#modernism — Page 5 of 15 — Modernist Delights

Denys Wilkinson Building, Oxford, 2025

A modern concrete building with large windows sits next to an older brick building. A broad staircase with white railings leads up to the entrance. Several trees and a blue informational sign are visible, and the sky is partly cloudy.

A modern, multi-storey building with large glass windows and concrete walls stands beside a road. A street lamp is in front, green trees frame the right and top left, and a sign reads Banbury Road at the corner. The sky is overcast.

A large, modern building with angular, jutting concrete and glass structures. The lower level is textured concrete, while upper floors feature large dark glass windows. Two people walk on a pavement beside the building on a cloudy day.

Now offices, the tower used to house a vertical electrostatic accelerator – alas, my physics knowledge stops well short of knowing what one of those is. Designed by Philip Dowson of Arup.

De Breyne Building, Keble College, Oxford, 2025

A tall, fortified-looking building made of yellow-brown brick, with multiple vertical columns and narrow, slit-like windows. The geometry is angular and brutalist. The sky above is cloudy, and a bicycle is parked at the far left.

A narrow, empty street curves alongside modern brick buildings with distinctive vertical buttresses. On the left, a stone wall with blooming white flowers and leafy trees contrasts with the architecture. The sky is mostly cloudy, and a white van is visible in the distance.

A rectangular metal vent with horizontal slats is set into a weathered brown brick wall. The vent is framed by a concrete border, and a white vertical line runs up the wall and across the vent, dividing the image symmetrically.

If I knew it was listed, I’d have attempted to take better photos. There’s some photos of the other side of the building on manchesterhistory.net.

Sir Thomas White Building, St John’s College, Oxford, 2025

A small car park with several cars is surrounded by older brick buildings with ivy on the left and modern windowed buildings ahead. Trees and greenery line the area. A white barrier and a “danger” sign are visible in the foreground. The sky is overcast.

A modern concrete and stone building with angular windows and vertical supports stands beside a cobblestone path, bordered by a stone wall. Lush green trees partially obscure the structure, and the sky is overcast.

A concrete and stone building with tall, narrow windows and vertical, ribbed concrete supports on the facade. The structure has a modern, brutalist style and is partially shaded by a leafy tree on the right. Sunlight appears from the upper left corner.

A close-up of a brutalist building features large concrete bay windows with black frames and curtains drawn inside. Moss grows on ledges, and leafy green trees are visible on the left side, adding contrast to the angular concrete structure.

Rewley Road fire station, Oxford, 2025

A side on view of a 3 storey building. It features an external concrete frame grid, with the spaces in-between built from brick. Some of the slots created by the grid feature windows instead, with one full height window on the ground floor, and some half height, thin framed windows above. The building is set against a cloudy sky. In front of it, a man walks.

Corner-on shot of a 3 storey concrete framed brick building. In the background of the shot, the building extends into what is clearly recognisable as the red shutters of a fire station, separated by an external concrete frame. The bulding is set against a cloudy grey sky, with some grass and a road in the foreground.

This photo focuses on the fire station garage, with 6 red shutters for fire truck, framed by an external concrete frame painted white.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.