A bauble of Carlisle’s Civic Centre has been rereleased due to popular demand.
Created by Absolutely Nice Vintage with the help of Studio Walden – both Carlisle-based businesses – the unique bauble was first released in 2022 and is now back up for sale again.
Damian Sealey and Mark Howlette, who own the vintage furniture and homeware shop based in Atlas Works, on Nelson Street, said they received dozens of emails asking for the miniature Civic Centre to return since it last sold out.
The requests prompted them to release a new, limited run of 200 second edition versions of the glass, hand-painted bauble, which are now able to be bought on their website.
Mark said: “We first produced the baubles in 2022 and they sold out within a few weeks. But we’ve had people asking and emailing about wanting them again, so we thought we’d just do a small run and then once they have sold, we’re not going to do anymore.
“But they’ve sold all over the world, we had one person say they sent it to their dad in Australia and they’ve also gone to London, Amsterdam and all over Europe.
“I think it must be a lot of people from Carlisle now living elsewhere that just want a little reminder of it.”
The Civic Centre, on Rickergate, was opened on March 12 1964 and stands at 11 stories high around 135ft above ground level.
It’s a building that has dominated Carlisle’s skyline since the sixties and has been snubbed, threatened with demolition and flooded – but it’s also one of the region’s only examples of Brutalist mid 20th century architecture and to Damien and Mark, it’s a building worth celebrating.
Mark added: “It’s such a Marmite building, you either love it or you hate it. But I think with us celebrating it a lot of people have come around and said actually you know what it is quite a unique building to Carlisle really and it should be celebrated.
“We did lots of research on the centre when we produced the bauble and we went to the archives and found so many amazing old pictures of the place and read so much about it and the amount of care and attention to detail that went into it.
“It’s not even just the outside but the inside as well with the furniture and use of Edinburgh Weavers for the fabrics, no expense seemed to be spared with it.”
Damien also has personal memories of the building as his father worked in the building as an architect from 1975 until 1995 and he often visited his dad on the top floor when he was a youngster.
Mark added: “Overall, the bauble is a bit of fun which is sure to spark plenty of conversations, much like the building itself. It’s also likely to be of interest to fans of Brutalist and mid century architecture along with collectors of novelty and kitsch.”
The duo are also considering transforming other landmark buildings in Carlisle into baubles in the future.
The Civic Centre baubles are now for sale the Absolutely Nice Vintage website and are priced at £20 each.
