Charter Place in Watford has been bought by Intu, and they plan to redevelop it - and I’m a little upset by this because it’s a pretty good example of Brutalism, and I was interested to see what the plans for such a building would look like. Certainly by the time it‘s been finished with, it will be a different place.
This is what it looked like in 1984:
Brutalist Watford c 1984 by
pixelhut, on Flickr
I remember it being built, and I remember being rather awed by the YMCA tower. Sadly, it’s not been too well looked after, and last time I went to look at it, parts of it had been painted a ghastly cream colour. You’ll see it on TV from time to time. It was used in episodes of
Grange Hill, Tommy Saxondale failed to stop someone jumping off it, etc. etc.. It’s a big edifice of a building, but I rather like it.
Just out of interest - anyone know where I could find plans for this building? No real need, other than plain old curiosity.
