Work hard? Live harder in the City’s Brutalist Barbican Estate masterpiece

When the Barbican was first conceived in the 1960s, it was a utopian ideal for inner city-living. Well ahead of its time, its cutting-edge, controversial architecture interweaved with public gardens, restaurants, shops, cultural destinations and a school. 

 

Brutalist architects Chamberlain, Powell and Bon then built four large residential towers that would become the Barbican Estate on the site of a nearby YMCA hostel. 

 

 

But over 50 years have passed since that ambitious project began and the area is experiencing a cultural and residential renaissance. 

 

This month sees its newest homes go on sale in Blake Tower, the fourth high-rise tower that completed the Barbican Estate. Architects at Harper Downie have been given the honour of sensitively restoring the Grade-II listed, 17-storey tower which is named after the English poet William Blake, a former resident of the area.

 

The collection of 74 one, two and three bedroom apartments range in size from 450sqft to over 2,000sqft. Design studio Conran and Partners have been brought in to create “art-inspired” interiors with “a modern heritage”; the building’s iconic curved balustrades are imitated in details throughout the apartments, down to the curved brass door handles. 

 

 

Developer Redrow estimates the arrival of Crossrail at nearby Farringdon will bring with it an extra 991,000 visitors to the Barbican to take advantage of its newer cultural additions, such as the London Film School, a new classical music programme and a collaboration with the Royal Shakespeare Company. 

 

Redrow’s sales and marketing director Mary Timlin says, “It has provided a home for innovators and creatives for centuries and we hope Blake Tower will inspire the next generation of budding young thinkers.”