City of failed post war planning
There's a lot of negativity surrounding Coventry,
But is it justified? i had to go to coventry because it provides prime subject matter for this channel.
It's a case study in modern architecture, post-war development, urban renewal and there's a German connection as well. We'll take the train: 16 minutes from here to Manchester Piccadilly, and then two hours to Coventry. They said: Whatever you do, DON'T go to Coventry, a city of failed post war planning and characterless modern architecture, strangled by a ring road, but I decided to ignore them, and as soon as got off the train, took one look at the station thought I think I like it! I was struck by the new building with the bright red facade - it reminds me of the colour of trains in Germany - it proudly proclaiming 'Coventry Station', a contemporary re-interpretation, like a smaller Euston Station.
Today in Coventry by the station we can see different post-war eras
The station building - 1960s, the new building 2020s, this jewel-shaped visitor information booth, a kind of Dr Who futuristic, then 60s, next to it red brick maybe 50s and on the right, 'the sign says: 'the shape of things to come in the fastest growing city in the country. Two Friargate is taking shape in this young, talented and innovative city. This building looks contemporary, though not that different from the building I saw being built over in Cork, Ireland.
So here it is, the ring road, just north of the station, let's jump into a car and drive around it. It encircles the centre of Coventry like a very tight belt, a major barrier cutting off the inner part from the outer part. I've seen in some US cities, they are turning highways back into local roads, with traffic lights. I'm not sure if that could be done here. The positive thing about the ring road is that it provides good views over the city both inside and outside. It has a name - the A4053 and it's a dual carriageway, not a motorway. Unlike London's M25 or the M60 around Manchester, it doesn't take long to drive the full circle.
It's three and a half kilometres in circumference, two point two five miles, so that's less than three minutes to drive all the way round. A small circle of road that causes much separation and division and yet the city probably couldn't do without it. There's an attractive canal basin on the north side of the city centre, but I'm told few people go there because you have to cross over, the shall we call it, strangulatory highway to get there. Up ahead we can see Two Friargate again so let's jump out now and continue our walk into the city centre. So now we're past the ring road and what's this contruction site? "Apartments to suit you. Hub spaces to use as you like private dining, game stations, private study rooms ". Oh I see this is student residence under construction.. "Double bed with secret storage, private en-suite shower, sink and WC, elegant fitted kitchen, personal work and dining space ".
It's a far cry from the damp bedsit I lived in for a while when I was at uni. I mean, how are students supposed to learn about life when they're molly coddled like this?". You're looking at Vita Student Coventry, opening September 2023. Hmmm, nice buses, like many in the West Midlands region operated by National Express and this is an electric bus. A little further and we've rearched post-war planners nirvana, exclusively modern square, no traditional buildings in sight. I think this scene looks better in black and white actually! And there, peeping through the gap, a white tower, there could be hundreds more. Suddenly I feel I'm back in East Germany! I have a sense of Ostalgie! But if we turn 180 degrees we see Christ Church spire, and next to it, The Wave, a recenty-opened water attraction with its striking blue metallic exterior. Here's another example of old and new - office building in 70s style brown brick connected to a half-timbered medieval house.
It's Coventry Register Office, and when posing for wedding photos, it's not difficult to see which side the guests prefer! This is the car park I featured at the beginning New Union Street in crisp black and white in sunshine it looks almost attractive. On other side, we can see how mural paintings can bring new energy to a tired building. And we walk into the shopping area, first planned and begun in the 1940s.
Here's one way to add a splash
Of colour - tinted roof windows.
More contrasting architectural styles - an post-war building bridging the walkway an older facade harking back centuries. And now we are in the main square, Broadgate. What we see today was first planned in the aftermath of the devastation of World War Two. In recent years there has been some development and improvement.
