Po-mo in the City of London walking tour with Open City Friends, 12th August 11am

Join Open City Friends for a socially distanced walking tour discovering some of the foremost Post-War and Postmodern buildings within the Square Mile

This insightful walking tour from Broadgate to Bank — led by acclaimed architectural historian Jon Wright — chronicles how the stark and sometimes heroic forces of 1960s modernism were superseded by a more contextual architecture in the 1970s before the hi-tech and postmodern (po-mo) styles took over as the de-facto forces in commercial architecture in the 1980s and 90s.

Buildings featured on the tour – such as Exchange House by SOM, Arup Associates’ Broadgate Circle, and Milton Gate by Sir Denys Lasdun & Partners – chart that shift and give glimpses of the architectural richness and fluidity that continue to define the City today.

The City of London, one of the most dynamic and rapidly changing urban centres anywhere in the world contains buildings from the middle ages to now. Constantly morphing and adapting, the City is the ultimate place to see the big forces of architectural history side-by-side.

Meet: Exchange House, 12 Primrose St EC2A 2HS. Duration 2.5 hours approx. Tour ends at No1 Poultry/Bank.

Our tour guide is Jon Wright, who works for Purcell Architects as a Twentieth Century Heritage Consultant, specialising in the history and conservation of modern buildings. He believes it's a fascinating area as many of the principles for how we look after these buildings are not yet fully formed. He is a former caseworker for the Twentieth Century Society, where he fought to get many buildings of the period listed and now works with architects to help look after them. Jon Joined the Open City team in 2017.

This tour is for Core and Keystone Friends of Open City only. If you are not a Friend of Open City, or are a Foundation Friend, and would like to attend this tour, please consider becoming a Core or Foundation Friend today. Thank you.