One of the more unusual Christmas presents that I received last week was a ‘flat pack’ model of a block of flats (although if you think that’s strange, wait until you see what else I got - hopefully in another moment later today or in the next few days)! The photo shows the end result of my construction work.

There is a reason why I was given this, as there is with most presents.

I spent 16 years, from the age of 6, living on an estate in the City of London called the Barbican Estate. This estate consists of three large towers and 17 smaller blocks with various configurations. The central of the three high towers is Shakespeare Tower, as shown in this photo. The other towers are Cromwell and Lauderdale.

I lived in one of the lower blocks - Willoughby House - which was obviously not considered worthy of having a model made of it!

I had never heard of the term Brutalist to describe the architectural style of the Barbican Estate until reading it on the blurb that came with the model. The whole Estate has been Grade II listed, which I’m sure will have raised many eyebrows at the time. Most of the outer surfaces were made from concrete with a very rough surface, which we were told was designed to be self-cleaning (yes, really!). A visit there today will show you how successful that plan was :-)

I have many fond memories of growing up in The City (a.k.a. The Square Mile). There were no facilities for children, as the City Corporation didn’t expect families to live in the Barbican, just businessmen. And the now-famous Barbican Arts Centre didn’t open until I’d been living there for 11 years, so we had to travel to the West End for culture. One downside of this was that I grew up thinking that all cinemas were massive, with amazing surround sound systems and plush seats, so my first visit to a smaller cinema in the suburbs was a bit of a shock! But to grow up in the heart of such a great city was a great privilege and an amazing experience. Never dark (all the office blocks left their lights on all night), ridiculously busy on a weekday, dead at weekends (until the Arts Centre opened), a very safe city within a city, I shall always have a love for this place.

Having said all that, I’m glad I live in the country now.

Apart from anything else, the cost of living in the City is now such that only the super rich can afford it. The choice of schools is pretty poor. There is absolutely no natural horizon - from the balcony of our flat we could see buildings in every direction and nothing else. And it’s dirty all the time because of the incessant traffic.

But it was home for 16 years, and for that I am very thankful.