more welcoming.

[@badatfootball4698]

Great video. Back in the 1980s, I went on a guided tour of the complex as part of a course I was doing when I was a lot younger. The tour guide (who was from the local local authority - if you know what I mean) explained that the fountains in the outside water features also served to regulate the temperature of the air condtioning system serving the complex. Years later, I attended a few conferences there; the highlight was lunch in the massive conservatory, complete with ponds and giant goldfish.

[@andyjay729]

"One of the poorest parts of London has now become one of the most expensive." Barbican, meet Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn, Barbican.

[@General_Confusion]

Fourteen Million budget and One hundred and Sixty million cost. So a normal British Council contract.

[@jackgrafik]

Big fan of the Barbican, my office is nearby so I often walk through. I’ve been going there since I saw an Alvar Aalto exhibition when I was young, and seen many more since. Last year I had to rescue a lost duckling in the main lake and reunite it with its mother, which was quite stressful, but also meant I got access to the usually private area around the lake which was interesting.

[@daviemaclean61]

Our town centre is supposedly "brutalist". And, on that basis, I have always assumed, having never visited it, that I wouldn't like the Barbican. But you've changed my mind. Cheers

[@dang373]

you must go to the Barbican at least once, although there is so much to do there. even just sit outside by one of the cafes having a coffee and listen..

[@daviemaclean61]

@@dang373 I went to college in and around London in the early 80s. Not been back since!

[@robertoceferino1456]

The Barbican is a far cry from Cumbernauld, that's for sure.

[@daviemaclean61]

@@robertoceferino1456 Yer right there pal! ;-)

[@BelaCurcio]

ANY video about a bunch of stuff connected by walkways, I'M WATCHIN. I can't tell you why I love that crap so much

[@mrbillyk]

Love the Barbican and was waiting for this video for so long, thanks for exploring this subject!

[@ToadyEN]

One of my favourite places in London. So unique, lots of nice tours through the estate which are bookable online! Great video

[@ianhelps3749]

I have stayed in the Thistle Hotel near Barbican a few times, so I have looked around the Barbican estate . It still looks quite impressive. Going off topic a bit, but in the days of the DDR, people in the west used to mock the acres of drab "plattenbau" blocks of flats in East Berlin. After reunification, developers came along, and they found that the build quality of these flats was surprisingly very good. After being given a lick of paint and modern kitchens etc. they are popular affordable places to live.

[@atraindriver]

I think it depends which country they were built in. East Berlin was to some extent a show city (albeit not a very good one!) so more effort was made to show off the quality of DDR workmanship. Go somewhere like Halle (Saale) or across the border to somewhere like Most in the Czech Republic and the quality really wasn't as good.

[@beaker2257]

I often walk through the Barbican high walks and never tire of it. It's much better than walking at street level next to all that noisy traffic. The layout is fascinating and this short clip has shown me that there are plenty of other parts to investigate.

[@Dominica24333]

Fantastic video thank you! Did an architectural tour some years back, brings back lots of memories.

[@nelliemelba4967]

An excellent film, Jago. You've taken some really nice shots and video of the Barbican. I used to work nearby, back in the day, and was a regular visitor to its library, cinemas, theatre, and restaurants and pubs. I thinks its rather glorious!

[@joannacole681]

There's a haunting, almost macabre, beauty about the shots you have of the Barbican - which I imagine to be translated well from the experience of walking round it. I always feel a faint nostalgia for a time that never was when I view such brutalist high-rises and their aerial walkways, such as in Leeds, because the *ideas* were so positive but the execution and the concept doomed to fail. All of which is to say, really enjoyed this video, thank you!

[@amethyst7084]

I love the Barbican complex. It's got that quality of being near the heart of London, but still enabling you to nit see anyone for ages as you walk through the walkways and pedways. The complex is slowly great for traversing the distance between Moorgate and Barbican tube stations on foot. 👏🏾

[@deepestdub]

Absolutely stunning photography here and a fascinating story behind this divisive yet increasingly outstanding development. When other brutalist building have long gone, The Barbican will remain as a beacon from a long lost age of optimism and ambition. Thanks for another cracking video.

[@jmtubbs1639]

The mural tiles by Dorothy Annan at 5:58 used to face Farringdon Street near the Holborn Viaduct, on the Post Office Telephones building now demolished and new built for Goldman Sachs. They are listed GII.

[@davegray205]

You could have added that the 60’s pop group Unit 4+2 song Concrete and clay (ironic title) was filmed on the Barbican construction site in 1965

[@robertwilloughby8050]

And wasnt the song "Tar and Cement" also filmed on the same construction site? (Cannot remember who sang it though)

[@kelvinhill9874]

Fascinating. My step daughters live in a building that is sandwiched between the Barbican estate and the Golden Lane estate. My wife and I just spent three weeks staying with them and so we did a lot of walking around the area.

