TWO of the region’s most iconic Brutalist buildings – including the now-demolished ‘Get Carter Car Park’ – have been honoured in an online tribute to Britain’s lost 20th-century architecture.

Entitled ‘Demolishing Modernism’, the project features illustrations of ten of Britain’s lost post-war gems, as a way of remembering an important part of the country’s heritage.

The Trinity Square Car Park in Gateshead was made famous by its role in the 1971 Michael Caine movie Get Carter – particularly for a memorable chase sequence culminating in Caine throwing shady businessman Cliff Brumby, played by Bryan Mosley (Coronation Street’s Alf Roberts), to his death..

The website also includes Derwent Tower – known as the ‘Dunston Rocket’. Both buildings were designed by the influential English architect, Owen Luder, who the site says was behind some of the most powerful and raw examples of the style.

Despite being recognised as an important architectural movement, many iconic examples of Brutalist architecture have been knocked down in the UK, and many more are threatened by alteration or demolition.

Trinity Square Car Park in particular was an icon of cutting-edge 1960s design. Gateshead Council later offered pieces of the flattened Tyneside landmark for sale to fans of the building.

The website says: “By the time of its opening, interest in the Brutalist movement had started to fade but the building was still seen as an impressive example of the style.

“The unpopularity of the uncompromising design and lack of proper maintenance led to the demolition of the building, in 2010.”

After the demolition, Mr Luder said: “This is very sad for me, obviously. But I’m more sad because I think it should have been kept. I don’t think it will even take ten years before people will be asking why we knocked it down.”

Lack of maintenance and neglect led to the decline of the 29-storey Derwent Tower, in Dunston, and its demolition was completed in 2012.

Catherine Croft, director of the Twentieth Century Society, said: “These buildings formed the background to our everyday lives and their absence will impoverish us all.”

“As a society we tend to under-value the architectural accomplishments of the preceding generation, but in time the most loathed and deeply unfashionable buildings can end up both loved and listed.

“It’s hard to remember just how reviled Victorian Gothic once was, now that St. Pancras, which was only saved by the efforts of John Betjeman and the Victorian Society, is a treasured masterpiece and a glamorous hotel.

“Good C20th architecture is losing out to more easily understood building periods such as Victorian and Georgian when it comes to the increasing pressures for redevelopment.

“But these buildings are a valuable legacy which add to the richness of the fabric of our architectural heritage and the best examples should be safeguarded for future generations. Sadly this is just not happening.”

To view all of the illustrations, visit https://www.gocompare.com/home-insurance/demolishing-modernism/