Great #Guggenheim inspired brick drum of the 1961 #BrightonMunicipalOffices by #OakleyAndParkes, principal architect Kevin Knight, looms over the back street of #BrightonVictoria. The actual council chamber is up there, accessed by a spiral ramp, furniture by Grant Featherstone, with some crazy art-column as a feature by Latvian born Alnis Ansons. So very #FrankLloydWright, those thin round ended projecting roofs, complete with square holes. This was designed about the time Wright’s Guggenheim was finished in 1959, but Knight protested it was the Castel Santangelo that was the inspiration. It’s now a library, with the Council Chamber preserved intact for meetings and events.
Here’s the actual 1961 #OakleyAndParkes Brighton Council Chamber (principal architect Kevin Knight) – thanks to @georgia_goring for the photos – after the ramp up in my previous photos you’re in a semi-circular sort of #antechamber with another stair to take you up to the #CouncilChamber itself (I think thats right). Note all the original #FeatherstonChairs ! #Circles everywhere, very late #FrankLloydWright, say #JohnsonWax or there’s two houses in Arizona, the Norman Lykes House has lots of overlapping circular bits and flat roofs, but really it’s not a copy just a very good interpretation. Ps anyone know who the artist was ?