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Building a landmark in history

The iconic building that embodied a University's ambitions

Amongst Leicester’s many architectural gems, there have been few buildings honoured as often as the University of Leicester’s Engineering Building. It was recently ranked fourth in the Architects’ Journal’s top 10 university buildings and was cited earlier this year as one of the top 10 most inspiring buildings in the UK by the Independent. But what was the history behind this influential work of architecture?

Two years after the University was granted its Royal Charter in 1957, the University was in discussions with the young architects James Stirling and James Gowan about a new building, to be completely at odds with university architecture of the day. The brief reflected the confidence of a newly independent university and an eagerness to embrace the modern and the innovative.

Rejecting traditional approaches and reacting against the functionalism of contemporary architecture, the short-lived Gowan-Stirling partnership aimed to design each building in a style that reflected its use. As Leicester’s new building was to house the recently established Engineering Department, they incorporated ambitious geometric elements such as the cantilevered lecture theatres.

The resulting Engineering Building was a triumph for the University. Vice-Chancellor Professor Fraser Noble declared in the University’s 1962/63 Annual Report that “this exciting and strikingly unusual structure arouses strong feelings”. Already, the building had its detractors; the Leicester Mercury described it at the time as “bizarre…angry…controversial…rubbery and man-hating”. The Times, however, felt it was “one of the largest, and quite the most spectacular, of the many buildings now going forward at British universities.”

But few could expect the favourable reception it received from the architectural community. Since its completion, the building has featured in countless lists of influential architecture nationally, was made a Grade II(*) listed building by National Heritage in 1993 and was even pictured on a postage stamp issued in 1971.

Its importance is summed up by Professor John Fothergill, the Head of the Department of Engineering today: “The Engineering Building was the first post-Modernist building in the UK. The building goes against the grain of concrete 1960s tower blocks – it is designed to excite and to be exciting.”

Peter Thorley