Art Deco UK - London - Broadcasting House - Portland Place
Designed by G Val Myer and built in 1932, Broadcasting House was the BBC's first purpose-built home for radio broadcasting. It is situated in central London between Oxford Street and Regents Park, adjacent to Nash's All Souls' church and is Grade II* listed.
Built of Portland stone, with 9 floors above ground and 3 below, its central heavy masonry tower originally contained all the studios. A lighter steel-framed 'shell' provided acoustic buffering. With its accentuated front section bearing a clock tower and aerial mast, the building has been compared to a ship. The Architectural Review of 1932 described it as the 'new Tower of London'. 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.
Artistic commissions adorn the building, notably Eric Gill's statue over the front entrance of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's last play The Tempest: Ariel as the spirit of the air was felt to be an appropriate personification of the spirit of broadcasting). The naked Ariel provoked comments about the size of his genitalia, prompting a question in the House of Commons on the offence to public morals caused by the image. It is said Gill was ordered to adjust Ariel's dimensions to more decent proportions by the BBC’s first Director-General, John Reith.
There is an additional Gill statue in the Art Deco reception of Broadcasting House. Called The Sower, it is once again a metaphor for broadcasting: as the sower casts seed so does broadcasting cast its messages and communications to its hopefully receptive listeners.
Art Deco UK - London - Broadcasting House - Portland Place
Designed by G Val Myer and built in 1932, Broadcasting House was the BBC's first purpose-built home for radio broadcasting. It is situated in central London between Oxford Street and Regents Park, adjacent to Nash's All Souls' church and is Grade II* listed.
Built of Portland stone, with 9 floors above ground and 3 below, its central heavy masonry tower originally contained all the studios. A lighter steel-framed 'shell' provided acoustic buffering. With its accentuated front section bearing a clock tower and aerial mast, the building has been compared to a ship. The Architectural Review of 1932 described it as the 'new Tower of London'. 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.
Artistic commissions adorn the building, notably Eric Gill's statue over the front entrance of Prospero and Ariel (from Shakespeare's last play The Tempest: Ariel as the spirit of the air was felt to be an appropriate personification of the spirit of broadcasting). The naked Ariel provoked comments about the size of his genitalia, prompting a question in the House of Commons on the offence to public morals caused by the image. It is said Gill was ordered to adjust Ariel's dimensions to more decent proportions by the BBC’s first Director-General, John Reith.
There is an additional Gill statue in the Art Deco reception of Broadcasting House. Called The Sower, it is once again a metaphor for broadcasting: as the sower casts seed so does broadcasting cast its messages and communications to its hopefully receptive listeners.