In Focus: Original Barbican Estate Sales Brochure

Selling city living

The Barbican Centre (1980-03-11/1980-03-11) by Peter BloomfieldBarbican Centre

Selling the Barbican

Over time, the Barbican Estate has become a sought-after central London address. This wasn’t always the case. As the buildings came on the market, at worst they were thought of as a desolate bombsite, or at best as a place to work but not live.

Selling the Barbican

People had to be persuaded of the virtues of moving in. With this in mind, the Barbican Estate Office published a range of brochures.

Barbican Estate Sales Brochure - Page 1/35 by Corporation of London and Barbican Estate OfficeBarbican Centre

Selling the Barbican

This brochure advertises the Barbican before construction had finished . The cover features an artist's impression of what the finished site would look like.

Selling the Barbican

Although it has lots of familiar buildings, there are differences between this image and the Barbican as it was built.

Tap to explore

Have a look at what the Barbican looks like today and see if you can spot the buildings included in the painting above.

Barbican Estate Sales Brochure - Page 7/35 by Corporation of London and Barbican Estate OfficeBarbican Centre

An overview of the Barbican

Here are the contents of the sales brochure. You can see an overview of all the amenities on the Barbican Estate, including the podium, garages, entertainment, education, places to eat and places of worship.

Barbican Estate Sales Brochure - Page 8/35 by Corporation of London and Barbican Estate OfficeBarbican Centre

Artist impression

As the Barbican was still under construction when the residential flats were first advertised, the booklet included drawings showing what the inside of the flats would look like.

Modern living space

This is an artist's impression of a typical living space in a one bedroom Barbican flat. The room has sliding partitions, allowing residents to use the space in different ways.

Barbican Estate Sales Brochure - Page 10/35 by Corporation of London and Barbican Estate OfficeBarbican Centre

Modern living space

This drawing shows a living space in a larger flat. You can see a resident emerging from the kitchen at the back of the living room. In the sales brochures the people depicted using the kitchens are always women, revealing attitudes at the time.

Barbican Estate Sales Brochure - Page 11/35 by Corporation of London and Barbican Estate OfficeBarbican Centre

Light filled spaces

Here is a typical bedroom in a flat. You can see the light streaming through the windows and fitted wardrobes to maximise space.

Barbican Estate Sales Brochure - Page 12/35 by Corporation of London and Barbican Estate OfficeBarbican Centre

Barbican Kitchen

This kitchen is described as being 'mechanically ventilated, fully fitted with melamine surfaces'

Barbican Kitchen

with 'split level electric cooker, refrigerator,

Barbican Kitchen

double sink with refuse disposal unit, built-in diffused lighting to working surfaces, adequate electric socket outlets for appliances,

Barbican Kitchen

hygienically designed high and low level cupboards, vegetable racks etc.' A streamlined modern kitchen for modern living.

Barbican Estate Sales Brochure - Page 13/35 by Corporation of London and Barbican Estate OfficeBarbican Centre

Barbican Bathroom

The bathrooms were designed with white tiling, built in mirror and towel rail and a specially designed hand basin.

Barbican Estate Sales Brochure - Page 14/35 by Corporation of London and Barbican Estate OfficeBarbican Centre

A peaceful city neighbourhood

Would this vision of city living have tempted you to move to the Barbican?

Credits: All media
The story featured may in some cases have been created by an independent third party and may not always represent the views of the institutions, listed below, who have supplied the content.
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