| John Madin | |
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Madin on 17 March 2011, at the launch of Alan Clawley's book about his work |
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| Born | John Hardcastle Dalton Madin March 23, 1924 Moseley, Birmingham, England |
| Residence | Hampshire |
| Occupation | Architect/ Planner |
| Years active | 1951- |
| Notable works | Birmingham Central Library |
| Home town | Birmingham |
John Hardcastle Dalton Madin is an English architect. He was born in Moseley, Birmingham on 23 March 1924.[1] His company, known as John H D Madin & Partners from 1962 and the John Madin Design Group from 1968, were active in Birmingham for over 30 years. Some of the buildings his company designed have now been demolished. Societies such as the 20th Century Society have campaigned to have some of his buildings listed, but have not achieved this. English Heritage has twice recommended the Central Library for listing but without success.
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He served in Egypt with the Royal Engineers in World War II.
Madin is the indisputable giant of post-war Birmingham architecture. Although dismissed as derivative, Madin's reinterpretations of contemporary styles can now be regarded as significant works in their own right.[says who?] Madin's work has been much neglected and is not highly regarded by the current political leadership within Birmingham. Clive Dutton, the city's former Director of Planning and Regeneration, has described Madin's Central Library as a “concrete monstrosity” (Madin's original plans were for the building to be clad in marble; the city, however, was unwilling to foot the bill so a concrete finish was used instead).[2] There are currently plans to demolish the library and replace it with a new building on Centenary Square.
John Madin Design Group were also responsible for the early designs for Dawley New Town, which later became Telford. During the 1970s, Madin became increasingly involved in master-planning projects in the Middle East.
Since Madin's period of dominance in Birmingham there have been very few architectural practices able to match his commercial success at home and abroad. Only Associated Architects and more recently Glenn Howells have approached Madin in this respect.