Hyde Park Cavalry Barracks

Surprisingly controversial in its day, the Hyde Park Cavalry Barracks sits on a narrow site to the south of Hyde Park. The project, built by McAlpine between 1967 and 1970, was designed for horses, soldiers and their families – Spence began his work in 1957. At the time, the residential tower was seen as a dangerous precedent for more towers that might follow and flank the park as Manhattan does to Central Park and change its ‘essential character’. Answering such criticism, Spence referred to St. Mark’s in Venice, Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament and the richness of their silhouettes as part of the cityscape – such concerns were reflected in the modelling of the top of the 31 storey, 91m tall tower. Despite the attention focussed on the tower, it had to be delivered according to MPBW cost yardsticks, delivering what the AJ viewed as an ‘unexceptional’ block of flats. The concrete vaults in evidence throughout the scheme and reminiscent of those used at Sussex University were seen by Spence as ‘marvellous frames for mounted soldiers’ [1]. The barracks are mostly composed of structural concrete and finished in red brick to complement the surrounding buildings. The stables were quite technical spaces and had highly specified mechanical ventilation due to horse being ‘quite susceptible to draughts’ [2]. Self-evidently defensive, the façade to Knightsbridge balances a fortified and heraldic architectural language to reasonable effect, but the overall assemblage is by no means remarkable.

[1] Concrete Quarterly, April-September 1971, p.35

[2] Architects’ Journal, 28 October 1970, p.995