The Barbican:
A Concrete Ghost

I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them and the heart that fed:
And on the pedestal these words appear:
"My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

– Percy Bysshe Shelley, "Ozymandias" (1818)

A Brief Note on the Weather

As you might have heard, the United Kingdom was affected by an unprecedented heatwave a few weeks ago. Temperatures as high as 37° Celsius were reported, and in London, where I was staying, a conference focused on dealing with extreme heat was cancelled due to the extreme heat. This would've been hilarious, if not for the fact that nearly three thousand Brits had died as a result. In spite of the infernal weather conditions, I had what was, by all accounts, a rather enjoyable time.

The City and the City

The City of London (not to be confused with Greater London, the city of 9 million residents within which it is nestled) is a baffling accident of history with which most people (and even many Londoners) are unfamiliar. Nicknamed "the Square Mile" for its size, it lies smack dab in the middle of Central London and makes up most of London's financial district. However, it is not considered a borough; rather, it is an independent city – the smallest in Britain – and has its own unique electoral system: being home to only 15 thousand residents and hundreds of corporate headquarters, it allows commercial firms to vote in the elections to the City of London Corporation, with voting power determined by the size of their workforce. As a result, business voters drastically outnumber the City's actual residents.

But how exactly did this arrangement come about? The City of London made up the entirety of "London proper" from its founding as a Roman fort around 47 CE until the establishment of the County of London under the Local Government Act of 1888; having failed to take it by force, William the Conqueror offered Londoners a compromise in 1067, granting them an extraordinary degree of autonomy in exchange for their loyalty. Due to the strength of its walls and the access to the seas via the Thames, London became the epicenter of trade and craft in medieval England.

Since the opening of the Royal Exchange in 1571, which served as London's first stock exchange, the City started attracting financial institutions from across Europe; by the end of the 20th century, it had headquartered the Bank of England, Lloyd's, and the present-day London Stock Exchange. From 1851 to 1991, the City's population declined from nearly 133 thousand to less than 4 thousand.

While it is widely seen as a "black box" designed to protect British and international capital from scrutiny, the City is still a London neighborhood with thousands of inhabitants. But where do they live? A decade after the Blitz, the local government tried to answer this question by commissioning the architecture firm Chamberlin, Powell and Bon, designers of the more social housing-oriented Golden Lane Estate, to come up with a development that would appeal to the employees of City-based corporations. What they delivered was an icon of modernist architecture.

Enter the Barbican

The residential portion of the Barbican Estate is made up of fourteen terraced apartment buildings, two blocks of mews (two-story houses modelled after stables), and four high-rise towers; all are named after British statesmen, artists, and thinkers (e.g. Thomas More, Oliver Cromwell, Daniel Defoe, etc). Cumulatively, they house approximately four thousand people. The terrace blocks encircle the complex's green space, complete with a wildlife garden and a number of fountains. Residents and visitors alike can also visit the truly impressive greenhouse; however, it is a very popular event venue, so one should check the opening dates in advance.

One of the estate's fourteen terrace blocks

A view of the pond

The main non-residential component of the development is the Barbican Centre, an all-purpose cultural center featuring the Museum of London, a theater, a cinema, a library, an art gallery, and multiple restaurants. It is also home to the Guildhall School, Britain's premiere school of performing arts. Finally, the estate includes the historical St. Giles Church and the City of London School for Girls.

A view of Shakespeare Tower and the Barbican Centre

St. Giles Church

Even if you account for the Barbican's monumental size, the fact that a single real estate development built in a decade could fulfill such a broad variety of functions is almost mind-boggling. One cannot help but ask: why is the Barbican so unique? Thankfully, you wouldn't have to look far for an answer.