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A Phoenix from the Ashes
Henry Wrong CBE, Director of the Barbican in the crucial years from 1970 to 1990
Like the legendary Phoenix, the Barbican rose from the ashes caused by bombing during the Second World War. The idea of the centre was born in the 1960s, an era of renewed optimism and fresh ideas, and an exciting time for the arts. New architectural styles were emerging, including the ‘brutalism’ that characterises the Barbican as a whole. The concept of the centre grew organically – for example, what was originally intended to be a small recital room evolved into the large Barbican Hall we have today.
The construction did not begin in earnest until 1971. Indeed, it came close to not happening at all. The City of London’s Court of Common Council spent its longest sitting on record deciding whether or not to proceed with the project. The architects, Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, were appointed initially to design the residential areas. While they produced an interesting plan, it became apparent that they had never before designed even a cinema, let alone a theatre or concert hall. Their proposals for the cinema included placing the screen on the ceiling and having the first few rows of the audience lying on their backs on what looked like a series of beds. The final cost of building the centre was £156 million; to build it today would require a staggering £500 million.
Microcosm of London
Peter Ackroyd, Novelist, biographer and poet
The Barbican has a history almost as old as London itself. It was first built by the Roman invaders to protect what was for them a new settlement by the river. Within, in the area of the city just south of the Barbican, lived Martin Frobisher, Lancelot Andrews and Thomas More. The area of Cripplegate beyond the wall, was in comparison considered to be insalubrious and incommodious. In the 16th century it became the natural home for thieves and receivers of stolen goods. It was a microcosm of Elizabethan ‘low life’ and became the haven for nonconformists of every description. It was also a home for actors. William Shakespeare lived here at the corner of Monkwell Street and Silver Street. Ben Johnson lived for a period in the Parish of St. Giles. Grub Street was perhaps the most famous of the Barbican streets, and it has remained in the popular imagination ever since it was described by Samuel Johnson as ‘much inhabited by writers of small histories, dictionaries and temporary poems.
The Barbican, a populous and ramshackle area, was bound to be a victim of all epidemic disorders that swept across the city. The Great Plague killed some 8,000 out of a population of 11,000 and the Great Fire swept as far north as Smithfield. It slowly grew more ruinous and dilapidated and then in the 20th century was destroyed by German bombs in the Second World War.
By 1951 only 58 people lived in the entire ward. Only in 1952 did plans for redevelopment begin. So the Barbican has been a neighbourhood of actors and of writers as well as the home of vice, disease and fire. It has been an asylum for refugees and outcasts. It has, in a word, been London.
Purchase London: The Biography by Peter Ackroyd on Amazon.co.uk
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| | 1955
First proposals submitted to the Corporation of London
1956
Duncan Sandys, Minister for Housing, supports the scheme
1959
Corporation of London selects a scheme devised by architects Chamberlin, Powell and Bon
1960
Royal Shakespeare Company and London Symphony Orchestra become involved in the planning of the Barbican
1971
Construction work begins
1982
Barbican opened by HM The Queen on 3 March
1995
John Tusa appointed Managing Director, with Graham Sheffield as Artistic Director
2002
The Barbican celebrates its 20th birthday with a major refurbishment and improvements, offering enhanced facilities and greater ease of access
2007
The Barbican celebrates its 25th birthday with 25 landmark events; a marathon fortnight of events; a new look following the major £35 million refurbishment of the foyers, public spaces and all the venues; a new front door and a bold and provocative birthday book |
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