I always thought of the tricorn as a massive ugly concrete jungle, but it's not been replaced by anything which is a shame, they shouldn't have knocked it down until there was something to replace it with. It was like the barbican just wasn't looked after.
I have the feeling we just knocked down yet another fantastic example of post war architecture because of very selfish and current opinions. Horrible. Long live the memory of this fantastic building.
Post-war reconstruction. What a joke. Nearly twenty years after WWII, they come up with this. I do like the Tricorn, but if only more thought had gone into it, maybe it would have been a success and thus still remaining.
I'm from Manchester but I first visited Portsmouth when I was quite young because my sister lived there and one of my first views heading into the city was of a building which I gasped at, "what the hell is that? Its hideous". And during my numerous visits to Portsmouth over my lifetime I actually grew to quite like the Tricorn. It was an ugly building don't get me wrong, but it had character which the vast majority of other buildings just don't have.
What really killed this sort of concrete architecture in Britain was not the design but the climate. The water damage on this thing was beyond catastrophic - parts of it actually grew stalactites. If this were constructed in a more arid environment it would probably still to this day be a masterpiece.
In 2004 they said they would turn it into something new a year later when they demolish it. The year now is 2010 and it's still a car park.... great :/
Pompey does kind of look flat without it always remember it being there,my wife said is "is that a tear in your eye" when we saw it as a pile of rubble "no my love must be a little bit of tricorn concrete dust!"
the style is not that different to the barbican which has been quite a sucess. Its all about management and maintenance, and this place didnt have enough. The flats not being occupied didnt help. If you find yourself in london look at the barbican and youll see how brutalist architecture can work.
Brilliant piece of work, Martin. I really enjoyed this.
I was lucky enough to have been one of the last people to visit the building before they demolished it.
IIRC, they couldn't use explosives to demolish it, because some of the reinforced concrete beams were 12" thick, and they'd calculated that the blast would probably do more damage to Cascades than the Tricorn.
I remember being at The Tricorn on one particular day, standing by one of the market stalls that was by the flats. I remember looking up at the lowest one of the flats and being able to see the ceiling. At the time, I just thought they were either disused offices or shops. I didn't realise they were flats until one day I watched this video, long after the demolition. Has anyone ever managed to gain access to the flats, if so what were they like inside? Let me know because I am rather intrigued.
Since when did anyone ever care what Prince Charles thinks? Thanks to him and others, Portsmouth now has a flat, square, boring car park of literally no architectural merit now squatting where an example of brave, pioneering post war modernism once stood.
Great buildings have balls, and that's exactly what the Tricorn posessed, at least in its early years before the people of Portsmouth collectively defecated on it.
It wasn't its demolition that was painful, it was its slow lingering death.
I have very strong childhood memories of the Tricorn. I used to go to the market every Saturday. I remember the market stall inside that use to sell chocolate, and the computer shop upstairs.
What an amazing building, it has this deep dark feel to it, like a futuristic feel, i feel like the building has a certain quality to it like it belonged in a movie. Like Blade Runner or The Running Man. Pity it's torn down now.
Amazing. Great camera work, briliantly put together. Amazing insight into my favourite pass time building, always makes me sad to think its not there anymore. Best piece of architecture to grace these Portsmouth streets! Only wish i had been so into videography whilst it was still there.
It failed because people don't like to be overpowered by cold, grim, grey concrete. It never felt right, or comfortable. Houses aren't left in grey state, so why they thought this building would work I can't imagine!Depressing, but coated in white marble chippings it would take on another dimension.Too late.
I never visited the Tricorn but it looked pretty cool I live in Norwich my local 60's shopping center is Anglia Square and I love it, but idiots want to knock it down these idiot call it
an "eyesore" but it is a state of the art 60's shopping center and the idiots want to replace it with a boring shopping called calvert square.
I see The Tricorn on this video I thought about visiting Portsmith and give it a look but now the idiots have done away with it I don't think I'll bother.
