Broadcasting House
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View from Langham Place
Offices to house BBC studios in the west end of London
Broadcasting House is built with Portland stone and has nine floors above ground and three below. Its central heavy masonry tower originally contained all the studios.
A lighter steel-framed 'shell' provides acoustic buffering. With its accentuated front section bearing a clock tower and aerial mast, the building has been compared to a ship.
It is strangely asymmetrical, because Val Myer had to adapt his first plan when local residents complained about the shadow the building would cast on houses in Langham Street, and their loss of natural light. This meant the building was symmetrical up to the sixth floor, and after that the building was sloped back.
Artistic commissions adorn the building, notably the statue over the front entrance of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's play The Tempest), by Eric Gill. The building is Grade II* listed.
Data
- Begun: 1929
- Completed: 1932
- Sectors: Office, Arts and culture
- Total cost: £500,000
- Tender date: Jul 1928
- Address: Broadcasting House, Portland Place, London, W1A 1AA, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Val Myer
- Client: BBC
- Civil engineer: M. T. Tudsbery
- Decoration Consultant: Raymond McGrath
- External Floral Decorations: Lady Allen of hurtwood
- Sculptor: Eric Gill
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