Grade I protection for London Underground’s iconic HQ

55, Broadway



First use of cruciform plan for a London office building



London Underground’s iconic HQ and the Tube station it was built over today took their place alongside Buckingham Palace and the Tower of London as one of the capital's most important buildings. 55 Broadway and St James's Park station have been awarded Grade I listed status, granting it extra protection from redevelopment and recognising its “great historical significance”. The building above the platforms, known as 55 Broadway, was built as the headquarters of London Underground. When completed in 1929 it was the tallest building in London at 174 feet. Holden also used a team of emerging young artists to embellish the building, including Eric Gill and Eric Aumonier, as well as Moore and Epstein. English Heritage said: “The sculpture significantly boosts the case for upgrading 55 Broadway to Grade I.” Ten decorative features were carved by artists into its Portland stone facade but one, called Day, had to be altered as it showed a naked boy. Its sculptor, Jacob Epstein, chiselled one-and-a-half inches from the boy's penis in a concession to Twenties sensitivities.




Henry Moore "West Wind"








Jacob Epstein "Day"



When it was completed in 1929, The London Underground's new headquarters, named after its postal address of 55, Broadway, was London's tallest office block. A skyscraper of its day, it is now dwarfed by almost every major office building in the city. But that doesn't stop it from appearing monumental. Inside it houses the headquarters of London Underground, St. James's Park Station and the small Broadway shopping arcade.





Traders protesting high rents in the Broadway shopping arcade




55 Broadway - Original Ground Floor layout



In 1926 The Underground Group commissioned 55 Broadway, over St James's Park station, as its new headquarters. It was to replace Electric Railway House, whose offices were too cramped for the growing organisation. The headquarters was to symbolise the company's vision of public transport being at the heart of London's social and commercial life. Frank Pick, assistant managing director of the Underground Group, commissioned the architect Charles Holden of the firm Adams Holden and Pearson to design the building. On its completion in 1929, 55 Broadway was the tallest building in London on one side overlooking the Houses of Parliament and on the other side overlooking Buckingham Palace. The Directors had a clear idea of their place in the world! However, building restrictions prevented the floors above the seventh being used as offices. The modern and assertive design was considered an architectural masterpiece with the cruciform layout enabling natural light and ventilation throughout. It was awarded the London Architectural Medal by the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1929.




Charles Holden 1875 - 1960



Designed by architect Charles Holden, and considered to be his finest work, 55 Broadway was inspired by the skyscrapers of New York and heralded the construction of tall buildings in London by helping to loosen height restrictions. Listings Minister John Penrose said: “When this building opened it represented the height of sophistication. It remains one of the most unaltered Underground stations on the network and a fantastic example of London's architecture at its best.”





Platform kiosk, St. James's Park 1935



The site was challenging because of its irregular shape, and the District line was only 24 feet below the surface. The solution was a cross-shaped layout, which allowed passengers to walk through the ground floor of the office to reach the ticket hall. It also incorporated Henry Moore's first public commission and his only work to show the human figure in motion. The building was granted Grade II status in 1970. Despite its west wing being damaged in the Second World War, it remains largely unchanged. It has the only Underground concourse with original platform finishes from the Twenties, namely the vitreous enamel cladding to the walls, and enamel signs announcing the name of the station. There are also original platform benches and an original timber kiosk, now a display cabinet. The rest of the building is in a remarkably good state, with the original travertine marble-clad landings on each floor, ground floor lobby, stair hall, and shopping arcade all intact.




1929 - The tallest office building in London



The builders of 55, Broadway saw good design as good for business. By the example it set under Frank Pick the Underground was gradually able to change the public’s attitude to railway stations which had been seen as shabby and inhospitable places. Sir Nicholas Pevsner wrote that Pick saw in every detail a “visual propaganda” and he used this not only to improve the Underground but the environment as a whole. Charles Holden brought the Underground station to the forefront of modern architecture: This achievement is unequalled by any other transport company before or since.











As for the Grade I listing your correspondent observed prophetically in April 2008;



“With property values in London becoming more unreal due to Non Doms. and the like, no doubt some wide boys (Generally called “consultants” or “rising stars”) will look at the possibility of asset stripping this unique listed building and creating a “new culture” in some god forsaken rented cubicle factory. No doubt this will promote co-operative working by having an atrium with some poor imitation of a Calder mobile representing a tube train and a statue of an ordinary tube worker looking up at it saying “this costs a fortune and we’ll never own it!” The same wide boy asset strippers would never think it is sensible to sell their own house and move into a trailer park. “




St. James Park Station entrance











English Heritage probably clocked the threat to 55, Broadway in an article in the Estates Gazette in February 2009 where TfL’s Property Chief claimed bragging rights;



“Property chief Anthony Bickmore has now put the property under the spotlight for the first time as part of his far-reaching plans to modernise the portfolio.” This was accompanied by the usual anonymous dose of toe curling Property Puffers propaganda. “The building is no longer fit for purpose. TfL is taking advice on the potential for a major redevelopment of what is a prime West End site and this could lead to a sale.”



Indeed, not fit for purpose? Fully paid for, naturally ventilated award winning modern building which won a RIBA Gold Medal and is centrally located and built in the airspace above a Tube station? Not fit for purpose? First building in Britain to put all the services in a central core minimising corridors and maximising usable space? Certainly such a building wouldn’t generate fees for the asset strippers, property churners and predatory consultants. Hopefully the decline in the commercial property market combined with the protection of Grade 1 listing will put a damper on such quick buck thoughts and 55, Broadway will continue to proclaim the purpose stated on the early Underground poster “Always at your service.”









