Nestled within the junction of London Wall and Aldersgate Street in the Barbican district of the City of London lies the Museum of London. Built in 1977, the brutalist building was home to the world's largest urban history collection, with more than six million objects curated to highlight London's social history. The museum has been closed for over two years with plans for relocation, while its historic building faces demolition to make way for a new development—the London Wall West scheme. This has sparked mixed reactions from London residents and people across the country, with calls to review the proposed design and campaigns favoring retrofit over the demolition of this unique modernist building. Photographer Arnolt Smead recently visited the museum to capture its beautiful architectural moments and highlight its unique features.
The Museum of London and its neighboring structure, Bastion House, were designed by RIBA Gold Medal winners Philip Powell and Hidalgo Moya in the 1970s. The design features a series of chronological galleries and external pathways adorned with brutalist materials. Approaching the building from the road, visitors are greeted by its prominent feature—the rotunda. This giant brick circular bastion forms a circular forecourt at the entrance. Its curved walls guide vehicular flow at street level, while a raised walkway above the roundabout connects the former museum to surrounding streets.
Within this curve lies a pleasant interior garden. Arnolt's images capture the procession to the museum through these curved walkways, highlighting the connection to the interior garden space within the bastion as a memorable architectural experience. In the current rehabilitation scheme, the rotunda would be replaced by a 'peninsula' traffic system looping around one of the proposed office buildings. This change would eliminate both the multilevel street experience provided by the circular bastion and any possibility of retrofitting this historical structural feature in a new design.
Arnolt's images also capture the entrance to the building, which is accessed on the first floor from the raised walkway. It is a rectangular box form elevated on concrete columns and clad in white ceramic tiles that define its appearance. This simple box form features a row of horizontal windows reminiscent of Le Corbusier's five points of architecture. Walking around the building reveals a beautiful interlacing of rectangular forms raised on columns, creating moments of covered balconies, protruding green roofs, shadowed walkways, and encounters with external light. This experience is heightened by the contrast that the concrete material creates as a nuanced surface, beautifully reflecting any adjustable light source.
Furthermore, another major feature is the skylight of the covered forecourt, which guides visitors toward the galleries. The combination of the skylight structure and interior walls clad in white ceramic creates a pleasant and welcoming atmosphere. Two floors of exhibition space are arranged around a courtyard, with galleries laid out in chronological order—from the prehistoric period to modern times. The building also incorporates a viewing window overlooking one of the remaining pieces of London city wall, which the Romans originally built around three sides of the city.
Photographer Arnolt Smead notes that even while closed, the building continues to offer a unique experience in its original form. He describes it as a beautiful modernist structure, and his images highlight its distinctive features as plans for demolition or redevelopment are under review. While the Museum of London prepares to relocate to its new home at the former Smithfield Market—a project designed by Stanton Williams and Asif Khan, currently under construction by Sir Robert McAlpine—the old building's architectural, spatial, and material elements continue to tell a story of their era and demonstrate how thoughtful design can create memorable architectural experiences.
This feature is part of an ArchDaily series titled AD Narratives, where we share the story behind a selected project, diving into its particularities. Every month, we explore new constructions from around the world, highlighting their story and how they came to be. We also talk to the architects, builders, and community, seeking to underline their personal experiences. As always, at ArchDaily, we highly appreciate the input of our readers. If you think we should feature a certain project, please submit your suggestions.
