Sandy Bear's Art Deco competition entry

This is the BBC Broadcasting House in Portland Place, London!!

It's a Grade 2 listed building made of Portland stone over a steel frame.  There's 9 floors above ground and 3 floors below ground.  The architects were George Val Myer and Raymond McGrath.  Portland stone is limestone of the Tithonian stage of the Jurassic period quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset in England.  It is used extensively as a building stone throughout the UK, including St Pauls Cathedral, Buckingham Palace, the South African Embassy on Trafalgar Square and Somerset House!

closer view of the relief work.

Construction began in 1928 with the first broadcast made on 15 March 1932, and officially opened the following May.

Apparently, underground structures (including 100 year old sewers) presented problems: the building is standing over the London Underground Bakerloo line with the Victoria Line tunnelled in the 1960s.  Apparently, noise from passing trains is audible in the radio theatre but (luckily!!) imperceptible in recordings!!

The white radio tower over the main entrance is a predominant icon in BBC radio publicity printings

Quite something to look at, huh?!  Those big double doors there (with the statue above), they used to be the official main entrance

That modern white building - that's the new extension with renovations starting with the original building on 2003 and completed in 2005

The television BBC News moved here as well so it's not solely radio programming from here now.

It's a lovely building, huh?!

You can just see the "BBC" signage at the back there - that's the new main entrance to the building.

You can also see here that the new extension gives the building a "U" shape now.

Linked to Sandy's Art Deco Contest