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View of tower showing vertical stone ribs
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Grouping of three towers of varying heights arranged around a raised public plaza. Home to The Economist magazine
The main fifteen-storey tower is set back from St. James Street and complimented by a four-storey bank and an eight storey residential block. The bank respects the lines of the existing buildings on St. James Street.
The plaza is raised about one storey and accessed by an integrated staircase and ramp from the street level.
Each building is concrete framed, expressed with bold uprights running from the top of the buildings to meet the floor. The ground level is recessed occasionally and canted at the corners.
The Econimist Building’s Portland stone facades, grey colours, splayed corners and projecting ribs demonstrate the traits of the International Style.
The building was granted Grade II listed status in 1988.
Data
- Begun: Sep 1962
- Completed: Nov 1964
- Floor area: 12,396m2
- Sector: Office
- Total cost: £979,027
- Tender date: Jul 1962
- Procurement: Negotiated - price variations
- Address: 25 St. James's Street, City of Westminster, London, SW1A 1HJ, United Kingdom
Professional Team 
- Architect: Alison and Peter Smithson
- Project architects: George Kasabov, Maurice H. J. Bebb, Timothy Tinker
- Client: The Economist
- Main contractor: Sir Robert McAlpine & Son
- Quantity surveyor: Gardiner & Theobald
- Acoustic consultant: Arthur Aldersey-Williams
- Quantity surveyor: Gordon Tomalin
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