Plymouth
Built 1960s
Designed by Various
Devon is a bucolic county in the south west of England. An idyll of green grass, country lanes edged by bulky hedgerows, cows clotting cream, estuaries dotted with pleasure boats and, I risk the ire of our Cornish brethren by writing this, serving cream teas in the right way.
It’s also the home of Britain’s ocean city, Plymouth, which is where I spent a very pleasurable day photographing some of the city’s post-war buildings.
Being a major port and naval base, the Luftwaffe bombed the hell out of the city centre and docks. In 1941, the city appointed Patrick Abercrombie to plan for the city’s reconstruction. By 1964 over 20,000 new homes emerged from the rubble and the city centre was shiny and new.
Plymouth Civic Centre was built in 1962 to house the city council offices. In 2007 it was Grade II listed and saved from demolition. In 2014 Urban Splash bought it for £1 with plans to convert it into residential use. These fell through and the council have since bought it back for £1 with plans to convert into a city college.
Plymouth has a mix of modernist styles and if I knew more about architectural history I would tell you exactly what these were. For now, shall we settle on post-war? Which is wide enough to let my eye guide me to those buildings which appeal.
