Barbican Centre Barbican Centre is owned, funded, and managed by the City of London Corporation, the third-largest arts funder in the United Kingdom. It was built as The City's gift to the nation at a cost of £161 million (equivalent to £480 million in 2014) and was officially opened to the public by Queen Elizabeth II on 3 March 1982. The Barbican Centre is also known for its brutalist architecture. The second-floor library is one of the five City of London libraries. It is one of the largest public libraries in London and has a separate arts library, a large music library
Sony Centre for the Performing Arts undertaken, along with audience seating, flooring upgrades, new washrooms and reconfigured lobby spaces. Following two years of renovations and restoration work, the Sony Centre reopened its doors on 1 October 2010, fifty years to the date of the first opening night performance. The Centre was built on land formerly occupied by a series of commercial buildings, including the Canadian Consolidated Rubber Company, and previously it was the site of the Great Western Railway Terminal (later the Toronto Wholesale Fruit Market). The idea for a performing arts centre that could serve the needs of an increasingly dynamic city predates the building's