In message
,
lonelytraveller writes

Local politicians always make stupid decisions like that.

Its why Cripplegate, a beautiful mediaeval area that got bombed in
WW2, was turned into the Barbican instead of rebuilt close to its
original design.

The medieval part of Cripplegate Within was lost in the Great Fire of
London - and much of the rest went in the great Cripplegate fire of 1897
(St Giles survived, but was badly damaged). It had already been
identified by the City as an area of extreme slum conditions by 1851,
and was very run down before the Luftwaffe cleared it. I don't think it
would ever have been worth trying to restore anything other than St
Giles - there was certainly no original design that could have been
brought back.

I don't find the Barbican as offensive as many developments of its age,
and the housing stock is of good quality.

--
Paul Terry