Bush House

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Bush House is an office and commercial building between Aldwych and Strand in London , United Kingdom. It was built in several phases from 1923 onwards by the New York architects Helmle and Corbett. Between 1940 and 2012 it housed the BBC World Service and the New Media Department of the BBCi in four of the five wings of the building .

The Bush House has been used by King's College since 2016 .

history

The American businessman Irving T. Bush - no relationship with the US presidents is known - was awarded the contract in 1919 for his building use design, which was originally planned by Harvey Wiley Corbett as a new commercial center. The building was constructed from Portland stone , a type of limestone. The wooden doors and wall paneling were supplied by Reading-based specialist Samuel Elliott & Sons .

The various wings of the building were built and opened over a period of 13 years:

  • 1923: center of the building
  • 1928: northwest wing
  • 1929: northeast wing
  • 1930: southeast wing
  • 1935: southwest wing

The official opening was made by Arthur James Balfour on July 4th, 1925. It included the unveiling of two statues created by American artist Malvina Hoffman . In 1929 Bush House was considered "the most expensive building in the world". The construction costs were actually astronomical at 10 million dollars for the time.

After an aerial mine the Broadcasting House of the BBC had damaged on 8 December 1940 which drew European foreign service of the BBC in the south-east wing, the rest of the BBC World Service followed in 1958th

The BBC never owned the building. The BBC's lease with Kato Kagaku , the current Japanese owner company, expired in November 2012.

As part of its modernization program for the parent company on Portland Place in central London's Marylebone district, the BBC gradually cleared most of the building. The last newscast from Bush House was broadcast on July 12, 2012 at 12 noon local time (11 a.m. GMT). The newscaster was Iain Purdon.

London's King's College has been renting the Bush House and the adjacent buildings since 2016. It is intended to be used for at least 50 years.

literature

  • A. Trystan Edwards: What the building says. In: Architecture, the Journal of the Society of Architects, April 1925.
  • The Bush House in London. Architects: Helmle and Corbett, New York. In: Wasmuthsmonthshefte für Baukunst , 1925, IX. H. 12, pp. 529-534.

Web links

Commons : Bush House  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ BBC World Service: Why is the HQ called Bush House?
  2. ^ BBC World Service: Bush House
  3. ↑ BBC World Service signs off from Bush House . In: bbc.co.uk. July 12, 2012. Retrieved July 16, 2012 (video recording of the last broadcast).
  4. ↑ Kings College London - Bush House Buildings on kcl.ac.uk, accessed March 3, 2017.

Coordinates: 51 ° 30 ′ 46 ″  N , 0 ° 7 ′ 3 ″  W.