image for illustration: Argygle House from the West Port, by kim traynor CC-BY-SA-2.0 via Wikimedia Commons
Edinburgh’s Argyle House qualifies for listed status – but won’t get it, as it is unlikely to be granted protection from proposed demolition, reports The Edinburgh Evening News.
The Edinburgh Evening News writes:
A Brutalist office block branded one of Edinburgh’s biggest eyesores has been ruled to qualify for listed building status. Argyle House… looks unlikely to be granted protection… because HES does not list buildings where a development proposal is already being advanced.
… completed in 1969… featured as police headquarters in Department Q and in… the TV version of Irvine Welsh’s novel Crime…
… HES said: ‘Our assessment using the selection guidance shows that Argyle House meets the criteria… ‘If the proposals to demolish are not taken forward, or a Building Preservation Notice is served by the local authority, we will reconsider the listing of the building.’..
… ‘The applied Brutalist style, with concrete, rubble and fine ashlar finishes, demonstrates a high level of material quality for its date and type…. It illustrates the ideals of the post-war Welfare State, the decentralisation of the civil service and the social and economic optimism of ‘national planning’ in the 1960s.’
