Hodge refuses Central Library listed status against EH advice

摘要

Architecture minister Margaret Hodge has gone against English Heritage (EH) advice and rejected a bid to list Birmingham's Central Library. The decision not to give heritage protection status to John Madin's brutalist library (1974) opens the way for a large-scale, mixed-used development of the site, led by Argent, and the demolition of the famous concrete 'inverted ziggurat'. Speaking on Monday, Hodge said the building was 'not of special architectural or historic interest' to merit listing and has provoked a firestorm of reaction. Both EH, which had recommended a Grade II listing, and the Twentieth Century Society said they were saddened by the decision not to protect the 'boldly confident' building -currently the largest civic, non-national, library in Europe.