For more about 55, Broadway;



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/04/give-my-regards-to-55-broadway.html



For more about Charles Holden;



http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/11/holden-goes-underground.html



For more on Architecture and Design see ArchiBlogs in the Blog sidebar>>>>>>>>>>>>>>.

Stonehenge Solstice

Record numbers of people descended on Stonehenge this morning to mark the summer solstice. Despite the sun not making an appearance in an overcast sky, around 36,500 people enjoyed a carnival atmosphere at the ancient stone circle on Salisbury Plain, Wiltshire. An eccentric mix of Morris dancers, pagans dressed in their traditional robes and musicians playing guitars and drums gathered alongside visitors from across the world. The event to mark the dawn of the longest day in the Northern Hemisphere has grown in popularity since a four-mile exclusion zone around the site was lifted nine years ago.

The good weather and the fact that the solstice fell over a weekend drew in the crowds from around 7pm last night. As the sun rose at 4.58am a cheer went up from those gathered at the stone circle. Bleary-eyed revellers wrapped in blankets, ponchos, cloaks and bin liners gathered at Heel Stone, the pillar at the edge of the prehistoric monument, to welcome the sunrise. English Heritage and Wiltshire police had anticipated the biggest turnout yet and had drafted in extra officers to patrol the site and to clamp down on anti-social behaviour and drugs.



Restrictions were placed on the amount of alcohol people could bring in, with security checks at the main entrance. But the event was a peaceful one with just 25 arrests overnight for minor public disorder and drug-related offences, a Wiltshire police spokesman said. Sam Edwards, from Wiltshire police, said: "We are very pleased everything went to plan. The atmosphere has been very good, especially around the stones. "Most people have been very co-operative with us and very understanding of the reasons for our presence.

An all-night party on a smaller scale took place a few miles from Stonehenge at the Avebury stone circle. Druid Jim Saunders, 33, from Reading, is a member of the Aes Dana Grove order. He said: "The significance of Stonehenge on the solstice to me is to do my best to educate as many people as possible in our culture. We carried out the Awen ritual in the circle by chanting to raise the energy and ask for peace and healing. There were 16 druids here today but only three of us made it into the circle. It is nice to see a lot of people here because there is no better place to learn about our culture and history. But it is upsetting to see so much litter, and some people can be disrespectful." He added: "Hopefully from the people we have spoken to today we can plant a seed of knowledge that will grow."



“As the sun spirals its longest dance,
Cleanse us
As nature shows bounty and fertility
Bless us
Let all things live with loving intent
And to fulfil their truest destiny “

Wiccan blessing for Summer

Solstice, Midsummer or Litha means a stopping or standing still of the sun. It is the longest day of the year and the time when the sun is at its maximum elevation. This date has had spiritual significance for thousands of years as humans have been amazed by the great power of the sun. The Celts celebrated with bonfires that would add to the sun's energy, Christians placed the feast of St John the Baptist towards the end of June and it is also the festival of Li, the Chinese Goddess of light.

For the Egyptians, the sun represented light, warmth, and growth. This made sun deities very important to Egyptians, and it is no coincidence that the sun came to be the ruler of all. In his myths, the sun was either seen as the body or eye of Ra.

Like other religious groups, Pagans are in awe of the incredible strength of the sun and the divine powers that create life. For Pagans this spoke in the Wheel of the Year is a significant point. The Goddess took over the earth from the horned God at the beginning of spring and she is now at the height of her power and fertility. For some Pagans the Summer Solstice marks the marriage of the God and Goddess and see their union as the force that creates the harvest's fruits.


Hypogeum, Malta

This is a time to celebrate growth and life but for Pagans, who see balance in the world and are deeply aware of the ongoing shifting of the seasons it is also time to acknowledge that the sun will now begin to decline once more towards winter. When celebrating midsummer Pagans draw on diverse traditions. In England thousands of Pagans and non-Pagans go to places of ancient religious sites such as Stonehenge and Avebury to see the sun rising on the first morning of summer.



New findings at Stonehenge suggest its stones were erected much earlier than thought, challenging the site's conventional history. A new excavation puts the stones' arrival at 3000 BC - almost 500 years earlier than originally thought - and suggests it was mainly a burial site. The latest results are from a dig by the Stonehenge Riverside Project. It is in conflict with recent research dating construction to 2300 BC and suggesting it was a healing centre. The 2300 BC date was arrived at by carbon dating and was the major finding from an excavation inside the henge by professors Tim Darvill and Geoff Wainwright who said:

"These stones were very closely associated with the remains of the dead. There were cremation burials from inside the holes holding the stones and also the areas around them." The archaeologists suggest that very early in Stonehenge's history there were 56 Welsh bluestones standing in a ring - 87m (285ft) across.


Newgrange, Ireland

What is common is a gap in our understanding of the peoples and cultures behind such Neolithic remains such as the remarkable collection of 46 tumuli (passage graves) around Newgrange in Ireland and the oldest and greatest Neolithic remains in Europe on the Island of Malta including at Gigantija on the island of Gozo the world’s oldest stone building.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2008/02/neolithic-malta.html

If there is one place you should see above all others when in Ireland it is the amazing place called Newgrange, a UNESCO World Heritage site which is older than the pyramids of Egypt. This is a truly special and unique place on the Island of Ireland, no more special than yesterday, 21st December, the Winter Solstice, the shortest and darkest day of the year. To ancient cultures this represented the turning of the year, the point after which the days lengthened and hope could be sustained of the rebirth of the land in spring and the fertility of summer and the bounty of the harvest to come.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2010/12/in-darkest-mid-winter.html

Saturnalia is the Roman Mid-Winter Feast which Christianity supplanted with Xmas.

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/12/bona-saturnalia.html


Gigantija Temple, Malta