Modernist Delights

Chaddesley House, Burnley, 2025

An exterior metal staircase with rusty railings is attached to a brick building. A broken window is visible on the left. A blue car is parked in front, and another tan brick building stands in the background under a cloudy sky.

The image shows a dilapidated entrance to an old building. The doors are covered with frosted glass and graffiti, the paint on the canopy is peeling, and warning signs are visible. The walkway leading to the doors is bordered by black railings.

A rooftop area with pyramid-shaped skylights, some litter, and dirt. To the right is a brown and beige building with many windows, some open. In the background, there are older stone buildings, a street with people, and flower planters on a railing.

A large, three-storey brick building with many broken windows and peeling paint. Debris and triangular skylights cover the flat roof below. The sky is overcast, and the building appears abandoned and in disrepair.

Erstwhile offices of Lancashire County Council, awaiting conversion into housing.

The Mint Building, City of London, 2025

A modern glass building façade with a grid of repeating rectangular windows, each framed by metal and covered with dark, louvred shutters. The reflections of the sky and nearby structures are visible in the glass panels.

Originally designed by Peter Foggo, constructed in 1997-99. Currently due to undergo refurbishment which will remove the brise soleil, which is part of the building’s striking look.

Baynard House, City of London, 2025

A building with 4 floors of continuous thin-framed aluminium windows, as well as vertical ribbed concrete between each floor. At the bottom, a series of metal horizontal vents and an entrance to an underground carpark.

The building was designed by William Holford incorporating a separation of pedestrians from streets, with a first-floor adjoining walkway along Queen Victoria Street that connects to Blackfriars station.
Baynard House, London – Wikipedia

Streets in the sky! Definitely one to go back to. It is, however, a nightmare to photograph, owing to the coach parking out front.

External stairs & vent, National Theatre, London, 2025

A brutalist concrete staircase with three steep flights leads to upper levels, framed by thick railings. Metal barriers and a traffic cone block the lower entrance. The building’s geometric, angular lines dominate the symmetrical design.

Stairwell, National Theatre, London

A dimly lit concrete stairwell with dark carpeted steps leads upward and turns left; stainless steel railings line both sides. The walls are textured concrete, and a small sign reading “STAIRS” is visible above the landing.

Wayfinding signpost outside the National Theatre, 2025

A signpost on a cloudy day points to nearby attractions including National Film Theatre, Hayward Gallery, Queen Elizabeth Hall, Royal Festival Hall, Festival Pier, National Theatre, and Jubilee Gardens, with buildings and trees in the background.

Charming use of colour and iconography (especially on the Festival Pier sign), which you don’t see in an era of consistent, unified design languages.

Prince Charles Cinema, Westminster, London, 2025

A marquee on the Prince Charles Cinema displays “QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE ALIVE IN THE CATACOMBS.” The cinema’s black awning is below, and the building above has patterned windows. The sky is partly cloudy.

After a short period supporting the dramatic arts, the venue was reinvented as a kind of soft porn cinema, and began showing European arthouse movies with “a level of nudity that British and American cinema wasn’t ready for”.
Wikipedia

Not a straight-up soft porn cinema, god forbid, just a kind of one.