Barbican Blunder? The Barbican in the Media

In our archive collection we have a scrapbook which includes news clippings about the building of the Barbican.

There was some initial fanfare

and excitement about the City being 'reborn' following extensive bombing during the war.

However, the news clippings go on to show how the coverage of the Barbican took a more negative turn.

One of the recurring themes is how much the building project went over budget and beyond schedule.

The cost of the build spiralled as the years went by.

In this article, there is outrage that 'twenty years after, and still the Barbican site is a desert'.

In 1965, the City of London estimated that the annual rent for a Barbican flat could range between £210 for a one room flat and £830 for six rooms.

The flats were aimed at City workers, and there was some derision in the news about the cost of such a development.

Scandal about the build later erupted into a series of workers' strikes about pay and working conditions. Learn about the Battle of the Barbican here.