• Fri. Apr 19th, 2024

North East Connected

Hopping Across The North East From Hub To Hub

Listed buildings constructed in the 20th century

You are likely to think of a structure that has somehow managed to have stood the test of time despite being built centuries ago when you hear the term ‘listed building’. Not all listed buildings are old and archaic though, since a building can make the list if it’s over just 30 years old.

Highlighting this point is Lycetts, a provider of listed building insurance, as the firm has studied the listed buildings list and found the following structures which were only built in the past 70 years or so:    

Carbrain Totem, near Glenhove Road, Cumbernauld 1966

Where to find it: Near Glenhove Road, Cumbernauld, North Lanarkshire

Listed building grade: Category C

Key dates tied to the listed building:

  • 1962: Artist Brian Miller began working in the engineers’ department at Cumbernauld Development Corporation as a draughtsman, before being appointed as Town Artist within the Chief Architect’s and Planning department.
  • 1963: Construction of Cumbernauld’s new town began.
  • 1964: Miller set up a Design Team, with its first major task to design and construct the car park in Cumbernauld Town Centre — the forerunner to the Totem sculpture’s concept.
  • Early 1970s: Division of north and south areas of Carbrain completed.
  • 1993: Cumbernauld town centre is listed as one of Docomomo’s 60 key monuments of the post-war period.
  • 2017: Carbrain Totem became a listed building on March 13th 2017.

Former bus station, Station Square, Milton Keynes 1982-3

Where to find it: Elder Gate, Station Square, Milton Keynes

Listed building grade: Grade II

Key dates tied to the listed building:

  • 1967: Milton Keynes was designated as a new town.
  • 1982-83: The Milton Keynes bus station in Station Square was designed and constructed thanks to a joint effort by Milton Keynes Development Corporation (MKDC), architects under Derek Walker, structural engineer Felix J Samuely, and contractors of Costains Construction.
  • 1983: The bus station was commended by the Structural Steel Design Award.
  • 2014: The former bus station in Station Square, Milton Keynes became a listed building on July 17th 2014.

Former Wing Headquarters Building, Greenham Common 1985

Where to find it: Venture West (Building 274), New Greenham Park, Greenham Common, near Newbury, Berkshire

Listed building grade: Grade II

Key dates tied to the listed building:

  • 1941: Greenham Common was requisitioned by the Air Ministry as a satellite airfield for RAF Aldermaston.
  • 1943: The airfield became a United States Army Air Force base.
  • 1945: The airfield reverted to the RAF.
  • 1947: The airfield was decommissioned.
  • 1951: The Air Ministry announced its intention to re-requisition land at Greenham Common.
  • 1964-1968: The base was returned to the RAF, and re-opened as a USAF stand-by base.
  • 1985: The Wing Headquarters building of the former Greenham Common airbase was constructed as part of the Cold War redevelopment of the base to accommodate cruise missiles.
  • 1992: The airbase was closed.
  • 1997: The airbase was purchased by Greenham Common Community Trust.
  • 2014: The Former Wing Headquarters Building became a listed building on September 1st2014.

Margam Crematorium 1969

Where to find it: Along a service road that is south from Heol Cae’r Bont, west of Junction 38 of the M4 motorway, in the county of Neath Port Talbot

Listed building grade: Grade II

Key dates tied to the listed building:

  • 1968: FD Williamson designed Narberth Crematorium — a smaller scale modernist precursor to Margram Crematorium.
  • 1969: The Margam Crematorium chapel by FD Williamson & Associates of Porthcawl was opened by the Secretary of State for Wales, George Thomas MP.
  • 2017: Margam Crematorium became a listed building on February 8th 2017.

No. 78 South Hill Park 1963-65

Where to find it: Hampstead, London, NW3 2SN

Listed building grade: Grade II

Key dates tied to the listed building:

  • Early 1950s: Brian Housden studied at the Architectural Association.
  • 1958: Now an architect, Housden began designing private house 78 South Hill Park.
  • 1963-65: The private house at 78 South Hill Park was built.
  • 1964: The Housden family first occupied the uncompleted house.
  • 2014: No. 78 South Hill Park became a listed building on November 19th 2014.

Schlumberger Gould Research Centre and attached perimeter wall to the north 1984-9

Where to find it: Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB3

Listed building grade: Grade II

Key dates tied to the listed building:

  • 1927: Brothers, Conrad and Marcel Schlumberger, founded the oilfield services company Schumberger.
  • 1982: Following the interviewing of 20 architectural practices, Sir Michael Hopkins was selected to design the Schlumberger research centre that is to be based in Cambridge.
  • 1984-1989: The scientific research facilities and offices of the Schlumberger Gould Research Centre was erected.
  • 2017: Schlumberger Gould Research Centre and attached perimeter wall to the north became a listed building on February 17th 2017.

The Dorset Martyrs Memorial 1986

Where to find it: Dorchester, West Dorset, Dorset, DT1

Listed building grade: Grade II

Key dates tied to the listed building:

  • 16th and 17th century: Number of people executed for their religious beliefs at Gallows Hill in Dorchester.
  • Early 1980s: Elisabeth Frink commissioned to make a public sculpture to be placed at the former site of Dorchester’s gallows on Gallows Hill, following funding from the Art Council’s ‘Art for Public Places Scheme’, the Council of Dorset Natural History and Archaeological Society, and the Catholic Community in Dorset.
  • 1983: Frink designed the Dorset Martyrs Memorial public sculpture.
  • 1986: Dorset Martyrs Memorial installed on the site of the former gallows.
  • 2017: The Dorset Martyrs Memorial became a listed building on March 13th 2017.

Tomb of Rosalind Franklin 1958

Where to find it: Brent, London, NW10

Listed building grade: Grade II

Key dates tied to the listed building:

  • 1920: Crystallographer and pioneer of the study of molecular structures, Rosalind Franklin, was born in Notting Hill, in London.
  • 1941: Franklin took her degree in chemistry.
  • 1947: Franklin’s study of carbons took her to the Laboratoire Central des Services Chimiques de l’État in Paris. There, she learned advanced analytical X-ray techniques.
  • 1953: Franklin attended Birkbeck College, where she began work in J D Bernal’s crystallography laboratory on plant viruses.
  • 1956: Franklin was asked to construct large-scale models of viruses to be showcased at the 1958 Brussels World’s Fair Science Exhibition.
  • 1958: Franklin passed away at the Royal Marsden Hospital, in Chelsea. She was buried in Willesden Jewish Cemetery.

2017: The Tomb of Rosalind Franklin became a listed building on March 7th 2017.