Seaward Tower and Harbour Tower, Gosport; murals at Halifax swimming pool
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Kenneth Barden (15 Jan 1924 – 09 Nov 1988) was an architect, mural designer and painter in the UK. His tiled murals found outside and inside public buildings are examples of post-war public art. He was the principal architect for the builders George Wimpey and Co. Ltd. during part of his career.
He is best known for his murals of post-war public art.[1] He had qualified as an architect, becoming an Associate of the Royal Institute of British Architects. For part of his career he was the principal architect for the builders George. Wimpey and Co Ltd.[2]
In 1955 he was commissioned by the Hertfordshire and Essex Water Board to produce a decorative ceramic mural inside a Pump House in Sawbridgeworth that showed pump mechanisms.[3]
While working for George Wimpey and Co. Ltd, and together with J E Tyrrell, Chief Architectural Assistant to Gosport Borough Council, Barden was responsible for Seaward Tower and Harbour Tower, two sixteen-storey tower blocks built in 1963 on the Esplanade in Gosport. The surfaces of the tower blocks are covered in mosaic murals designed by Barden that rise the full 135 foot height of the buildings.[4] They were controversial initially but are now a tourist attraction. The tiles were produced by Carter and Co of Poole.[5]
Barden was also responsible for two ceramic murals in a Halifax swimming pool inspired by British pond life. The building was designed by the borough architects FH Hoyles and JL Berbiers and was opened in 1966.[6] The future of these murals was put at risk when construction of a new sports centre including a swimming pool was proposed for Halifax in 2017.[7] This included demolition, or possible alternative use of the 1966 building. A proposal for the building to be given protected listed building status was rejected in 2020.[8] The building was closed in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and was damaged significantly by cold, including to the pool hall walls and interior tiles, resulting in permanent closure.[9] By 2024 the building had been significantly vandalised. The Barden murals were still present.[10] In February 2025 Calderdale Council announced that the result of a survey of the mural indicated stress fractures in some tiles and that any attempt to remove them would cause further damage. Digital images of the mural were proposed as a way to incorporate something from it in a new leisure centre building.[11] By later in 2025, a digital record of the murals had been created and demolition of the building was planned to be complete before 2026.[12]
Harbour Tower, Gosport, showing the murals by Kenneth Barden
Early and personal life
Barden was brought up in Huddersfield where he attended Crosland Moor School and then Huddersfield College of Art. His father, Harry Barden was a master printer. In 1947 he began study at the Royal College of Art in London, finally becoming an Associate of the Royal College of Art.[2]
He married Edwina Partridge Clark in 1955 and they had 2 sons.
