Festival of Britain - South Bank, Festival Buildings, Events, Legacy, Representation, Design

An event organized in 1951 to mark the centenary of the Great Exhibition held in London in 1851, intended to demonstrate ‘the British contribution to civilization, past, present, and future, in the arts, in science and technology, and in industrial design’. The Royal Festival Hall was built for the occasion.

commemorating the Festival of Britain - Note the Festival icon on the 4d

South Bank

Construction of the South Bank site opened up a new public space, including a riverside walkway, where previously there had been only warehouses.

In 1948, young architect Hugh Casson, 38, was appointed director of architecture for the Festival and he broadmindedly sought to appoint other young architects to design its buildings.

The layout of the South Bank site was intended by the organisers to showcase the principals of urban design that would feature in the post-war rebuilding of London and the creation of the New towns.

Festival Buildings

The main South Bank site buildings and their architects were:

Dome of Discovery, designed by Ralph Tubbs Transport, designed by Arcon Festival Administration Building, by Maxwell Fry, Jane Drew and Edward Mills The Lion and the Unicorn. by H.T.Cadbury Brown Minerals of the Land, by the Architects Co-Partnership Sea and Ships, by Basil Spence

All the Festival buildings, except the Royal Festival Hall, were later demolished and replaced by other buildings which, together with the Royal Festival Hall, became an arts complex known as The South Bank. However, a public housing estate in Poplar, named the Lansbury Estate after George Lansbury, was built as part of the festival, and is still extant. There is a public house named The Festive Briton (and now called Callaghans) in a corner of Chrisp Street Market, also part of the estate, with The Festival Inn nearby.

Also as part of the Festival in London, a new wing was built for the Science Museum, to hold the Exhibition of Science, and a FunFair and "Pleasure Gardens" – with attractions such as a Fountain Lake, a "Grotto", a "Tree Walk", and the Guinness Festival Clock – were constructed in Battersea Park.

Events

The Festival was the first time that steelpan music had been played in Britain, thanks to the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra. There were two exhibitions at the Whitechapel Art Gallery as part of the Festival Programme: a display on the History of East London and a show of craft and popular art forms.

Legacy

Although the Festival was extremely popular and made a profit, it was conceived and executed in haste and with little thought for subsequent use. The Labour Party, who had championed the Festival, lost power while it was open and Terence Conran has speculated that the haste with which the main site was cleared was an act of political revenge by the incoming Conservative Party government. Profits made from the Festival were retained by the Greater London Council and were used to convert the Royal Festival Hall and to establish The South Bank. Aside from this, the architectural legacy of the Festival is mixed: many architects, especially those working for Local Government, enthusiastically copied its forms and materials, but without too much consideration of their durability, resulting in a stock of buildings that have since been much criticised.

Politically, the Festival of Britain has become a symbol for the incomplete promise of the immediate post-war period.

Representation

The Festival was filmed by documentary-maker Humphrey Jennings, as Family Portrait.

Design

The graphic designer for the Festival of Britain was Abram Games who had been Official War Poster artist and whose iconic Britannia symbol of the Festival remains memorable.