[@lesbrown2724]

My sister used to live in a flat in one of the towers. She loved her view of St Paul's but there were snags. Lots of the equipment for things in the flat such as blinds rubbish disposal doors etc had been supplied by obscure companies that had ceased trading soon after and thus repairing them was expensive and time consuming. The doors into the flats were very heavy and it was difficult to close them quietly, as far as I could tell very few ever tried. The noise echoed down the stairwells and always reminded me of the introduction to Porridge with the Judge's voice accompanied by the crashing of prison doors!

[@caw25sha]

We feel constrained to give you the maximum sentence allowed for these offences. You will go to the Barbican for five years.

[@martinseiffarth6408]

Are you sure it was a tower? The only stairwell in each tower is on the 'outside' of the building, separated by a pretty heavy-duty door - can't imagine any sound echoing down that

[@BlackberryBoy]

Thanks for making this video. I quite like these walkways, one can walk or run here continuously without stopping at red lights. There is a another small lake behind the museum. I spent lot of my afternoons walking here during the lunch time.

[@highpath4776]

Now try it in a wheelchair

[@MadDragon-lb7qg]

The Barbican was used in the Doctor Who serial 'Frontier In Space' that was filmed in late 1972 and shown in early 1973. Episode 3 aired the evening before I was born.

[@julianaylor4351]

The Conservatory in the Barbican Centre which you showed a brief picture of, is amazing place, you can go there when it's open, well worth a look and cheaper than Kew Gardens. 🌺🌵🌴❤️ Interesting note that a flat in the Barbican, costs the same as a three bed semi-detached twenties house in North West London.

[@spookydirt]

Brutalism is also associated with the phrase béton brut "raw concrete" - a common building material

[@General_Confusion]

Strange that a place built with the exclusion of cars in mind should look for all the World like a giant glazed in multi story carpark.

[@sunnyjim1355]

It's a rat maze.

[@sunjamm222]

I found trying to walk around this place, a brutal experience. Was sure the signs were laid out by London cabbies.

[@dang373]

excellent history round up. almost my favourite part of the city. I've been lost in there many a time, but always found something new and interesting. good stuff..

[@billsinkins361]

Thank you for this! You've talked about the Barbican in previous videos and I've been looking forward to a more compete tale. Even though I live thousands of kilometres away, I feel a connection to the place. In 1984 I was a very young graduate student in Canada, and I traveled to London the the 9th International Congress of Pharmacology, held at the Barbican Centre. At the time I was there, the Centre was practically brand new and it was very modern and impressive to this youngster from the Colonies 😀

[@johnpetermcgrath]

The theatre tour of the barbican is well worth doing, I think they're still running it, but it really gives you a further insight into the complex. I'd also recommend trying to catch an architecture foundation talk there, they're often in rooms deep into the complex so you get to go through lots of internal tunnels and walkways that give really interesting views of the conservatory at night. Sadly I think you're hitting the nail on the head when it comes down to why the barbican hasn't suffered the same fate as places like Thamesmead for example; even Park Hill in Sheffield which could be argued is a better example of the style, whilst restored now, was like you said treated as a dumping ground for problem tenants and allowed to run into the ground. Would very much recommend Concretopia by John Grindrod as a good read for more on the subject. Great video as always!

[@LondonEmergency999]

There was even a public services building here originally called Milton Court. It included a fire station, a coroner’s court, a mortuary, the City’s weights and measures office, a disinfection station... as well as 13 maisonettes for City of London staff. Sadly demolished now...

[@AidanMmusic96]

Proud to see the Guildhall School namechecked and shown! There's a way out of there straight onto one of the Barbican highwalks, which was a crafty way for some double bass players to move between the two main college buildings without carrying their bass down too many stairs!

[@nilo70]

Thank you Jago for making this ! I had never seen this area before and it is very different from what I have seen before . Cheers from California !

[@ianmilne655]

Always liked the Barbican, I did a quick photoshoot there a few weeks ago, shall have to make another trip there towards the end of spring when there's a bit more colour. Fascinating place, thank you for the video👍

[@MarcoFHQ]

Awwww, my old building at 1:05

[@trevorelliston1]

Another excellent piece of social commentary, that distinguishes Jago from some other commentators.

[@davidkelly3751]

I have worked around Barbican and I love it’s unique design and concept, In theory, the issue is the heavy concrete and enormous costs to maintain it. The flats of colleagues are all tight and yet functionally efficient with space. Heating is communal and bonkers. In short I flip between love and hate, but mostly I enjoy the elevation and sense of discovery when I frequently take a wrong turn.

