King Charles’s approaching coronation gives a timely reminder of one of his pet hates: modern architecture.

In 1984, he famously described The National Gallery’s extension as a 'monstrous carbuncle on the face of a much-loved and elegant friend'.

It inspired the naming of an annual award, The Carbuncle Cup, for ‘the ugliest building in the United Kingdom’.

Thankfully, no building in York has ever been nominated for The Carbuncle Cup.

But modern architecture in the UK is often criticised in the press and by the public. York is no exception; the blocky nature of some of the city’s recent hotels and student accommodation coming in for special criticism, akin to looking like it’s from a ‘Design School of Minecraft’ (for older readers, read: ‘Design School of Duplo’!)

York has a varied and long-standing tradition of architects.

To name only a few, there’s the Edwardian Baroque style of Walter Brierley; John Harper’s St Leonards splendour; George Pace and his Modernist churches; and the railway-associated architecture of GT Andrews and George Fowler Jones.

The ‘forefather’ to all of these was 'John Carr of York' (1723-1807).

We recently saw the tercentenary of Carr’s birth. He did more than anyone to introduce neo-classical architecture to York, which at the time was largely timber-framed rickety buildings or stone churches and military structures.

Carr’s neo-classicism is part of what we now call the ‘Georgian’ style, an aesthetic of disciplined symmetry, refined proportion, and dignified simplicity, all inspired by Ancient Greek and Roman temples and villas.

For York, think of Carr’s Bootham Park Hospital or his York Crown Court building.

Arguably because most National Trust properties that we can visit are eighteenth-century country houses, many of us today regard Georgian buildings and design as the epitome of ‘good taste’, King Charles included.

But was this always the case? Was there universal appeal for Carr’s neo-classicalist style in his day? When the timber scaffolding came down, did passing members of the public think ‘Wow, such exquisite taste!’ or, perhaps, ‘How cold; how impersonal!’ Indeed, have our responses to York’s newest buildings really changed so much from John Carr’s day?

As a creative endeavour, architecture is prone to suffer from ‘The Shock of the New’ syndrome. We find it challenging to judge and adjust to new built forms, as ‘keepers’ or carbuncles.

But, as a creative endeavour, architecture continually needs to develop and strive to produce the next shock of the new.

Fortunately, since 2007, we have the York Design Awards to do the hard work for us. The Awards pick out the best of York’s modern architecture. A personal take would include the free-standing timber public platform in Clifford’s Tower, the Hiscox Building in Hungate, and Derwenthorpe Phase I.

Some of the design awards winners are ‘outsiders’ – national or international architects who bring insight and vision for the benefit of York. There’s currently a fine pedigree of this behind some of York’s most exciting, upcoming structures.

These include Mikhail Riches, the 2019 Stirling Prize winner, who are developing the UK’s first Zero Carbon Housing Delivery Programme for City of York Council; Feilden Fowles and the NRM’s Central Hall; and Tonkin Liu with The Minster’s ‘Centre of Excellence for Heritage Craft Skills’.

But building upon its rich architectural tradition, York has many practitioners in the city contributing to its evolution.

To name but two York practitioners: CSP Architects will be familiar to those who know the Council’s West Offices, the Westgate Apartments on the old Foxton’s Garage site near Marble Arch, or almost all the modern, purpose-built student accommodation in the Walmgate area.

Vincent & Brown are a growing design presence in York.

If all their approved and feasibility schemes come to fruition, they will be behind a radical transformation of Micklegate; Rougier Street via ‘The Roman Quarter’, and, potentially, most of the Coney Street redevelopment including a riverfront walkway.

These firms might not be ‘household names’, known to most of us, nor nationally or internationally renowned, but then again were John Carr or Walter Brierley so-well known by the public in their day?

The future of York’s contribution to architecture looks brighter still given the upcoming launch of a new Department of Architecture and the Built Environment at the University of York.

Over the centuries York has ‘done’ modern architecture and with pride. The York Design Awards bring focus to our latest round of ‘The Shock of the New’ in the city. Let’s embrace the best of it. Let’s encourage our design talent to be at the fore of it.

Dr Duncan Marks is the Civic Society Manager at York Civic Trust