A stunning building, this will be sorely missed now by some and by more in the future when people realise what they have done. So few stunning brutalist structures left. I cannot believe people can be so short sighted when it comes to this kind of architecture, look what happened to london in the 60's 70's and 80's when beautiful victorian structures where torn down and look how highly thought of and precious these buildings have become. Start appreciating now before its to late.
I used to go to the Tricorn club every week in the mid 70's and i also ran a clothes and Record shop until 1978 "Stage One" that was on the ground floor. Crap building but with a strange attraction. Same could be said about most of Pompey. Glad i escaped :-)
Peggysmudge, I agree with you totally there. I went to Monster Mania for a friends 7th or 8th birthday. I'm 18 now I'm surprised I can remember it. Anyway, it's a shame to see the building go.
I always thought of the tricorn as a massive ugly concrete jungle, but it's not been replaced by anything which is a shame, they shouldn't have knocked it down until there was something to replace it with. It was like the barbican just wasn't looked after.
SimonSW19 1 month ago
I have the feeling we just knocked down yet another fantastic example of post war architecture because of very selfish and current opinions. Horrible. Long live the memory of this fantastic building.
Rydo182 2 months ago
Yeah they should have chromed it. Punks, Granny's night club, the Casbah, fantastic.
ColonelBuckshot 2 months ago
I loved this building. The original "tricorn shopcentre" sign is being auctioned on 7th Dec at Nesbits of Portsmouth.
ryan172100 3 months ago
@ryan172100 What happened with that auction any more info. Would have loved that.
Rydo182 2 months ago
Post-war reconstruction. What a joke. Nearly twenty years after WWII, they come up with this. I do like the Tricorn, but if only more thought had gone into it, maybe it would have been a success and thus still remaining.
1100HondaCB 1 year ago
I'm from Manchester but I first visited Portsmouth when I was quite young because my sister lived there and one of my first views heading into the city was of a building which I gasped at, "what the hell is that? Its hideous". And during my numerous visits to Portsmouth over my lifetime I actually grew to quite like the Tricorn. It was an ugly building don't get me wrong, but it had character which the vast majority of other buildings just don't have.
mancity1000 1 year ago
I agree with CeruleanFilms. In its first year, the concrete didn't look bad at all, but time took its toll.
1100HondaCB 1 year ago
What really killed this sort of concrete architecture in Britain was not the design but the climate. The water damage on this thing was beyond catastrophic - parts of it actually grew stalactites. If this were constructed in a more arid environment it would probably still to this day be a masterpiece.
CeruleanFilms 1 year ago
I remember walking through the Tricorn every Saturday to go to the Charlotte Street market. Such a shame that it's gone...
nutcase170489 1 year ago
In 2004 they said they would turn it into something new a year later when they demolish it. The year now is 2010 and it's still a car park.... great :/
Kris393 1 year ago
Pompey does kind of look flat without it always remember it being there,my wife said is "is that a tear in your eye" when we saw it as a pile of rubble "no my love must be a little bit of tricorn concrete dust!"
ballores 2 years ago
Great video!
carbonfactory 2 years ago
the style is not that different to the barbican which has been quite a sucess. Its all about management and maintenance, and this place didnt have enough. The flats not being occupied didnt help. If you find yourself in london look at the barbican and youll see how brutalist architecture can work.
trigga1uk 2 years ago
Brilliant piece of work, Martin. I really enjoyed this.
I was lucky enough to have been one of the last people to visit the building before they demolished it.
IIRC, they couldn't use explosives to demolish it, because some of the reinforced concrete beams were 12" thick, and they'd calculated that the blast would probably do more damage to Cascades than the Tricorn.
Furrowbrow 2 years ago
I remember being at The Tricorn on one particular day, standing by one of the market stalls that was by the flats. I remember looking up at the lowest one of the flats and being able to see the ceiling. At the time, I just thought they were either disused offices or shops. I didn't realise they were flats until one day I watched this video, long after the demolition. Has anyone ever managed to gain access to the flats, if so what were they like inside? Let me know because I am rather intrigued.
