It’s hard to miss High Point, its name alone revealing where it sits: in an ominous, vaguely threatening vantage point over the city. From here, it looms over Bradford, the buildings around it dwarfed in comparison, although this is largely a trick of perspective. It was built in 1972 as the headquarters for the Yorkshire Building Society, envisaged as a kind of castle keep at the time it was constructed.

I can’t imagine it’s ever been anything but divisive, and I say that as a fan of brutalism. It’s pretty much the poster child for everything that is right and also what’s most wrong with that architectural movement : a gloriously bold statement, unique yet calmingly familiar, strong and striking. On the other hand, it’s a ridiculous giant tombstone stuffed into a civilised area of sedate traditional architecture, just utterly wilfully ignorant of the space that surrounds it. It doesn’t just not match the buildings around it, it refuses to make any attempt to try and blend in with them; instead just puffing out its chest, announcing it is there with extreme “come and have a go if you think you’re hard enough” vibes.

Pevsner witheringly described it as “An aggressive missile-silo-like office tower”, while Owen Hatherley, perhaps admiringly, thought it “utterly freakish, the severed head of some Japanese giant robot clad in a West Riding stone aggregate, glaring out at the city through blood red windows, the strangest urban artifact in a city which does not lack for architectural interest”.

Bradford Spotlight, C20 Society

Nowadays, it’s long been surrendered to the pigeons but work is underway to turn it into flats. (As with pretty much every empty building in Bradford.)

You can see some great images of the inside of the building, prior to its renovation, over at this Telegraph & Argus article.