Plymouth

In terms of modern architecture Plymouth is Devon’s jewel in the crown and could easily warrant a website of its ownAs a result of being one of the most heavily bombed UK cities in WW2 the city centre was largely reinvented when the council approved A Plan for the Future by Patrick Abercrombie & Paton Watson in 1944.Abercrombie proposed clearing the entire city centre and rebuilding either side of a central axis from the seafront Naval Memorial to the Station. This is called Armada Way with gardens and walkways. At the time of writing (January 2026), this has just been redefined, unifying the whole after several piecemeal interventions over the years. The first new buildings were Banks, Insurance companies, large shops and department stores. A common criticism of the architecture is that there is too much concrete, but in fact nearly all the buildings were dressed in Portland Stone and are of a similar height and mass, giving the Way a coherent whole, compromised in recent times by the hideous ‘Point’ student accommodation block at the the north end. Smaller shops and other buildings of interest run off the Way until you get to the southern end where there some spectacular civic buildings. A good way way get the impression of the plan is to walk down Armada way from the station.Below is a brief description some of the best buildings, some of which are open to the public.

English Heritage published an excellent book ‘Plymouth, Vision of a modern City’ by Jeremy Gould. Although out of print it is available as an Ebook from Liverpool University Press.

https://www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/book/10.3828/9781848020504