The Barbican Estate is a residential estate that was built during the 1960s and the 1980s within the City of London in Central London, in an area once devastated by World War II bombings and today densely populated by financial institutions. It contains, or is adjacent to, the Barbican Arts Centre, the Museum of London, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, the Barbican public library, the City of London School for Girls and a YMCA (now closed), forming the Barbican Complex. The complex is a prominent example of British Brutalist architecture and is Grade II listed as a whole with the exception of the former Milton Court. Milton Court, which once contained a fire station, medical facilities, and some flats, was demolished to allow the construction of a new apartment tower named The Heron, which also contains additional facilities for the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.
This picture shows Lauderdale Tower, one of three residential towers in the estate, all at a height of 42 storeys and 123 m (404 ft). The top two or three floors of each block comprise three penthouse flats. Once the tallest residential towers in London, they were surpassed by the Pan Peninsula development on the Isle of Dogs.Photograph credit: Daniel Case