The Twentieth Century Society (C20) is a British charity which campaigns for the

preservation Preservation may refer to: Heritage and conservation * Preservation (library and archival science), activities aimed at prolonging the life of a record while making as few changes as possible * ''Preservation'' (magazine), published by the Nat ...

architectural Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings o ...

heritage from 1914 onwards. The society's interests embrace buildings and artefacts that characterise 20th-century Britain. It is formally recognised as one of the National Amenity Societies, and as such is a statutory consultee on alterations to

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern I ...

s within its period of interest, and must be notified of any proposed work to a listed building which involves any element of demolition. The society was formed as The Thirties Society in 1979, the year in which the prominent "Thirties – British art and design before the War" exhibition was shown at the

Hayward Gallery The Hayward Gallery is an art gallery within the Southbank Centre in central London, England and part of an area of major arts venues on the South Bank of the River Thames. It is sited adjacent to the other Southbank Centre buildings (the R ...

. Its establishment was inspired by and loosely modelled on the Victorian Society, which aims to protect pre-1914 Victorian and Edwardian buildings.

Bevis Hillier Bevis Hillier (born 28 March 1940) is an English art historian, author and journalist. He has written on Art Deco, and also a biography of Sir John Betjeman. Life and work Hillier was born in Redhill, Surrey, where the family lived at 27, Whi ...

was the first president, and Clive Aslet the first honorary secretary. In 1992, the society changed its name to The Twentieth Century Society, as it was felt that "Thirties Society" failed to indicate its interest in the protection of buildings from other periods as well.

Notable cases and campaigns

*The catalyst for establishing the society in 1979 was the proposal to replace Sir Edwin Cooper's classical 1928 building for Lloyd's of London with a new building by

Richard Rogers Richard George Rogers, Baron Rogers of Riverside (23 July 1933 – 18 December 2021) was a British architect noted for his modernist and Functionalism (architecture), functionalist designs in high-tech architecture. He was a senior partner a ...

. The society's protests were too late, and Rogers'

Lloyd's building The Lloyd's building (sometimes known as the Inside-Out Building) is the home of the insurance institution Lloyd's of London. It is located on the former site of East India House in Lime Street, in London's main financial district, the City o ...

was completed in 1986 (and was itself listed Grade I in 2011). *The society's first serious high-profile case was that of the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unit ...

Firestone tyre factory The Firestone Tyre Factory on the Great West Road in Brentford in the London Borough of Hounslow was an example of Art Deco architecture. It was designed by Wallis, Gilbert and Partners for the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company. Built on a ...

of 1928 on the Great West Road in West London. The building was demolished by its owners over a

bank holiday A bank holiday is a national public holiday in the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Crown Dependencies. The term refers to all public holidays in the United Kingdom, be they set out in statute, declared by royal proclamation or h ...

weekend in August 1980, in anticipation of its being listed. *In 1985–6, the society campaigned against the wholesale replacement of the traditional K-series red telephone boxes designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott between 1926 and 1936. The campaign attracted much public support, and led to a number of boxes being listed. *In 1987, the society successfully campaigned for the listing of

Bracken House, London Bracken House is a building at 1 Friday Street and 10 Cannon Street in the City of London, occupied by the ''Financial Times'' newspaper until the 1980s, and again beginning May 2019. A late example of modern classicism, it was constructed fro ...

, the former home of the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', designed by Sir Albert Richardson and built between 1955 and 1958. This was the first post-

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

building to be listed, the previous cut-off date having been 1939. *In 1993–4, the society successfully persuaded the

National Trust The National Trust, formally the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, is a charity and membership organisation for heritage conservation in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. In Scotland, there is a separate and ...

to take into care and open to the public 2 Willow Road,

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the London Borough o ...

, completed in 1939, and designed by the Hungarian architect Ernő Goldfinger for his own occupation. * In the 1980s and 1990s, the society campaigned repeatedly for the preservation and listing of

Bankside Power Station Bankside Power Station is a decommissioned electricity generating station located on the south bank of the River Thames, in the Bankside area of the Borough of Southwark, London. It generated electricity from 1891 to 1981. It was also used a ...

, designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, constructed in two phases in 1947–52 and 1958–63, and decommissioned in 1981. The campaign was ultimately successful, and the building reopened as the

Tate Modern Tate Modern is an art gallery located in London. It houses the United Kingdom's national collection of international modern and contemporary art, and forms part of the Tate group together with Tate Britain, Tate Liverpool and Tate St Ives. It ...

art gallery in 2000. * The multi-year campaigns for the protection and listing of

Building Design Partnership Building Design Partnership Ltd, doing business as BDP, is a firm of architects and engineers employing over 900 staff in the United Kingdom and internationally. History BDP was founded in 1961 by George Grenfell-Baines with architect An arc ...

's Preston Bus Station, constructed in 1969, which was granted listed status in September 2013. * After cladding at the Trinity Laban Centre in Deptford, southeast London was damaged by Storm Eunice in February 2022, the society repeated 2020 calls for the building to be listed so that any repairs respected the building's design quality. If it was added to the Heritage List for England it would become its first 21st century building.

Publications

The society published a journal between 1981 and 2018; initially entitled ''The Thirties Society Journal'' it became ''Twentieth Century Architecture'' from 1994.

References

External links