Modernist Delights

Beales department store, Bournemouth, 2024

A large, curved, multi-story brick building with many horizontal windows stands on a busy city street. The sign reads “Beales.” People walk and sit in the foreground. The sun creates a bright halo behind the building under a partly cloudy sky.

The massive, looming presence of the Beales building, a former department store in Bournemouth.

Having gone bust in 2020, the Twentieth Century Society writes:

A planning application to convert most of the building to residential use was refused in 2016 because of a wish to retain retail floor space in the town’s primary shopping area against a backdrop of a sizable public campaign to retain Beales as a store – “I back BEALES.”

Look at how well that worked out! In July 2024, the building has been granted planning permission to convert it into housing with gym and pool, as well as three ground floor retail units. These will surely be of similar architectural value as those in Bristol & West House.

Bristol & West House, Bournemouth, 2024

A curved corner brick building with many windows under a bright sun, casting shadows. Several cars are parked along the street, and a few people walk on the sidewalk, including a person pushing a stroller. The sky is mostly clear with a few clouds.

A four-story building features brown brick walls and large, rectangular windows with green vertical panels between some windows. A white awning extends above the entrance, labeled Bristol & West House, under a clear blue sky.

A tall, art deco building with Bristol & West House on the top, features curved brickwork, tall windows, and a Be At One cocktail bar on the ground floor. People walk nearby under a clear blue sky, with leafy trees framing the right side.

Walking away from the Bournemouth Echo building, we were distracted by Bristol & West House, a 1958 art deco building. Originally it must’ve been offices + retail, with the upper floors being converted to become the plainest apartments imaginable in 2015. Externally it’s a very fine building, however.

Brighthelm Centre, Brighton, 2024

A four-story, weathered brown concrete building with vertical stains stands on a rainy street. The ground floor has a colorful storefront named Astoria with a blue fence beside it. Several cars are parked along the wet road in front of the building.

I’ve risked my last train home out of rainy Brighton to stop and take a picture of this beauty. This is the Brighthelm Centre. I love the textured concrete at the front of the building, and while the brick behind doesn’t do much for me, it certainly makes a great first impression. The cross recessed into the textured concrete is a particularly nice touch.

Bournemouth Echo building, 2024

A corner view of a 1930s-style Art Deco building with ECHO signs, clock tower, and large windows. The street has parked cars, bikes, trees, and red-brick Victorian buildings on the left. The sky is blue with scattered clouds.

Art Deco building with tan stone façade, tall central tower, vertical windows, and geometric lines. Large clock projects above blue double doors. ECHO sign on top. Tree at right, blue sky with clouds above, and a sidewalk and quiet street in front.

Lovely weather to see Bournemouth today actually, plenty to see here!

Harbourside beauty in Weymouth, 2024

A large, gray multi-story parking garage with vertical concrete slats stands under a cloudy sky. In front, there is a bus stop shelter displaying a digital ad and various signs. Bushes and street signs line the sidewalk alongside the road.

A multi-storey concrete car park with vertical slats and five visible levels. The entrance is at ground level, marked by a blue sign. Yellow directional arrows are painted on the road. Bushes and trees border the entrance, and a pay parking sign stands on the right.

A large, gray, concrete multi-story car park with vertical slats covers most of the frame. The sky is overcast, and the surrounding area has some greenery, street signs, and empty roads. A blue P parking sign is visible on the building.

Sherborne Library, 2024

A single-story building with a sign reading “Sherborne Library” stands behind tall hedges. A road in the foreground has STAFF ONLY painted on it. The sky is clear and blue, with autumn trees and trimmed grass visible around the library.

Audibly gasped when I saw the sign, the font feels very of the era with a quality modern fonts don’t have anymore.

The Scott Mills Bridge at Fleet Services, 2024

A long, enclosed walkway with green railings and large windows on both sides, showing trees outside. The pathway is empty except for a yellow caution sign in the distance, and the scene has a mixture of green and yellow foliage visible through the glass.

A wide, empty motorway with six lanes in each direction, divided by a grassy median. Cars and a white truck travel in both directions. Tall pine trees line both sides under a cloudy sky. The photo is taken from an overpass above the road.

A brushed metal plaque in a dark wood frame reads The Scott Mills Bridge with Scott Mills signature below. At the bottom, WELCOMEBREAK is printed, with WELCOME in green and BREAK in white uppercase letters.

A national ICON!

Spiral multi-storey, Romford, 2024

A circular, multi-story parking garage is lit by bright lights at night. Several cars, including a black SUV and a white sedan, are driving past on a wet road that reflects the lights. The scene is dark, with the garage dominating the background.

Goes to a new place; immediately goes down a back street and finds a car park.

Moorgate Station to Liverpool Street Station tunnel, London, 2024

A long, tiled underground tunnel with curved walls and ceiling, illuminated by bright overhead lights. Three people walk along the tunnel, two heading away and one towards the camera. The scene has a symmetrical, futuristic appearance.

I thought CityMapper was sending me walkies round London for no reason but it was just trying to show me a very long, very repetitive pedestrian tunnel, DUH 🤦🏼‍♂️ And I’m so thankful for that!

On the Brasília of the North

A yellow exhibition poster features black text reading “Brasília of the North,” dates, and a surreal illustration of curved modernist concrete buildings on a grassy field under a cloudy sky. A floating letter D block hovers above the structures.

That brings our trip to Newcastle to a close. The last thing I wanted to highlight was the Brasília of the North exhibition at the Farrell Centre. We kindly got a preview of it the weekend before it opened, so my photos of it are not fit for public consumption, but I definitely recommend it.

An exhibition exploring the ideas, personalities and broader social, cultural and political climate that underpinned the aspirations to transform Newcastle into a modernist city.

It runs until 1 June 2025, is – ̗̀free ̖́- to visit, and included in it are several large scale models of Newcastle itself as well as select buildings in it – if that doesn’t sell it, I don’t know what will.

Latest posts