If not now, when? C20 renews 35-year long call for Southbank Centre listing

This article was first published by Twentieth Century Society.

C20 Society has renewed its call to nationally list the Southbank Centre, which includes the Hayward Gallery, Purcell Rooms and Queen Elizabeth Hall. This visionary combination of performance spaces and art gallery is a post-war architectural masterpiece, and is perhaps the most totemic – and controversial – example of British Brutalism, currently in the spotlight thanks to the Oscar nominated film of the same name.

Historic England (formerly English Heritage) has recommended listing the Southbank Centre on 5 separate occasions since 1991, yet this advice has been consistently rejected by the Secretary of State of the day ever since. The unprecedented near 35 year-long impasse represents one of the longest running sagas in British architecture and heritage.