New Street Station Signal Box - Birmingham, UK

Architect	Bicknell & Hamilton with W. R. Headley, the Regional Architect of the London Midland Region of British Railways.
Date Built	1964 - 1965
Location	Navigation Street
Description
I suppose the obvious comment about this building is that, if you were to look up Brutalism in the dictionary, you might find a photograph of it.  Buildings don't come much more brutal than this.  In an article in the Telegraph in August of 2003, Keith Miller said, " ... It is also a first-rate essay in Brutalism, the deployment of heavy, roughly textured concrete masses to achieve dour sculptural effects. It looks vaguely like part of a coastal defence system.  Such buildings are viewed nowadays with more affection than they used to be, but the New Street signal-box is never going to fit most definitions of beauty."  It might suprise some people to know that it is, infact, Grade II Listed and English Heritage's listing information says that, "The building is very much a 'one off' constructed on a very difficult and congested site. A dramatic building of exceptional architectural quality with a strongly sculptural form."

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