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London has thousands of listed buildings and structures. When it comes to just Grade I sites, (never mind Grade II* and Grade II), the capital has more than 9,000 listed structures – ranging from Buckingham Palace and St Paul’s Cathedral to the recently-listed Old Palace in Croydon.
And yet there are always more structures that could be listed and protected for future generations. Every year the 20th Century Society (C20), a charity that protects modern British architecture and design, publishes a ‘Coming of Age’ list that highlights exceptional buildings that have just turned 30 years old. Thirty is generally the age buildings need to reach before they become eligible to be listed by the government, on advice from Historic England.
C20’s list of the top 10 structures that were finished in 1995 range from ‘the most original new cinema building in Britain over the last 40 years’ to a striking bridge in Manchester. Among the choices are three sites in London – here’s what they are, and why C20 says they deserve protected status.
C20 Society’s 2025 ‘Coming of Age’ list in London
BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir (Neasden Temple), Brent
Placing top of C20’s top 10 is BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir, popularly known as Neasden Temple. The first traditional Hindu Mandir in Europe, it was built entirely using traditional methods and for decades it was the biggest Hindu temple outside India.
The society describes the temple as ‘a masterpiece of exquisite Indian craftsmanship’, saying that it is ‘a building unlike any other in modern Britain, that has more in common with a 1,000-year-old cathedral or priory than anything else seen in the 20th century’.
‘Placing Vastu Shastra’s ‘sacred architecture’ squarely in suburbia, it’s a dazzling part of our national story.’
All the way back in 2007, Time Out named BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir one of the seven wonders of London.
Hope House, Hampton
Next up in the capital is a landmark in sustainable home construction: Hope House in Molesey, southwest London. The first ZED (Zero Energy Development) project by architects Bill and Sue Dunster, the house features solar heating tubes, photovoltaic panels and a flood resistant ground floor. C20 says Hope House tests ‘the many possibilities of flexibly planned, economic, zero-energy housing’.
Broadwall Housing, Lambeth
The final London entry in C20’s 2025 ‘Coming of Age’ list is an affordable housing project on the South Bank in North Lambeth. Broadwall Housing was designed by Lifschutz Davidson Sandilands for Coin Street Community Builders, and features 11 family houses with gardens, five two-bedroom flats and 10 one-bedroom flats.
C20 says Broadwall should be celebrated ‘both for its elegant design of “long-life, loose-fit” homes, with gabled roofs that give each house a clear identity, and as a model of community-led urban regeneration and co-operative ownership’.
You can find C20’s full 2025 ‘Coming of Age’ list on the charity’s website here.
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