It took me ten years, but I’ve finally paid a visit to the Conservatory at the Barbican, London. Then, just a few days later, I ticked off another destination on my bucket list: The Sky Gardens. Finally, by coincidence, a quick walk through the Roof Gardens at Canary Wharf’s Crossrail Station last week. Surely that merits a post or two about those three public conservatories in London?
The Barbican. A showpiece of urban development from the Seventies, brutalist architecture in concrete that has aged to a depressing dirty grey, a warren of walkways and underpasses joining tower blocks and cultural quarters. Having grown up in what East Germans nicknamed “silos for souls” or “lockers/ deposit boxes for the labouring classes” I have a deep-seated aversion against concrete and tower blocks in particular, especially those from the 1970s and 80s.
My first foray into the Barbican several years ago did everything to confirm my view that if bad luck should ever condemn me to having to live in a place like that, surely the least suffering to be had was by jumping from the window ledge. It had been a dreary, bleak winter's day, I was with a buggy and I could not even find access as – deliberately – there are only a few entry points to the Barbican (clue is in the name) and most walkways are above street level.
The Barbican. A showpiece of urban development from the Seventies, brutalist architecture in concrete that has aged to a depressing dirty grey, a warren of walkways and underpasses joining tower blocks and cultural quarters. Having grown up in what East Germans nicknamed “silos for souls” or “lockers/ deposit boxes for the labouring classes” I have a deep-seated aversion against concrete and tower blocks in particular, especially those from the 1970s and 80s.
My first foray into the Barbican several years ago did everything to confirm my view that if bad luck should ever condemn me to having to live in a place like that, surely the least suffering to be had was by jumping from the window ledge. It had been a dreary, bleak winter's day, I was with a buggy and I could not even find access as – deliberately – there are only a few entry points to the Barbican (clue is in the name) and most walkways are above street level.
Very gradually I’ve come to change my mind and can see the place for the ambition its creators had. There are no cars within the barbican, but many amenities – from a concert hall to galleries, schools, sporting facilities and playgrounds as well as restaurants and cafes (though I haven’t seen any shops yet to buy your groceries). Flats have big windows for maximum daylight and window boxes on the balconies or corridors must measure by the miles.
Moreover, there are many squares and garden spaces to sit and linger or mingle with neighbours. They were of their time – I particularly like a set of sunken ‘pod’ gardens in a water basin – but some have had a rejuvenation. One such is the Beech gardens, lately redesigned by Nigel Dunnett and by coincidence I’d heard him talk about this particularly project less than a week before I went to the Conservatory. (Well, maybe his talk nudged me that little bit more to finally go there…) Even in the midst of winter, there was life and (muted) colour in the Beech gardens and I can’t wait to go back and see it in spring and summer. But I digress.
The Barbican’s Conservatory (visible in the centre-background of the picture above) was part of the original plan and a clever means to visually disguise the concrete structure of what was then Europe’s largest fly tower, housing the scenery for productions in the Barbican’s theatre (the stage being six storeys below). It basically wraps itself around this tower. What a lovely idea! From the outside, the glass structure obscures it while inside the walls are hidden behind a series of balcony-like walks and climbing plants.
The Barbican’s Conservatory (visible in the centre-background of the picture above) was part of the original plan and a clever means to visually disguise the concrete structure of what was then Europe’s largest fly tower, housing the scenery for productions in the Barbican’s theatre (the stage being six storeys below). It basically wraps itself around this tower. What a lovely idea! From the outside, the glass structure obscures it while inside the walls are hidden behind a series of balcony-like walks and climbing plants.
Newspaper photograph of the Barbican's Conservatory at the time of building and planting
Same view though slightly different angle this year
It must have been stunning at the time. To some extent it still is – and it sure enough could be again – though sadly it feels dated and tired at the moment. As with so many developments, I’d say it is down to lack of enough funding: there clearly are people who look after it, care for it, love it. For instance, the potting benches where chock-a-block full of freshly potted, newly propagated and well-labelled plants. And it clearly was done on-site, rather than bought-in. Somewhere I read that they employ two full-time gardeners and green-fingered residents who are keen may join via a volunteer group. But I'm not sure if this information is correct.