HondaH100A 2 years ago
there was a night club up there as well.. i played.. worked there as a kid.. 60s 70s good times
TUKTUKSTUEY 2 years ago
Granny's?? Epic!
Furrowbrow 2 years ago
I can remember bunking off college there!
Cool building, all the people who wanted it knocked down because it was ugly I hope your ashamed of yourselves, lots of homeless people lived there.
iamme569 2 years ago
Since when did anyone ever care what Prince Charles thinks? Thanks to him and others, Portsmouth now has a flat, square, boring car park of literally no architectural merit now squatting where an example of brave, pioneering post war modernism once stood.
Great buildings have balls, and that's exactly what the Tricorn posessed, at least in its early years before the people of Portsmouth collectively defecated on it.
It wasn't its demolition that was painful, it was its slow lingering death.
053bss 3 years ago 2
I have very strong childhood memories of the Tricorn. I used to go to the market every Saturday. I remember the market stall inside that use to sell chocolate, and the computer shop upstairs.
HondaH100A 3 years ago
What an amazing building, it has this deep dark feel to it, like a futuristic feel, i feel like the building has a certain quality to it like it belonged in a movie. Like Blade Runner or The Running Man. Pity it's torn down now.
4eva2cool 3 years ago
Amazing. Great camera work, briliantly put together. Amazing insight into my favourite pass time building, always makes me sad to think its not there anymore. Best piece of architecture to grace these Portsmouth streets! Only wish i had been so into videography whilst it was still there.
jshrp3 3 years ago
It failed because people don't like to be overpowered by cold, grim, grey concrete. It never felt right, or comfortable. Houses aren't left in grey state, so why they thought this building would work I can't imagine!Depressing, but coated in white marble chippings it would take on another dimension.Too late.
may1hob 3 years ago
I never visited the Tricorn but it looked pretty cool I live in Norwich my local 60's shopping center is Anglia Square and I love it, but idiots want to knock it down these idiot call it
an "eyesore" but it is a state of the art 60's shopping center and the idiots want to replace it with a boring shopping called calvert square.
I see The Tricorn on this video I thought about visiting Portsmith and give it a look but now the idiots have done away with it I don't think I'll bother.
junior731657 3 years ago
'CHROME IT!' Now theres the man with vision, it would have looked fantastic. Oportunity missed.
raido67 3 years ago 2
Comment removed
callmewilson 3 years ago
A stunning building, this will be sorely missed now by some and by more in the future when people realise what they have done. So few stunning brutalist structures left. I cannot believe people can be so short sighted when it comes to this kind of architecture, look what happened to london in the 60's 70's and 80's when beautiful victorian structures where torn down and look how highly thought of and precious these buildings have become. Start appreciating now before its to late.
swisstony123 4 years ago
If Only it was maintained and used as it should have been...maybe people would have embraced it rather than calling for it to be knocked down.
swisstony123 4 years ago
this is a great vid thanks for puting it on youtube
Ablackmanxz 4 years ago
I used to go to the Tricorn club every week in the mid 70's and i also ran a clothes and Record shop until 1978 "Stage One" that was on the ground floor. Crap building but with a strange attraction. Same could be said about most of Pompey. Glad i escaped :-)
johnnypbelinda 4 years ago
Terrific building. Sad I never saw it. Great loss.
CorporalConcrete 4 years ago 2
Peggysmudge, I agree with you totally there. I went to Monster Mania for a friends 7th or 8th birthday. I'm 18 now I'm surprised I can remember it. Anyway, it's a shame to see the building go.
greatodyer 4 years ago
I miss 'Monster Mania' which used to be situated in the Tricon. Awesome place!!!
peggysmudge 4 years ago
A really well crafted and polished documentary. Great...!
timspencer1 4 years ago
superb - shows the tricorn in a different light, beautifully shot, a real gem.
303frank 4 years ago
The perfect venue in which to beat the scummers up in! Play up Pompey!
peggysmudge 4 years ago