Oh, there's that dystopian tower again standing guard over the shopping development like a giant watchtower on the Berlin Wall. I must try and stop referring to East Germany! Now we come to a remarkable symbol of Coventry, Lady Godiva. The statue looks like it could be from more recent, less prudish times.The face of Lady Godiva looks contemporary, she's seen something of the world, you might see her sitting on the bus around. Coventry after doing the shopping. It's very natural, but this striking equestrian statue dates from 1949. The theme is self-sacrifice, the sculptor Sir William Reid Dick Oh no, there it is again. plain, rectangular, like the flats on the corner Karl-Marx-Allee and Alexanderplatz in East Berlin, We are close to the Cathedral precinct, another beautiful spire, the one belonging to Holy Trinity Church. The street name 'Cuckoo Lane' sounds medieval.
100 years ago, Coventry city centre was medieval in character, but wartime attacks changed all that. Coventry like Liverpool has a cathedral to spare. The ruined cathedral and the new cathedral stand side by side. Standing in the ruins, looking through the blasted out windows, we gain a fleeting impression of the bombing raids of 1940 and 1941 that brought destruction and death to Coventry. 'Coventrieren' is a verb used in Nazi propaganda to describe annihilation of a city. It's symbolic of the arrogant insanity of the Nazi regime and it's a scar on the German language. Rather than try to reconstruct the cathedral, as they eventually did in Coventry's twin city of Dresden, in the former East Germany, here, they built a new one. Modern architecture is often criticised because it's said it can never equal the glories of the past.
Not in the case of Coventry Cathedral. It was designed by Sir Basil Spence and built from 1956 to 1962. Like the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in. Berlin, a new church was built next to the bombed out old one. A strong theme of the church is reconciliation, in German,Versöhnung. I'll feature more of the cathedral on a article about the twin cities of Coventry and Dresden. This cathedral, official name the Cathedral Church of St Michael, is special because, like the two in Liverpool, it presented an opportunity for 20th century architects, designers and artists to shine. And it does.
Unlike much of the architecture of Coventy built in the 1950s and 1960s, like these tower blocks, but in recent years, a new wave of construction has improved the cityscape. As in other cities, the shopping centres and central squares have been modernised. Oh, and there it is again, that building, there's no getting way from it. It's called Mercia House, second tallest in Coventry. For comparison, Manchester's CIS Tower, 118 metres, London's Millbank Tower, 119 metres, Coventry, Mercia House, 68 metres. It was the tallest in Coventry until the completion of Code. Coventry Student Accommodation, 76 metres tall completed in 2019. Building data from Emporis.com.
The Britannia Hotel is a classic brutalist structure jutting out over the street. Another jutting building in Newcastle upon Tyne - Commercial Union House - was demolished. But maybe this one could be made prisine, windows replaced, concrete scrubbed, turning it into an an architectural silk purse. Coventry has two symbols: an elephant and a naked lady riding a horse. This is the Elephant Building part of a leisure complex that's been closed. A walkway - the 'elephant's trunk' connected it to the main building. The Elephant Building was completed in 1976. The entire complex closed in 2020.
Unlike the main building it's not listed and I think it should be. I'd love to see it on the inside. A new use for the building is being sought. It's quite remarkable, a building designed to look like an elephant. I look forward to a building shaped like Coventry's other symbol! And talking of empty buildings, this was. Ikea, opened 2007, closed in 2020 due to falling numbers and its seven-storey design. So let's walk via Coventry Centre Fountain up to the square by the Transport Museum and what's this? Is it a bird? Is it a plane? A pedestrian bridge for birds? But who's that guy in a military suit? It's Sir Frank Whittle, inventor of the jet engine. The statue, arches and nearby Glass Bridge were unveiled in 2007 on the 100th anniversary of his birth.
The Whittle Arch and The Glass Bridge were designed by architects. MacCormac Jamieson Prichard. So I see it: The gigantic arches reference the movement of planes and vapour trails left by aerobatics teams such as the Red Arrows. And they also remind me of aircraft wings and jet engine turbine blades. It all makes sense now! It's time to return to the railway station fo the train back to home base. We'll go by the old cathedral spire and the Council House, or town hall. Coventry, a city often cited as an example of bad post-war planning, strangled by a ring road, but things are improving all the time and there's a lot to see here, so if anyone tells you, whatever you do, don't visit Coventry, just ignore them! I hope you found this article interesting, maybe even inspiring.