#modernism — Modernist Delights

Gate House, Clerkenwell, London, 2025

6 storey 1960's office building with an exposed concrete frame and a column of mosaic detailing above the main entrance, as well as a to let sign. The front face of the building features a geometric graph of thin-frame aluminium windows. In the foreground of the picture, roadworks.

Posted on September 10, 2025.

Cater House, Chelmsford, 2025

Ground-level shot of a mid-height 1960's concrete building, with a large mass at ground level and the next few storeys extending higher in a more narrow mass. On the lowest level there are shops, as well as some graffiti. Above, the next two storeys are hidden behind concrete panels, with the level above featuring a visible fence around it, suggesting a roof terrace. The actual concrete block is fairly typical for its age, but interestingly featuring a concrete relief on one size, and an external staircase on the other.

Ground-level shot of a mid-height concrete building, featuring a relief sculpture on the side.

Cater House, the 1960’s-built head office of the Cater Brothers supermarket chain, now converted to general retail & housing. Featuring a Mitzi Cunliffe relief on the side. Sadly now missing the very of-the-era Cater House signage, presumably removed during the conversion to housing.

Posted on September 7, 2025.

Rear elevation, Royal Mail Sorting Office, Brighton, 2025

A plain concrete building featuring 7 sets of thin-framed windows with a concrete column inbetween each, except the 8th, which is a little further away with no column (and a passageway underneath). The lower part of the building has been painted white, although this is quite faded and irregular.

A front-on shot of a concrete building. The lower half of the building features a passageway, with a somewhat art deco canopy and column. Just above it is some graffiti, and a thin-framed window panelled window.

“Should I post the Brighton sorting office, or something from Manchester today?” I ask.

“I don’t think you could fit the whole Brighton sorting office in a postbox,” my boyfriend helpfully suggests.

Posted on September 3, 2025.

Boarded-up building, Shoreditch, London, 2025

Brick building with a concrete brick and window facade. The first floor features grates, as if for a semi-underground car park. All windows on the floor above are boarded up. Windows on the higher floors are not boarded up, but are largely graffitied.

Posted on August 28, 2025.

London College of Fashion, Shoreditch, 2025

A building with a single square-ish mass, three storeys, and an additional smaller mass featuring a door and stairwall just out of shot to the right. The building is made out of London brick, with large thin-framed windows on the upper two storeys. The lower storey has windows, shutters, and graffiti. On the lower two storeys, the frontage is covered in large cream tiles, with a light-blue border around that and the front door.

Posted on August 24, 2025.

New and old on Regent’s Canal, Islington, London, 2025

Sunny day on the Regent's Canal, taken from on the water. The foreground features a large, lush green tree. In the middle, there are some 19th century buildings, including a mill and cottage. In the background there is a 1960's mid-rise housing block, all set against a clear blue sky.

I’m not turning this blog into Riparian Delights, I promise. This counts as a Modernist Delight because the housing block in the back is Jessop Court, built 1969. Diespeker Wharf, a Victorian former timber mill & terrazzo and marble manufacturer, and an early 19th century wharf-keeper’s cottage.

Posted on August 22, 2025.