[@philanderson5138]

great video mr.H. i've only ever seen it from the walkways on london wall, always looks well kept and been keen to walk through.

[@Bunter.948]

Excellent stuff, Mr H. Entirely faultless, as with so much of your other material. And really interesting. Do please keep up the good work. Simon T

[@GT670DN]

Thank you. I am a big fan of brutalist architecture, and this goes definetly on my to-visit list in the summer when I will be there after Crossrail has opened. Might have missed out otherwise.

[@biscuitty]

I've only been to the Barbican a few times, but growing up in Portsmouth I was inevitably given flashbacks to the Tricorn. All that concrete, all those weird hidden corners that feel like they were supposed to have a purpose!

[@hx0d]

Very nice video once again. My favorite place to walk around (and hopefully live in)! I like your balanced view on it; as you put it simply, some people like it and some people don’t.

[@satsubass3497]

My God, how cool a video sequence you make!!! Compared to all other reviewers.After each of your videos, I get a complete picture of the place you're talking about!!!

[@johnedwards3760]

My great-great-grandfather was baptised at St Giles Without Cripplegate in 1817. The family lived in Golden Lane at the time, and it was a VERY poor area. I was quite surprised in the 1970s to find the church was still there despite the Luftwaffe and the redevelopment.

[@highpath4776]

One problem with the Library Is , I think, the closure of three local libraries. one opp entrance to Barbican 2 venue, one near one of the lanes to the south of London Wall and there was another one I cannot recall where, which meant a longer walk for me to try to find useful study books when I could not get them from the college library

[@komorebi3055]

I was a member of the Gym in the 1980s whilst working in tne City. Loved it.

[@nickyang5124]

Great video! Lived in barbican for a year when I was a student in uni, didn't realise it was famous until I moved out. Miss that place!

[@heinkle1]

Traffic in Towns (1963) is a great epitaph to the perceived coming superiority of the car

[@aardvarksmith6852]

As a TV service engineer I have worked all over London from Thamesmead to the Barbican , the problem with the Barbican was parking and finding the flat , the problem with Thamesmead was would I still have a van when I got back . as an aside Kathy Kirby lived in the Barbican.

[@groovydonkey]

So fascinating, I go to the Barbican Centre occasionally and totally amazed at the size of the complex and I think it's something you either love or hate, but good to see it hasn't changed much and still has the 70's look of it all.

[@alexgibson781]

I visited the Barbican area for the first time just a few days ago and thought something along the lines of "I wonder when Jago will make a video about this?", and now here it is.

[@KevinTheCaravanner]

Jago, your videos are an eye opener. I don’t live in London and has always thought “The Barbican” referred to the concert hall only. I didn’t know it was in effect a village in the city. I’ll pay it a visit next time I’m in town.

[@fuzzlemacfuzz]

spent many happy hours in and around the Barbican, one of the best locations in the capital

[@the_9ent]

I have a love/ hate relationship with it. I admire it’s ambition and what it tried to be, along with the sheer scale and complexity is interesting. Brutalism though should never come back. It’s not missed.

[@foowashere]

It's almost like the pool and garden in the opening shot looks outstandingly beautiful just because they are surrounded by ugly, dirty grey concrete. So I guess brutalism has at least one good side--making the other side look great. Thanks for making and sharing!

[@tomleader7054]

I love it. Great for a wander around particularly if you get lost. I trully love getting lost in the Barbican.

[@maxerhard]

I regard it as being in the so-wrong-it's-right category, it is almost impressively awful and in an interesting way.

[@sunnyjim1355]

Yeah, as an abject lesson in 'how NOT to do something'.

[@davidwalker1652]

You can spot the Barbican in the new Star Wars TV series Andor. Some of the common areas were used as a filming location for Coruscant, with the backgrounds extended with CGI to make it look more sci-fi. You can easily recognise the tiled floors, concrete walls, and distinctive light fittings.

[@rossclark4589]

I’ve always loved the Barbican. Used to work near enough to spend my lunchtimes wandering around it, and still fit in a visit when I’m back. Plus - pedways, which have been expanded with the London Wall developments recently.

[@timothykeech7394]

I spent a fortnight as a stand in site engineer on one of the Barbican building contracts covering a holiday spell. This would have been 1969 and in the design office I was tasked with design calculations for one of the staircase structures in the Guildhall School of Music while I was working for what was then the Ove Arup and Partners Consultancy. My tiny contribution has, of course, failed to enter the history books but I have an equally small germ of proprietary interest in the site.

[@menshevik1012]

Love your potted architectural guides Jago. Obviously as well as the more rail centric ones which are also excellent.