Rupert Street Car Park, Bristol
Built 1959-60
This pioneering and ambitious car park, built between 1959-60, will soon be demolished.
It was the first in England to have a continuous parking ramp. Half a mile of gently rising slope to give cars a place to rest.
Upon opening, The Bristol Evening Post waxed lyrical about it:
“... it has a genuine drama by being so obviously a 20th-century solution to a 20th-century problem. Some of the glamour which 100 years ago attached to the railways, then such potent symbols of man’s advance, attaches to this dramatic building catering for our own favourite method of transport. But it is important to realise that this drama is communicated only because the purpose the building serves – car parking - is expressed very clearly. Such boldness is never common.”
Yes, the motor car was once celebrated and the local paper could afford to write for a discerning reader, rather than an advertising algorithm.
But why defend a car park?
Cars pollute. They dominate cities. They make it difficult to walk or cycle. But Rupert Street is different. Its soft rounded curves, the retro typeface and that long, sweeping slope is what makes it special. Its shape stands out from the flat structures either side. It provides a surprise for the eye as you walk down Rupert Street.
I like climbing to the top level and seeing the cityscape from a different perspective.
Today, the construction industry contributes 20% of all carbon emissions (of which 80% is in demolition). Demolition should be the last course of action. Yet planners, architects and investors prefer the lazy option. Perhaps for profit, perhaps as a vain monument to themselves.
Rupert Street car park will be replaced by two 20 and 18 storey towers (for student accommodation), ground floor retail and parking. Blandly built to maximise profit and a four decade lifespan.
Instead the 20th Century Society thinks that this car park could be saved and repurposed as “an historic example of automobile architecture, as a dedicated storage and charging hub for electric and super low-emission vehicles.”
Now there’s an idea.
