Jonny Marr takes a swipe at style of new builds

LEGENDARY guitarist Johnny Marr has delivered a four-lettered condemnation of new-build housing in his role as the new patron of Manchester Modernist Society.

In an interview with the Architects Journal the 51-year-old musician who shot to fame in the enigmatic 1980s band The Smiths said: “I’ve been to a lot of cities in the UK and most of the new houses I have seen look s***.”

Marr was brought up in Wythenshawe after his family were moved out from Ardwick Green in the early 1970s, and talked about growing up with memories of the Hulme Crescents and buildings like UMIST and buildings in Piccadilly Gardens and the Piccadilly Hotel.

“I’ve seen the attitudes to Modernist architecture change a lot,” he said. “That’s a good thing and, although it seems surprising, it makes sense when you look at how boring and terribly generic a lot of the architecture became during the 1990s, particularly in the towns and suburbs.

“There’s much cheap brown brick that I’m guessing is supposed to look gentrified. Even the term ‘new builds’ is so dull.

“In the light of that, the Modernist tower blocks that were scorned for so long appear to have much more style; at least there’s a philosophy behind them.
 
“What’s more, some of those places are more spacious and better built. They were supposed to be the cheapest and nastiest things in the world.”

Marr talks about a conversation he had with a property developer who talked to him about buying up land for new houses and car parks.

He said: “I was appalled by the entitlement and sheer arrogance of it. I don’t believe all of the land should be for sale. I’ve been to a lot of cities in the UK and most of the new houses I’ve seen look s***.”