Bristol Weekend
Bristol Weekend
Thursday 30 April – Saturday 2 May
Start time/place: 6pm/The Arnolfini Centre, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA
Finish time/place: 3:30pm/Bristol city centre
Join us for a bank-holiday weekend exploring little known gems and famous landmarks of Bristol. We’ll see the recently refurbished Grade II*–listed Clifton Cathedral (1973), the last major cathedral to be built in Britain; ‘Bauhaus, Breuer, Bristol’ exhibition and lots of Brutalism.
Thursday 30 April, 6pm at Arnolfini, 16 Narrow Quay, Bristol, BS1 4QA: On our first evening we will meet at Arnolfini for a lecture on Brutalism/C20 architecture and in particular the Royal Festival Hall with guest speaker Sandy Rattray, editor of Royal Festival Hall: A Living Icon and Director at the architectural practice Allies and Morrison plus local guest speakers Elliott Sargent and Andrew Eberlin, who will talk about Bristol’s C20 architecture. Afterwards, there will be drinks next door at Design West’s riverside bar “The Architect”.
Friday 1 May: On Friday morning at 10am we’ll go on the first of two Bristol city centre walks meeting at 1 Temple Way, BS2 0BY to explore C20 buildings in the Broadmead area of the city with Bristol Modernists Elliott Sargent and Andrew Eberlin. Highlights will include Broadmead Baptist Church (Ronald Sims, 1969), which is known locally as “the church above the shops”, Cheese Lane Shot Tower (E.N. Underwood & Sons, 1969), the art-deco Odeon Cinema (Cecil Howitt, 1938) and Rupert Street Car Park (R. Jelinek-Karl, 1959), the first of its kind in the UK to feature a continuous spiral parking ramp. After breaking for lunch we will reconvene at The Stradling Collection, 48 Park Row BS1 5LH to peruse the exhibition: Bauhaus, Breuer, Bristol, which explores Bauhaus pioneer Marcel Breuer’s collaboration with Bristol furniture visionary Crofton Gane.
Saturday 2 May: On Saturday morning there will be time for a leisurely look around Clifton Cathedral (Weeks, Jennett & Poremba, 1973) and All Saints Church (Robert Potter, 1967). After lunch we will meet at Design West, 16 Narrow Quay, BS1 4QA for our second city centre walk, taking in C20 buildings in the vicinity of the harbourside including Prince St Car Park (Kenneth Wakeford, Jarram & Harris, 1966), the landmark Beacon Tower (Moxley Jenner and Partners, 1973) and the iconic Electricity Building (Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, 1937).
The tour is being organised by Jenny Berrisford, who is a mid-century enthusiast and supporter of C20 Society; she restored and lives in Mervyn Seal’s Grade II listed Parkham Wood House.
C20 Members£190
Non-members£210
Numbers limited to 25
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Above: Grade II*-listed, Roman Catholic Cathedral Church of St Peter and St Paul (1969-73) was the last major cathedral to be built in Britain. Photo copyright Phil Boorman.
The Twentieth Century Society is an IHBC (Institute of Historic Building conservation) recognised CPD provider and a registered charity, no 1110244.