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Looking at my pictures now, I see that indeed it is less the plants - though any dead or even yellow leaves left on always will immediately make them look neglected, whether they are or not - but the horrific concrete again, together with the exposed black plastic or rubber piping and the general 70s/ early 80s design of the lamps etc. which are to blame. Still, on the bleakest of January days, it was a little oasis of verdant plant life.
It wasn't a quiet escape though. I don't know whether it is like that every Sunday - for Sundays are the only days the Barbican's Conservatory is open to the general public - or whether it was down to throngs of chance visitors who really came for the last day of the Basquiat exhibition in the gallery next door, but the place was packed. As entry is free, it certainly makes a nice add-on to any cultural event; on some Sundays you even can have afternoon tea in there.
It wasn't a quiet escape though. I don't know whether it is like that every Sunday - for Sundays are the only days the Barbican's Conservatory is open to the general public - or whether it was down to throngs of chance visitors who really came for the last day of the Basquiat exhibition in the gallery next door, but the place was packed. As entry is free, it certainly makes a nice add-on to any cultural event; on some Sundays you even can have afternoon tea in there.
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From a plant lover's point of view, the part that perhaps impressed most was the small annex of the Arid House. A great array of cacti and succulents are planted out into raised beds built of brick which, again, pick up the geometric design element of circles or semicircles to be found throughout the Barbican (elsewhere it manifests itself in e.g. window shapes, fountains and those sunken pod-gardens mentioned before).
It occurred to me that here was the perfect place for all these trendy people newly enamoured with cacti and succulents as houseplants. Most of the plants are labelled. So here the new houseplant fans buying their prickly charges in pots an inch or two wide could come and see what well-grown and -looked after specimens might look like a few decades down the line. There certainly were lots of people taking pictures, presumably to post on Instagram. At one point, crowds in the Arid House were so thick there was no standing room left. It may have helped that there were some really showy Cymbidiums in bloom, too, these orchids enjoying the same cooler temperatures afforded to the succulents compared to the rest of the Conservatory.
All in all, it's a nice stroll if you are in the area and - unlike Kew - it's free. Though unlike Kew, I wouldn't make a big detour to see it. Yes, I know - this comparison is unkind and unfair to both places. And I really only mention it because a leaflet about the Barbican's Conservatory claims it is the "second largest of its kind in London - covering 23,000 sq feet" - though I am left wondering whether the second largest conservatory in London, which I doubt, or the second largest wrapped around a fly tower (which I also doubt as I do not know of another one).
It occurred to me that here was the perfect place for all these trendy people newly enamoured with cacti and succulents as houseplants. Most of the plants are labelled. So here the new houseplant fans buying their prickly charges in pots an inch or two wide could come and see what well-grown and -looked after specimens might look like a few decades down the line. There certainly were lots of people taking pictures, presumably to post on Instagram. At one point, crowds in the Arid House were so thick there was no standing room left. It may have helped that there were some really showy Cymbidiums in bloom, too, these orchids enjoying the same cooler temperatures afforded to the succulents compared to the rest of the Conservatory.
All in all, it's a nice stroll if you are in the area and - unlike Kew - it's free. Though unlike Kew, I wouldn't make a big detour to see it. Yes, I know - this comparison is unkind and unfair to both places. And I really only mention it because a leaflet about the Barbican's Conservatory claims it is the "second largest of its kind in London - covering 23,000 sq feet" - though I am left wondering whether the second largest conservatory in London, which I doubt, or the second largest wrapped around a fly tower (which I also doubt as I do not know of another one).
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As conservatories go, Kew must have the edge, I'm sure. But maybe it boils down to definition: Kew's Princess of Wales Conservatory is no more a conservatory than its Palm House or the - soon to be re-opened - Temperate House in that it has no "furniture" or other amenities for people but is wholly dedicated to the plants. So perhaps Kew's huge glass palaces don't count. Another vast London conservatory which does cater to people as well as plants, however, is the Sky Gardens - and I'd wager by this definition the latter is London's Number One conservatory - at least size-wise.
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