Bracken House is a building at 1

Friday Street Friday Street is a hamlet (place), hamlet on the gentle lower north slope of Leith Hill in Surrey, England. It is in a wooded headwater ravine, just to the south of Wotton and the A25 road, A25, a single rather than dual carriageway road, runn ...

and 10

Cannon Street Cannon Street is a road in the City of London, the historic nucleus of London and its modern financial centre. It runs roughly parallel with the River Thames, about north of it, in the north of the City. It is the site of the ancient London S ...

in the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

, occupied by the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' newspaper until the 1980s, and again beginning May 2019. A late example of modern classicism, it was constructed from 1955 to 1958 to a design by Sir

Albert Richardson Albert Richardson may refer to: * Albert Richardson (architect) (1880–1964), English architect * Albert Richardson (priest) (1868–1905), English missionary to Africa and India * Albert Richardson (Wisconsin politician) (1864–1937), American po ...

to serve as the

headquarters Headquarters (often referred to as HQ) notes the location where most or all of the important functions of an organization are coordinated. The term is used in a wide variety of situations, including private sector corporations, non-profits, mil ...

and printing works of the ''Financial Times'', on a cleared bomb site southeast of

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

. The central part of the building was substantially altered to plans by Michael Hopkins and Partners between 1988 and 1992. After refurbishments by John Robertson Architects, the ''Financial Times'' moved back into Bracken House in spring 2019. It became a Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

in 1987 – the first building built in England after the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

to become listed – and was upgraded to Grade II* in 2013.

History

20th century

New offices were required for the ''Financial Times'' after it merged with the ''

Financial News ''Financial News'' is a weekly financial newspaper published in London and news website, founded in 1996. It is published by eFinancial News Limited, and provides news and opinions regarding the financial services sector, and information ab ...

'' in 1945. The building was named after

Brendan Bracken Brendan Rendall Bracken, 1st Viscount Bracken (15 February 1901 – 8 August 1958), was an Irish-born businessman, politician and a Minister of Information and First Lord of the Admiralty in Winston Churchill's War Cabinet. He is best remembe ...

, who became Viscount Bracken in 1952. The building was clad in pink sandstone from Hollington, Staffordshire, as an allusion to the characteristic pink colour of the newspaper, with red bricks and bronze windows, contrasting with the

verdigris Verdigris () is a common name for any of a variety of somewhat toxic copper salt (chemistry), salts of acetic acid, which range in colour from green to a blue-green, bluish-green depending on their chemical composition.H. Kühn, Verdigris and Cop ...

of the copper roof. Editorial offices were located in the northern range, beside Cannon Street, with printing machinery in an octagonal structure in the centre between Friday Street and Distaff Lane, and more offices to the south, by Queen Victoria Street. Above the entrance on Cannon Street is an

astronomical clock An astronomical clock, horologium, or orloj is a clock with special mechanisms and dials to display astronomical information, such as the relative positions of the Sun, Moon, zodiacal constellations, and sometimes major planets. Definition ...

, designed by

Frank Dobson Frank Gordon Dobson (15 March 1940 – 11 November 2019) was a British Labour Party politician. As Member of Parliament (MP) for Holborn and St. Pancras from 1979 to 2015, he served in the Cabinet as Secretary of State for Health from 1997 ...

and Philip Bentham and made by Thwaites & Reed. The clock features the face of

Winston Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 1874 – 24 January 1965) was a British statesman, military officer, and writer who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1940 to 1945 (Winston Churchill in the Second World War, ...

at the centre of a large gold sunburst, Churchill having been a great friend of Viscount Bracken during the war. Like other newspapers, the ''Financial Times'' moved out of central London in the 1980s, and the printing works closed in 1988. The building was sold by Pearson in 1987. In August 1987, Bracken House became one of the first post-war buildings in England to become a Listed Building, in works such as Lord Foster's Willis Faber and Dumas Building, Ipswich, England of 1975, to prevent it being demolished and replaced by a new glass and steel building proposed by Michael Hopkins and Partners, the post-war Brynmawr Rubber Factory was listed in 1985 by the

Welsh Office The Welsh Office () was a department in the Government of the United Kingdom with responsibilities for Wales. It was established in April 1965 to execute government policy in Wales, and was headed by the Secretary of State for Wales, a post wh ...

