Sunday 6 October 2013

Magical Monstrosity

Carlisle’s Civic Centre, albeit a listing building, isn’t one of the cities’ most attractive sights.  It’s an angular, modernist tower which was completed in 1964 following a design competition with 200 entries.  The area formerly housed the Ricker or Northern Gate to the city and a host of houses and state owned pubs but with archetypal 1950s enthusiasm for modernisation, the land was cleared to create the site for Carlisle’s  only “tower block”.  I’m definitely not a fan of cubic design but even so, I was enthralled to see a rainbow arcing over it on a rainy day last week.

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