Some are hardly beautiful, others are a touch obscure, but nearly 150 Leicester landmarks are to be added to a list cataloguing the city's heritage gems.
The 1960s Lee Circle car park, the former Haymarket Theatre, a 1950s block of council flats and the National Space Centre are all among proposed new entries on Leicester's Local Heritage Asset Register.
The register, compiled by Leicester City Council, is designed to record the landmarks that define the city's unique character – and is likely to be the source of passionate debate.
Members of the public have been asked to nominate their favourite features to be put on the register and 144 have been earmarked.
The list will be used by planners when determining whether future development might harm the historic fabric of the city.
Should the new additions be approved, it will take the list to 387 features – none deemed worthy of national listing and the protected status this brings, but all considered of significant interest.
The council's heritage champion, Councillor Adam Clarke sat on a panel that discussed whether some of the public's nominations should make the revised list. Also on the panel was local historian Richard Gill and Nils Feldermann, from the Leicestershire and Rutland Society of Architects.
Coun Clarke said: "There was fulsome debate about the suggestions that came to the panel.
"They are not necessarily things of beauty.
"That certainly can't be said of the Lee Circle car park, but it was once the first Tesco store outside London."
Lee Circle was the first automated multi-storey car park in Europe.
Coun Clarke said: "If nothing else, this will create a debate about the built environment in our city and what we do and do not value."
A public consultation is still to take place on what should or should not be added to the hertage list.
Also proposed are the blocks of council-owned flats in Aikman Avenue, New Parks; the mile-long Glenfield railway tunnel, built by George Stephenson in 1839; the Greyfriars area around the spot where Richard III's remains were discovered and the Roman basilica under what is now being turned into Jubilee Square.
The sporting statue in Gallowtree Gate, which commemorates the successes of Leicester City Football Club, Leicester Tigers and the county cricket club is also marked for inclusion on the list. Other features to be included are a George V post box in Welford Road, the Rainbow and Dove pub, in Charles Street, the Masjid Umar mosque, in Evington Drive, and the Wigston Lane Children's home, in Aylestone.
The proposed list is not without controversial features. The former Barclays Bank, in Clarendon Park Road, is earmarked for the list, while Tesco may yet choose to appeal the decision by the council to refuse some of the changes the supermarket firm wanted to make to turn it into a store.
The municipal Western Park Golf Course, which the council is proposing to close to save cash, was nominated for the register but rejected.
Coun Clarke said the panel did not have enough information to judge that the golf course should be accepted at this time. The council will start the public consultation on the list at some point this week and it will run until the end of the month.
