At the weekend, I took a tour of 55 Broadway above St. James's Park tube station. 55 Broadway is a Grade I listed building, which means that the building must be taken care of and is of historical significance. It was constructed from 1927 to 1929 on the design by Charles Holden and was the headquarters of London's transport company. It was the tallest office block in London for awhile and built with a steel frame to mimic what had been developed in America. The building was meant to be vacated in 2015 and then converted into flats, but its future is not yet decided.
The building is made from Portland Stone, and there are four reliefs, painted in situ on each side of the building; they are known as "the four winds". On each side of the building are another two sculptures, Day and Night. They caused controversy when the building was constructed and not everyone enjoyed the artwork.
Commuters could walk through the ground floor of the building in the past, and there is a chart to check the running of the trains for each line and in each direction in the lobby area. This does not work now, but in the past, people could tell if trains were running well or not.
The lobby was actually added later, but many of the original "art deco" features are retained, giving it a 1920s feel.
We went up to the 3rd, 10th, and other upper floors. To mimic the US office post system, a series of pipes were fitted throughout the building where letters could be dropped. These would end up in the mail room at the bottom.
The 10th floor is where the luxury happens. In those days, people were segregated based on social standing and class (as well as gender). The officer's area had dark wood panels, and large offices. In the upper floors, chimneys were needed because the heating system would not have been able to generate as much heat for the upper floors. There were also different eating areas for different classes of employee.
The CEO's (Lord Ashford) meeting room was the largest and had 180 degree views.
We went up to the upper floor stop-point (and then continued to the very top of the building to admire the view).
The day was perfect with perfect visibility to admire London's skyline.
On the way back down, we took the steps. We took note of the green tiling and the pale green (they look white from a distance) tiles, which were picked as they were very reflective. Also, we saw some old transport signs on our descent.
Have you been to 55 Broadway? I do recommend it as a history of London transport and to see what an old office block is like. Also, the views are well worth the visit.
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