It’s Valentine’s Day and most people are turning to thoughts of love, so how about giving this town of ours some love?

Those of us that live and work in Croydon know that Croydon is pretty special. We are the largest borough in London and some of us think that city status is long overdue.

Croydon is an unashamedly modern place and has always been forward-looking from the Roman times onwards.

The NLA Tower (now known as One Croydon) was opened in 1968. Designed by prominent modernist architects Seifert and Co. it was originally meant to be a larger development. The architects designed the building to rise out a podium, which was a popular pattern in the 1960s. Unfortunately for the architects, a Croydon curmudgeon who owned an office at the front of the site refused to move out, so the tower we know today is only part of the original plan. Nevertheless it still attracts a great deal of attention from fans of modernist architecture and artists alike.

The curmudgeon has long moved on and Croydon has grown to love this building. If a Croydon child is asked to name one building in Croydon there is a good chance that it would be this one.

The Tower despite being such a high quality example of buildings of its age and kind has never received much in the way of recognition. The Council recognise its importance in their plans, but the Tower has never become a listed building despite efforts from the 20th Century Society in 2012.

We think that the Tower’s listing as a building of architectural and historic interest is long overdue. The building has no statutory protection from unsympathetic development and needs to have its setting preserved to protect its unique and memorable look.

The CRO thinks that the NLA Tower should be listed as soon as possible and thinks that this idea would gain a lot of local support. Have a look at what architectural author John Grindrod had to say about the Tower in his piece for the 20th Century Society.

Let’s show this Croydon icon a bit of love.