. The plans were changed to incorporate the old building, redeveloped by

Obayashi Corporation is one of five major Japanese construction companies along with Shimizu Corporation, Takenaka Corporation, Kajima Corporation, and Taisei Corporation. It is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange and is one of the Nikkei 225 corporations. Its h ...

between 1988 and 1992. The altered building retained the old ranges to the north and south, but replaced the central printing hall with a new glass and structural

gunmetal Gun metal, also known as red brass in the United States, is a type of bronze – an alloy of copper, tin, and zinc. Proportions vary but 88% copper, 8–10% tin, and 2–4% zinc is an approximation. Originally used chiefly for making cannon, ...

structure on a Hollington sandstone plinth, with boxy

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, bracket (architecture), brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window generally projects from an ...

s inspired by

Oriel Chambers Oriel may refer to: Places Canada * Oriel, a community in the municipality of Norwich, Ontario, Canada Ireland * Oriel Park, Dundalk, the home ground of Dundalk FC * Oriel House, Ballincollig, County Cork * Kingdom of Oriel (''Airgíalla'' in Ir ...

in Liverpool, constructed in 1864.

21st century

With its main entrance now at 1 Friday Street to the east, the building was altered to include large open offices and trading floors for the European head office of the

Industrial Bank of Japan Industrial Bank of Japan, Limited (IBJ), based in Tokyo, Japan, was one of the largest banks in the world during the latter half of the 20th century. It was established in 1902 as a policy institution or "special bank", similarly as Nippon Kan ...

, which combined with Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank and

Fuji Bank The Yasuda Bank () from 1880 to 1948, then Fuji Bank () from 1948 to 2000, was one of the largest Japanese banks for much of the 20th century, together with Dai-Ichi Bank, Mitsubishi Bank, Mitsui Bank, and Sumitomo Bank. It was the main bank of ...

in 2002 to form

Mizuho Financial Group The , known from 2000 to 2003 as Mizuho Holdings and abbreviated as MHFG or simply Mizuho, is a Japanese banking holding company headquartered in the Ōtemachi district of Chiyoda, Tokyo, Japan. The group was formed in 2000-2002 by merger of Dai- ...

, the third-largest bank in Japan. The Hopkins additions were included in the Grade II* listing in 2013. In 2019, the ''Financial Times'' relocated from its offices at

Southwark Bridge Southwark Bridge ( ) is an arch bridge in London, for traffic linking the district of Southwark and the City of London, City across the River Thames. Besides when others are closed for temporary repairs, it has the least traffic of the List of ...

back to Bracken House. File:Bracken House in Cannon Street - geograph.org.uk - 881698.jpg, Looking east along Cannon Street File:EH1262582 Bracken House 04.jpg, North east corner, where Friday Street meets Cannon Street File:EH1262582 Bracken House 03.jpg, The east façade on Friday Street, from the south-east, looking north-west File:EH1262582 Bracken House 01.jpg, The south façade from Queen Victoria Street File:EH1262582 Bracken House 06.jpg, The astrological clock above the entrance, showing the

Signs of the Zodiac The zodiac is a belt-shaped region of the sky that extends approximately 8° north and south celestial latitude of the ecliptic – the apparent path of the Sun across the celestial sphere over the course of the year. Within this zodiac be ...

File:Clock (8151686131).jpg, Detail of astrological clock, with the face of

References

{{Reflist
Bracken House
National Heritage List for England, Historic England
London Remembers

e-architect.co.uk

Original building
City of London Financial Times Office buildings in London Grade II* listed buildings in the City of London Office buildings completed in 1958 Buildings by Hopkins Architects Modern architecture in the United Kingdom Neoclassical architecture in London Astronomical clocks in the United Kingdom The Twentieth Century Society successful interventions