Modernist Delights

Marks & Spencer department store, Lancaster, 2025

A Marks & Spencer shopfront with a brown brick façade, arched upper windows, and large display windows below featuring Christmas-themed posters. The white sign above the entrance displays the shop name in bold black letters. Blue sky is visible above.

Preston railway station, 2026

A covered railway station platform with yellow safety lines. Three people wait: one walks, two sit on a bench. Signs show platforms 4 and 4C. Overhead glass panels let in daylight. Tracks and brick buildings are visible in the background. Trees line the area.

Railway symmetry on my day off.

Lancaster Delivery Office extension, 2025

A sunlit, old building with large, grimy windows, white panels, and a stone base lines a quiet street with bins and shadows. The sky is blue with clouds and a visible plane vapour trail.

Lancaster Telephone Exchange, 2025

A tan brick industrial building with large rectangular windows is shown. Several red and white vans are parked in front, with yellow and white parking lines on the ground. The sky is blue with scattered clouds. Signs and barriers are also visible near the entrance.

A stone wall outside a building has the words TELEPHONE EXCHANGE engraved on it. The wall is weathered, and buildings with tan and beige façades surround the area. There's a narrow passage and a barrier gate to the right.

A narrow alleyway between two beige buildings with large windows, a red and white security barrier blocks entry. Overhead, a white enclosed walkway connects the buildings. The scene is lit by daylight and appears industrial.

A two-storey beige stone building with nine front windows and a grey double door, metal railings, and a pavement in front. Shadows partially cover the facade. A blue sky with some clouds is visible above the building.

Telephone House, Lancaster, 2025

A boarded-up, beige four-storey office building labelled TELEPHONE HOUSE stands on a quiet street, with a yellow skip in front. The windows are broken or missing, and leafless trees line the pavement. The sky is partly cloudy and blue.

A five-storey, rectangular, tan-brick building with many windows, some boarded up, under a blue sky. A metal fire escape is attached. The building looks abandoned, and some lower windows are damaged. Neighbouring buildings and trees are partially visible.

A large, abandoned brick building with boarded-up lower windows, many broken upper windows, and overgrown vegetation in front. A metal fire escape is attached to the left side. The sky is blue with clouds.

A black SUV is parked beside a fenced building. The sun is setting behind a brick building with metal staircases. Shadows and reflections are visible on the windows, and the sky is partly cloudy with yellow and blue hues.

Telephone House, once home to a BT customer service centre, received planning permission for conversion into apartments in 2024, alas, the apartments did not materialise. Until then, it’s just a source of phone signal woes.

One more interesting tidbit, from the article above:

During the Cold War, the basement of Telephone House housed an emergency bunker to be used in the event of a nuclear strike on the Lancaster district. Although the bunker didn’t ‘officially’ exist, it was common knowledge amongst staff who worked there until the basement area was cleared towards the end of the ’80s.

Marble House, Maida Vale, London, 2025

A long, three-storey brick block of flats with small balconies and white-framed windows faces a tree-lined pavement on a sunny day. Some balconies have plants, and shadows suggest it is morning or late afternoon.

51-80 Edenham Way, Cheltenham Estate, Kensal Town, London, 2025

A modern block of flats entrance with a concrete overhang, large windows above, brick and grey panel facade, and a sign reading Edenham Way. An orange parking barrier is visible in the foreground.

The concrete box stretches over the entryway like a ship’s bridge, which might come in useful if the rising sea levels ever come for zone 2.

Trellick Tower, Cheltenham Estate, Kensal Town, London, 2025

A tall, rectangular concrete block of flats with many balconies stands against a blue sky. Shorter buildings and leafless trees are visible at the base. Contrail lines are in the sky. The scene is well-lit by sunlight.

The entrance to Trellick Tower, a concrete residential building, with large block letters above the doors. Three bicycles are parked nearby, and a bus stop stands to the right with a timetable display. Trees and blue sky are visible in the background.

A tall, brutalist block of flats with many rows of white-framed windows and concrete balconies, viewed from below. The sky is partly visible, and leafless tree branches frame the scene on both sides.

A curved, grey, multi-storey block of flats lines the right side of a street with parked cars. In the background, a tall tower block rises against a bright, partly cloudy sky. Trees with sparse leaves stand to the left of the scene.

When I grow up, I’m going to start a campaign to stop putting assorted street furniture in front of grade II listed buildings.

Holmfield House, Kensal Town, London, 2025

A mid-century modern building with geometric patterns, large windows, and shops, including RELLIK, on a sunny street. Cars are parked along the kerb, and a red van is in the foreground. A leafy tree stands at the left, and a blue sky is above.

A person walks past a modern, grey brick block of flats with horizontal windows and blue accents. Bicycles are parked along the pavement. A shaft of sunlight highlights part of the building. The sky is clear and blue.

A three-storey, modernist building with long horizontal windows, blue tiles, and geometric designs stands at a street corner. Several cars are parked beside it. A person in a high-visibility vest is near a bicycle rack. Trees frame the image on the right.

A grey and blue modern block of flats with horizontal windows, round vents, and blue tile detailing. Parked cars and a motorbike line the street. A leafless tree stands near the pavement under a bright, clear sky.

Standing in the shadow of Trellick Tower on the day that I shot it, this is one of my favourite buildings. So much so, I have a Mandy Payne print of it in the office.

Modernist Delights is a blog about modernist and brutalist architecture. Find out more.