Brutalist beauties in Nostalgic London

A chunky, concrete icon – loved or hated by Londoners depending on their feelings about the stark style of brutalist architecture – the Barbican is both a world-class arts centre and a housing estate. Construction started in the 1960s on the terrace and high-rise tower blocks, built around ponds and green spaces, in an area that had been badly bombed during World War II. The Barbican Centre followed later in the 1980s. Nowadays you can visit the Grade II-listed stunner to catch a Royal Shakespeare Company play or a concert, watch a movie or be inspired at an art exhibition. Don’t miss the Barbican Conservatory, a huge glass-roofed and somewhat surreal space filled with trailing greenery, exotic plants and fish.