#modernism — Modernist Delights

Tenterfield Street, Preston, 2025

A curved urban road leads downhill into a tunnel beneath concrete and brick buildings. Tall offices and flats rise above, with greenery on the right embankment. Yellow road markings and black bollards guide traffic under a cloudy sky.

Telephone House, Preston, 2025

A close-up upward view of a tall building facade featuring multiple rows of rectangular blue-framed windows set in beige panels, with vertical structural beams between the window columns. The perspective creates a slightly distorted, diagonal appearance.

A view upward between two buildings shows a dark, mid-century office block with blue-framed windows. The sky is overcast. The building on the right is red brick, while the left building has a white exterior. A CCTV camera and a lamp are visible.

A small green plant grows in a round, textured pot on a concrete surface near a rough, dark stone wall and the corner of a building with blue-framed windows. Another empty pot with sparse grass sits nearby. The scene is overcast and quiet.

A tall, modern building with a central curved stone façade flanked by two rectangular wings featuring large grid-like windows. The sky is overcast with grey clouds, enhancing the stark architectural lines and highlighting the building’s geometric design.

By Building Design Partnership, 1960-64.

Preston Telephone Exchange, 2025

A mid-century modern building with red brick and large glass windows stands next to an older blue-panelled structure. The building has four storeys, a covered entrance, and greenery growing in front on the right side.

A concrete shelter with a slanted roof overlooks a weathered bench and brick pavement. Overgrown plants climb nearby fences. In the background, red and grey block of flats and dense green trees are visible under a cloudy sky.

A gated alleyway with brick and concrete walls, topped with barbed wire, features a large white sign reading PEDESTRIANS CROSSING THE YARD MUST EXERCISE CARE. An old metal door and a small warning sign are also visible. A pillow lies on the ground.

A glass skybridge connects two multi-storey buildings, one with red brick and the other with dark panels and blue-framed windows. A round-topped streetlamp stands below; in the background, another pale, windowed building is visible under a cloudy sky.

Lancashire Archives, Preston, 2025

A modern building with large, reflective glass windows forms an elevated walkway supported by pillars. Below, a paved courtyard with a bench and planter is visible. Lush green trees and a cloudy sky are seen in the background.

View through a window of a modern building with large glass panels and a rectangular courtyard. The courtyard has paving, parking spaces with yellow lines, pillars, a bench, and trees reflected in the reflective glass façade. Sky is overcast.

A glass wall reveals a concrete staircase with a wooden handrail inside a building. Two wooden benches are in the foreground outside, with some plants between them. Reflections and vertical window dividers are visible on the glass.

Crimson columns of Council House, Plymouth, 2025

A concrete building facade with tall vertical windows, some with closed blinds and one open window. The lower level has grey stone and vertical bars. Reflections of clouds and city buildings appear in the glass. A single red pillar stands in the centre.

A cylindrical column covered in small red tiles stands between two large windows with vertical white blinds. The column casts a slight shadow, and reflections of buildings and cars are visible in the glass behind it. The scene appears urban and modern.

The “Crimson Columns of Council House” will be in session with Steve Lamacq on 6 Music this afternoon.

Plymouth Civic Centre & details, 2025

A tall, rectangular, concrete building with many small, dirty windows stands behind a shorter structure with alternating vertical dark and light stripes. The sky is partly cloudy, with blue sky visible on the left and a large white cloud on the right.

A grey, concrete car park by a brutalist tower block. Several cars are parked below. A spiral staircase leads to a walkway covered in colourful graffiti. The scene is urban, with cloudy blue sky above and yellow road markings on the ground.

A concrete spiral staircase with a green metal railing wraps around a cylindrical pillar in front of a graffiti-covered, urban building. Yellow parking lines, a parked orange car, purple bins, and industrial details are visible in the scene.

A brick wall with a grid of cross-shaped cut-outs, two vents near the bottom, and a white sign reading “Please do not park in front of roller bar.” Yellow diagonal parking lines and white lines mark the ground in front.

Designed by city architect Hector Stirling, completed in 1962. After several failed schemes to modernise these former Plymouth City Council offices, plans are currently underway to convert the lower floors of the building into a new campus for City College Plymouth, with housing on the floors above.

Dedicating this post to my beleaguered boyfriend, who detests this building.

Plymouth Athenaeum, 2025

A modern, rectangular building labelled “ATHENAEUM” features large glass windows on the upper floor and a sheltered entrance below. The facade is grey, with bollards, a ramp, and a pedestrian crossing visible in front on a sunny day.

The theatre was used as a studio by neighbour Westward Television Studios with a tunnel linking the two together. In 1963 John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison escaped fans by using the tunnel.
Plymouth Athenaeum, Wikipedia

Built in 1961 following the bombing of the society’s previous home in the Blitz, designed by Walls and Pearn.